Title:  Method of preparing and using isoflavones for the treatment of alcoholism

United States Patent:  6,399,072

Assignee:  Archer Daniels Midland Company (Decatur, IL)

Filed:  July 13, 2000

A composition is prepared by extracting phytochemicals from plant matter for treatment of alcohol dependency. This composition is enriched preferably with two or more fractions of plant matter, namely: isoflavones, lignans, saponins, sapogenins, catechins and phenolic acids. Soy is the preferred source of these chemicals; however, other plants may also be used, such as wheat, psyllium, rice, oats, red clover, kudzu, alfalfa, flax, and cocoa. The composition is a dietary supplement for treatment of alcoholism. The isoflavone may be any in a group including malonyl, acetyl, glucoside, and aglycone. The composition is in a concentrated form to be delivered in an easy to consume dosage, such as a pill, tablet, liquid, capsule, or a food supplement including a health bars.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The improved composition is obtained by fractionating a plant source high in isoflavones, lignans and other phytochemicals such as defatted soybean flakes, soy molasses, soy whey, red clover, alfalfa, flax, cocoa, tea, or kudzu root. These may be fractionated along or in combination with these other plants known to be high in the various isoflavones, lignans, saponins, catechins and phenolic acids. The fractionation results in substantially removing water, carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids from the source material. The fractionation method may be preferably that disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,702,752; 6,017,555; 6,033,714; or 4,428,876, or an extraction using ethyl acetate or n-butanol may be used. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,702,752; 6,017,555; 6,033,714 is assigned to the assignee of this invention.

Other extraction processes, which may be used alone or in combination, include differential solubility, distillation, solvent extraction, adsorptive means, differential molecular filtration and precipitation.

The preferred composition is an improvement over known commercial materials regarding the amount of phytochemicals per gram of substance and the amounts of different phytochemicals present which affect physiologic function.

These natural substances have been consumed in food sources for long periods of time and more closely relate to the substances consumed which provide the basis for the epidemiological evidence for health benefits. Additional benefits may be derived from improved physical properties relative to phytochemicals chemically modified from their original food source form.

The resulting composition is expected to comprise in a preferred form: between 5% and 95% isoflavones, between 0% and 70% lignans, and between 2% and 70% saponins and sapogenins. In a more preferred form, the composition will be extracted from soy. In another preferred form, the composition will contain a ratio of (saponins plus saponogenins) to isoflavones from 1:100 to 100:1, with the isoflavones consisting predominantly of naturally occurring derivatives of genistein and/or its precursor biochanin A and daidzein and/or its precursor formononetin, with a ratio of the genistein derivatives to daidzein derivatives from 100:1 to 1:100. Preferably, the isoflavones are predominantly glycosylated derivatives.

The composition's ratios may be readily varied by changing the plant source or by combining several plant sources for extraction. Thus, as further study shows which phytochemical combinations are more efficacious for certain health effects, the particular composition will also vary.

It is known that isoflavones, lignans, and saponinst can be used advantageously to treat or prevent various cancers, including breast cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer, and colon cancer.

It is believed that the improved composition will provide increased benefits in the form of chemoprevention. Recent experiments appear to confirm this belief.

Claim 1 of 10 Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A composition for treatment of medical conditions resulting from alcohol dependency involving the brain and nerves, said composition being made from a plant matter in which the composition is a medicament enriched in at least two of the phytochemicals selected from the group consisting of isoflavones, lignans, saponins, catechins and phenolic acids, said medicament having an effective amount of phytochemicals selected on a basis of a therapeutic treatment for alcohol dependency.

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