Isoflavone Intake in Early Pregnancy and Hypospadias in the Japan Environment and Children's Study

To explore the association between isoflavone intake in early pregnancy (the critical window of masculinisation) and hypospadias. Since oestrogen is likely to contribute to the differentiation of male external genitalia, dietary intake of isoflavone, which has a similar structure to human oestrogen, may be associated with the occurrence of hypospadias. However, there has been little evidence of this association.

We used data of a nationwide birth cohort study, which recruited women as early in pregnancy as possible throughout Japan between 2011 and 2014. From the response to a self-administered food-frequency questionnaire, the daily intake of genistein (as a representative for isoflavone) was estimated. Information on hypospadias cases that were diagnosed until the first month after birth was obtained from medical records. Odds ratios (ORs) of hypospadias were estimated using a logistic regression model.

Among 41,578 mothers, who delivered singleton live male births, the median genistein intake was 15.3 mg/day, and a total of 51 cases of hypospadias were identified. Compared with mothers in the reference group (genistein intake 11th-89th percentiles), those in the low intake group (≤10th percentile) had an elevated risk of their sons having hypospadias (multivariable-adjusted OR = 2.8, 95% confidence interval = 1.4-5.8). Adverse or beneficial effects of genistein on hypospadias were not observed in the high intake group (≥90th percentile) (OR = 0.9, 95% confidence interval = 0.4-2.4).

Low maternal intake of isoflavone in early pregnancy was associated with an elevated risk of hypospadias.