Effects of dietary active soybean trypsin inhibitors on pancreatic weights, histology and expression of STAT3 and receptors for androgen and estrogen in different tissues of rats.

Our previous study showed that soy milks could contain high levels of active soybean trypsin inhibitors (SBTI) if they were not properly processed. This study investigated the effects of consuming active SBTI on pancreatic weights, histology, trypsinogen production and expression of STAT3, receptors for androgen (AR) and estrogen (ER) in pancreas, liver and uterus of rats. Weanling Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 groups (8 females and 8 males/group) and fed diets containing either 20% casein protein (Casein) or 20% soy protein (SP) in the presence of high (1.