Abstract:

To gain an in-depth understanding of the research progress of soybean active ingredients, reveal their roles in anti-aging mechanisms, and promote the in-depth development and application of soybean active ingredients as natural anti-aging products, this paper systematically reviews the relevant research progress of soybean active ingredients in aging models. The physicochemical properties and basic efficacy of main active ingredients of soybeans are summarized, including soybean peptides, soybean isoflavones, soybean saponins, and soybean phospholipids. It analyzes the mechanisms by which soybean active ingredients regulate aging based on the three major theories: free radical damage, inflammatory senescence, and immunosenescence. It is concluded that soybean active ingredients can not only exert a core anti-aging effect by scavenging free radicals, inhibiting inflammatory responses, and regulating immune responses, but also achieve systemic regulation of organismal aging by ameliorating the functional decline of the nervous and endocrine systems, delaying skeletal and skin aging, and maintaining intracellular homeostasis, and ultimately exert their anti-aging effects. In summary, this paper proposes that: (1) most existing studies on the physicochemical properties of soybean active ingredients are limited to static characterization and do not fully consider the dynamic physiological processes and microenvironmental effects in vivo. Therefore, future research should employ dynamic tracking technologies that simulate in vivo processes to elucidate the changes in characteristics of soybean active ingredients during digestion, absorption, and blood transportation, thereby providing more realistic scientific evidence for mechanistic studies. (2) The anti-aging effect of soybean active ingredients exhibits multi-target regulatory characteristics, yet the interaction patterns among multiple anti-aging mechanisms mediated by individual components have not been systematically elucidated. This restricts the in-depth understanding of their essential mechanism of action and the efficient development of functional products. Therefore, future research should integrate multi-omics technologies and focus on the regulatory networks of individual components in anti-aging pathways, so as to provide mechanistic support for precisely unlocking their anti-aging potential and promoting targeted product development. (3) Current studies mainly rely on induced aging models, which cannot fully simulate the chronic process and complex microenvironment of natural human aging. Future research should optimize the model system to better match the characteristics of natural human aging, thereby providing more reliable scientific evidence for the clinical translation of soybean anti-aging products.

Key words: soybean, active ingredients, soybean isoflavones, soybean peptides, anti-aging, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory