To determine the significance of differences between the mean values, data were subject to randomized block design and were evaluated by analysis of variance and the Tukey test (P < 0.05) using the Statistica for Windows Release 5.0 (1995) computer program (Statsoft Inc., Tulsa, OK, USA). All values were the mean of three repetitions, and are presented as the mean ± standard deviation. As Table 1 show, the heat treatment of the soybean flour was found to promote the conversion of malonylglucoside to glucoside isoflavones. Increases in the glucoside isoflavone PFT�� contents during heating were observed in six samples of defatted soybean flour

analyzed when those samples were compared to control sample (without heating). Extraction of isoflavones from defatted soybean flour at room temperature gave the highest amounts of malonylglucoside isoflavones, with low quantity of daidzin, glycitin, and genistin (glucoside forms). Nevertheless, the defatted soybean flour treated at 121 °C for 40 min showed higher concentrations of daidzin, glycitin and genistin than their malonylconjugates. At 25 °C, the cv. IAC Foscarin-31 (Brazilian soybean cultivar) exhibited 1.4 mg g−1 as mean concentration of isoflavones, whereas cv. IAC 15-1 (other Brazilian soybean

cultivar) showed about 3.0 mg g−1 of defatted soy flour. Heating at 121 °C for 40 min promoted a reduction of up to 17.5 times in the malonylcojugate isoflavones and an increase of approximately 2.5 times in the concentration of glucoside isoflavones (Table 1 and Fig. 2). According to Coward, Barnes, Setchell, SP600125 datasheet and Barnes (1993), this reduction is due to the easy decarboxylation of malonylglucoside isoflavones to their corresponding glucoside derivatives, which explains the high content of daidzin, glycitin and genistin (glucoside forms) in soy flour treated by heating. Soybeans and defatted soy flour, with minimum heating, contained mainly malonylglucoside forms, in opposite to β-glucosides and acetylglucoside forms with a few Tolmetin quantities (Barnes, Kirk, & Coward, 1994). In our study, however, soy flours heated to 100 °C are found to contain mainly

glucoside isoflavones (Fig. 2). We observed, however, that the conversion of malonylconjugates to glucoside forms during the heat treatment occurred without formation of acetylconjugate isoflavones, and the soy samples treated at 121 °C for 40 min showed that almost all malonylconjugates were transformed into isoflavone glucosides (Table 1 and Fig. 2). After the heat treatment, any of the acetyl isoflavone forms were not detected by RPHPLC analysis. For all samples, the extraction after heating showed an increase in the glucoside forms when compared with those samples obtained from extraction at room temperature. According to Coward et al. (1993), malonylconjugates are instable and sensible to heating, and they are converted to glucoside isoflavones.