Soy and soy foods are a rich source of isoflavones, which possess several biological activities. The effect of soy isoflavones, genistin and diadzin and their respective aglycones, on glucose uptake in adipocytes isolated from normal or high-fat fed rats was examined. As expected, insulin stimulated glucose uptake in a concentration-dependent manner. However, genistin and daidzin and their aglycones inhibited glucose uptake in a concentration-dependent (25-100μM) manner. In a time-course response, the aglycones significantly inhibited glucose uptake throughout 3 hr (after 30, 60, 120, 180 min), whereas the glycones only significantly inhibited the glucose uptake after 120 min and 180 min in the isolated rat adipocytes. Thus, the glucosides of genistein and daidzein, i.e. genistin and daidzin, were much less effective in inhibiting glucose uptake than their aglycones. In addition, genistin and daidzin did not significantly affect the insulin-stimulated glucose uptake, whereas genistein and daidzein did significantly inhibited glucose uptake compared to the vehicle control group by 47.5% and 24.8%, respectively (p < 0.05). The isoflavones also significantly inhibited glucose uptake in adipocytes isolated from rats fed a high-fat diet (50% of total calorie intake) when compared to the vehicle control. Finally, the isoflavones were found to enhance lipolysis in adipocytes isolated from high-fat fed rats, where the glycerol released by the aglycones was also higher than that released by the glycones. The current results showed that the inhibitory effect of daidzein on glucose uptake was very similar to that of genistein. The aglycones were more potent in inhibiting the uptake of glucose and a more potent stimulator of lypolysis than the glycones in adipocytes isolated from high-fat fed rats.