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“Incorporating soy into a balanced diet is increasingly being seen as a positive step towards better health,” says CBS prof
BY LORI BONA HUNT
Soy protein, long known for its ability to help reduce the risk of heart disease in people with high cholesterol, is equally beneficial for heathy individuals, according to new research by Prof. Alison Duncan, Human Health and Nutritional Sciences.
Published in the latest edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the study found that soy protein, regardless of how many isoflavones it contains, helps reduce blood fats and the chances of cardiovascular disease in healthy men. Isoflavones — non-nutritive, naturally occurring plant chemicals found in high concentrations in soy — are known to have protective functions against hormone-related disorders, including certain forms of cancer.
“Many previous studies support the role soy protein plays in reducing serum lipids, but few have looked at the role isoflavones play, especially in the diets of healthy people,” says Duncan. “If we want to maximize the cardiovascular disease prevention potential of soy, it's also important to study healthy individuals, especially healthy young men, because most studies have focused only on women or both women and older men.”
Her study included 35 healthy men (average age 28) who took three different supplements for periods of eight weeks: “regular” milk protein, soy protein with low isoflavone content and soy with high isoflavone content. The supplements were given in random order and spaced with a one-month break in between to ensure accurate findings.
“We found that isoflavone content doesn't seem to influence the outcome,” Duncan says.
She adds that, with heart disease being the leading cause of death among North Americans, research has increasingly focused on prevention. Diet is among the top prevention strategies because it's the easiest, most natural way to modify blood lipid levels.
“Incorporating soy into a balanced diet is increasingly being seen as a positive step towards better health,” she says. “This study shows that it's never too early to start and that there are benefits even for people who are healthy.”
