Soy Tofu and Supplements Do Not Lower Cholesterol or Prevent Cancer

January 23rd 2006

Soy Beans

There have been many claims that soy can improve your health as of late. Now the American Heart Association concludes soy does not reduce “bad” cholesterol all that much and has no effect on “good” cholesterol.

It also appears the soy component isoflavone does not reduce the symptoms of menopause either. Soy does not prevent hot flashes, breast, uterine or prostate cancer. Earlier this month researchers found that soy may worsen certain heart failure conditions.

This may come as a blow to people that switched to soy as a source of protein. Eating Tofu, soy butter, soy nuts and soy burgers may not be good for the heart even though they are a good source of polyunsaturated fats, fiber, vitamins and minerals.

Soy has been thought to be good because it contains very little saturated fat. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may have to reevaluate their rules allowing companies to claim soy-based foods lower cholesterol.

To make things worse, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) just issued a press release stating that a “major component” of soy, Genistein, was found to disrupt the development of ovaries in newborn female mice. According to Dr. David Schwartz, director of the National Institute of Health Sciences (NIEHS) “Although we are not entirely certain about how these animal studies on genistein translate to the human population, there is some reason to be cautious. More clinical studies are needed to determine how exposure during critical windows of development can impact human health.”