The Health Benefits of consuming Soy in the diet

I find I regularly need to reassure my clients about the benefits of including soy into their diet due to the enormous amount of misinformation about it on the internet and social media.  I am not entirely sure what started the misinformation off, however when I was completing my honours degree, one of the research projects we were required to do, was to delve into ALL of the research and form an evidence based opinion on whether soy was healthy or not.  This was no small task, as soy research has been accumulating for decades.  I had to read every single piece of published research on the topic of soy and human health.  To say it took a while, is an understatement.  Here are some of the things I learnt.

Bone Mineral Density

Soy isoflavones are one of the best strategies for preserving your bone mineral density if you are a woman that is at risk of bone mineral losses.  Soy acts like weak selective oestrogen receptor modulator and prevents bone mineral losses.  It acts in a less potent way than the drugs used to prevent bone loss in osteoporosis, however has a statistically significant effect and is very well tolerated.  I recommend women in their 30’s start consuming soy in their diet.  The research suggests about 75mg of soy isoflavones are required to aid bone mineral density.  This is the equivalent of 100 grams of tempeh and half a cup of soy milk each day.    

Improves Cardiovascular Health

Soy has been studied extensively and numerous findings on cardiovascular health have been found.  It reduces Blood pressure, reduces arterial stiffness, improves lipid profiles, and improves various markers of cardiometabolic health in post menopausal women via it’s effect on the microbiome.   To get cardiovascular benefits from soy, a dosage of at least 60mg of soy isolavones is required.  100 grams of both miso and edamame beans during your favourite Japanese meal, will easily supply this dose.

Reduces Hot Flashes in Menopausal Women

Soy isoflavones ranging from 30-200mg per day improves the symptoms of hot flashes in menopause.  If you start by including a cup of Organic, unsweetened soy milk in your diet, but find you are not getting the benefits from regular consumption, it may be more sustainable for you to choose a supplement, rather than try to achieve higher doses in foods.  Please be mindful to only choose non GMO and preferably organic sources of soy, as GMO soy is a round up ready crop, meaning it can be heavily sprayed with glyphosphate pesticide.

Skin Health

Soy reduces the appearance of wrinkles, and improves acne.  Acne can be a symptom of PCOS, which is also a condition which may be improved by including soy in the diet.

Cancer prevention

There are many studies which show that soy protects consumers from various cancers, ranging from breast, to bowel to prostate cancers. Adding this food into your diet and improving your ability to metabolise soy in the microbiome, is a powerful preventative step we can take to reduce our risk of cancer development.

If you have tried soy isoflavones and have not received the benefit of them, it may be due to the absence of certain bacteria in the microbiome which activate the beneficial effects of soy.  There are specific prebiotics and probiotics you can use which have been proven to improve the effects of soy activation in the human microbiome.  Including green kiwi fruit with the soy source, can also improve the effects of including soy in the diet.

Dosages

The average traditional Japanese diet (which many population based soy studies are based on), is 30mg per day.  If you have none of the above conditions, you may want to aim to include this quantity in the diet.  For people looking to be more proactive, aim for approximately 75mg of isoflavone per day.

• A glass of organic soy milk is 25mg
• Miso soup is 40mg
• 100 grams of Tempeh is 60mg 
• 100 grams of Tofu is 20mg 
• 100 grams of edaname is 13mg 
• 100 grams of soy flour is 178mg

There are many more evidence based reasons for including soy in the diet that I have not covered in this article today.  My goal is to show there is a no reason for being scared of including soy as a part of a healthy diet.

The information provided in this blog is for personal or other non-commercial, educational purposes. It should not be considered medical or professional advice. We recommend consulting a qualified healthcare professional before taking or omitting any action based on this content. While the author uses best endeavours to provide accurate and true content, the author makes no guarantees or promises and assumes no liability regarding the accuracy, reliability or completeness of the information presented. The information, opinions, and recommendations provided are for general information only, and any reliance on this content is done at your own risk.  Any third-party materials or external content referenced in this blog do not necessarily reflect the author’s opinion, standards or policies and the author assumes no liability for them.