AHA: Soy Doesn't Greatly Aid Cholesterol After All

By JAMIE STENGLE, Associated Press Writer
Sunday, January 22, 2006

DALLAS - Veggie burgers and tofu might not be so great at warding off heart disease after all.

An American Heart Association committee reviewed a decade of studies on soy's benefits and came up with results that are now casting doubt on the health claim that soy-based foods and supplements significantly lower cholesterol.

The findings could lead the Food and Drug Administration to re-evaluate rules that currently allow companies to tout a cholestorol-lowering benefit on the labels of soy-based food.

The panel also found that neither soy nor the soy component isoflavone reduced symptoms of menopause, such as "hot flashes," and that isoflavones don't help prevent breast, uterine or prostate cancer. Results were mixed on whether soy prevented postmenopausal bone loss.

Based on its findings, the committee said it would not recommend using isoflavone supplements in food or pills. It concluded that soy-containing foods and supplements did not significantly lower cholesterol, and it said so in a statement recently published in the journal Circulation.

Nutrition experts say soy-based foods still are good because they often are eaten in place of less healthy fare like burgers and hot dogs. But they don't have as much direct benefit as had been hoped on cholesterol, one of the top risk factors for heart disease.

"We don't want to lull people into a false sense of security that by eating soy they can solve the problem (with cholesterol)," said Dr. Michael Crawford, chief of clinical cardiology at University of California San Francisco Medical Center.

"If they are radically altering their diet where they're only eating soy in the hopes that this is going to bring their cholesterol down, they're deluding themselves," said Crawford, who was not on the panel that issued the new statement.

The FDA in 1999 started allowing manufacturers to claim that soy products might cut the risk of heart disease after studies showed at least 25 grams of soy protein a day lowered cholesterol. A year later, the Heart Association recommended soy be included in a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol.

But as more research emerged, the Heart Association decided to revisit the issue. The committee members reviewed 22 studies and found that large amounts of dietary soy protein only reduced LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, about 3 percent and had no effect on HDL, or "good" cholesterol, or on blood pressure.

They did a separate analysis of isoflavones. The review of 19 studies suggested that soy isoflavones also had no effect on lowering LDL cholesterol or other lipid risk factors.

"Soy proteins and isoflavones don't have any major health benefits other than soy protein products are generally good foods," said Dr. Frank Sacks, a professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston who led the committee. "They're good to replace other foods that are high in cholesterol."

Still, the Heart Association statement notes that soy products like tofu, soy butter, soy nuts and some soy burgers should be heart-healthy because they contain a lot of polyunsaturated fats, fiber, vitamins and minerals and are low in saturated fat.

"Soy isn't a magic bullet, but it can be a valuable contributor to a heart-healthy diet," said Jo Ann Carson, a professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas who was not part of the panel.

It's important not to think about foods in black-and-white terms, said Dr. Michael Lim, director of the cardiac catheterization lab at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

"There's no quick fix," he said. "Our bad cholesterol numbers would certainly get worse if instead of eating tofu burgers we went out and had hamburgers each night of the week."



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060122.../fit_soy_health


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Here's a real shocker... *sarcasm*

If the Heart Association revisited the 'saturated fat is bad' research, they could no longer make this statement about low saturated fat intake being healthy. The only polyunsaturated fats that research has shown to have some health benefits are the omega-3s, which are not found in soy products.

I always puzzles me that the medical community, in general, feels that processed foods are healthy and natural foods are unhealthy.

For over six years (and counting) the FDA has allowed false and misleading health claims to be put on food products. Did they immediately stop the health claims when the new information was published? Evidently not. Are they going to notify the consumers that the health claims were wrong? I doubt it. They are part of the government and the government never admits to being wrong.

Here is the message that I jsut sent to the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

It has come to my attention that the health claims for soy protein and coronary heart protection that the FDA allows have been found by an American Heart Association committee to be invalid and not supported by scientific data.

The journal Circulation (American Heart Association) article "Soy Protein, Isoflavones, and Cardiovascular Health. An American Heart Association Science Advisory for Professionals From the Nutrition Committee" by

Frank M. Sacks MD, Alice Lichtenstein DSc, Linda Van Horn PhD, RD, William Harris PhD, Penny Kris-Etherton PhD, Mary Winston EdD, for the American Heart Association Nutrition Committee is available at the location

http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/con...HA.106.171052v1

The abstract says "This scientific advisory assesses the more recent work published on soy protein and its component isoflavones. In the majority of 22 randomized trials, isolated soy protein with isoflavones, as compared with milk or other proteins, decreased LDL cholesterol concentrations; the average effect was {approx}3%. This reduction is very small relative to the large amount of soy protein tested in these studies, averaging 50 g, about half the usual total daily protein intake. No significant effects on HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, lipoprotein(a), or blood pressure were evident. Among 19 studies of soy isoflavones, the average effect on LDL cholesterol and other lipid risk factors was nil. Soy protein and isoflavones have not been shown to lessen vasomotor symptoms of menopause, and results are mixed with regard to soy’s ability to slow postmenopausal bone loss. The efficacy and safety of soy isoflavones for preventing or treating cancer of the breast, endometrium, and prostate are not established; evidence from clinical trials is meager and cautionary with regard to a possible adverse effect. For this reason, use of isoflavone supplements in food or pills is not recommended. Thus, earlier research indicating that soy protein has clinically important favorable effects as compared with other proteins has not been confirmed."

As the FDA has allowed such claims as "Diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol that include 25 grams of soy protein a day may reduce the risk of heart disease. One serving of (name of food) provides ____ grams of soy protein." to be put on food products, and the claims have now been shown to be invalid, it is imperative that the FDA rescind the soy related health claim label authorization. The longer these labels remain in the food supply, the more consumers will be wasting their food dollars on foods that do not provide the health benefits that the food labels proclaim.

As these labels will remain in the food supply chain for a long time, the FDA must issue adequate warnings to the consumers that the labels are not valid.

Before the FDA allows any additional health claims on food labels, it must first determine how the soy health claims were allowed, given that scientific evidence seems to have been slender or non-existent in the first place.

I expect a prompt action from the FDA on the above problem as the FDA must be proactive in protecting the food supply from bogus health claims.

Sincerely,

Mike Dodge

""If they are radically altering their diet where they're only eating soy in the hopes that this is going to bring their cholesterol down, they're deluding themselves," "

No - *you* health professionals have been deluding the public. Don't try and shift the blame...

I spent way too much time today at the grocery trying to find food items WITHOUT some form or another of soy in it. I am so sick of seeing it in nearly every product on the shelf.

$$$$$$$ and greed are at least part if not most of the blame for this nasty substance in our food, as it's a cheap filler, replacing more costly, much less harmful ingredients.

One of the reasons I buy so few processed foods!

Mike be sure to let us know what their response is! That is, if you get one!

Men alternative doctors state Men should never eat soy

I also buy very few processed foods. Unfortunately soy is cheap, and is fed to animals that are farm raised, so we still get it in our system. Its so hard to buy grassfed beef and chicken that have not been fed soy.

I buy very little processed food, and cook mostly from scratch.
But, for instance, I had a slice of flax and whole grain bread, with a spread made with olive oil, with a teaspoon of organic apple butter. I read closely then, and both the bread and the spread have soy ingredients!

Anyone have a list of common foods that DON'T have soy? Other than the obvious like fresh or canned veggies, and meats for instance?

I use a lot of coconut milk as a dairy substitute and noticed that Thai Kitchen organic coconut milk now contains soy lecithin as an emulsifier

Wyv

Exactly! I've just given up almost completely on processed foods, and I don't miss them when I'm at home, with a fridge full of veges, meats, a bit of cheese and nuts. We've just had to buy a bigger fridge, but our pantry, which used to be stacked with pasta etc, is much emptier.

But when I go into one of the small grocery stores we call 'dairies' in NZ, I see virtually nothing I can eat! A piece of fruit, sour cream, a plain yoghurt or a small packet of nuts would be about it! Surrounded by chocolates and sweets in one of those stores recently, I felt no cravings, remembering how unpleasantly over-sweet those things taste. I almost felt like an alien, not recognising those packets of stuff as food at all...

Wyvrn, I was going to post that lecithin is a fat and that the soy proteins are what cause health problems. Then I did a quick Goolgle and found that the Weston Price group had an article on soy lecithin entitled, Soy Lecithin: From Sludge to Profit.

With a title like that, you know it's not going to tell me how great lechithin is. Now I can no longer post that the lecithin will not be a problem.

Welcome to the world of someone allergic to soy!! Join us in the Paleo forum...

You're right: it's EVERYWHERE.