DID ANYONE SEE THIS ARTICLE?? LOOKS PROMISING. THOUGHT THAT I WOULD SHARE!!
PAIGE17257

June 20, 2002 -- Soy may help people with diabetes control their blood sugar as well as some prescription drugs. But it will be a long time before anyone can say exactly how much or what kind of soy works best.


Evidence has mounted for years that soy products such as tofu may help protect against heart disease and stroke. In women past menopause, soy has been shown to make cells more responsive to insulin -- the hormone that regulates blood sugar in the body.


Curious about the effects on diabetes, a team of researchers tried giving soy supplements to 32 women past menopause who had type 2 diabetes. They presented their results at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association.


Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body does not react to insulin normally -- called insulin resistance. Initially, the body compensates by producing more insulin, but eventually this is not enough, and blood sugar levels in the blood begin to rise. Being overweight is the No. 1 cause of type 2 diabetes. This differs from type 1 diabetes, which normally appears in children and young adults and is caused by the pancreas not producing insulin.


The women were split equally into two groups. One group sprinkled their food daily with a white powder containing 30 grams of soy protein and 132 milligrams of soy isoflavones for 12 weeks. (Isoflavones are chemicals found in soybeans that are similar -- but not identical -- to the female hormone estrogen.) Two weeks later, they sprinkled their food with an identical powder that contained no soy product for another 12 weeks. The other group used the fake powder first and the soy powder second. Neither group knew which they were using at the time.


The women's weight stayed nearly constant throughout the 12 weeks. When they ate the soy, insulin resistance improved and their insulin, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels were better than when they ate the fake powder. The soy products lowered the women's blood sugar as much as some prescription diabetes drugs, the researchers say.


Other studies have suggested that too much soy can upset a woman's balance of hormones. The researchers in this study found no sign of this or any other significant side effects.


It's too early to recommend that people with diabetes run to their health food stores for soy supplements, says lead author Vijay Jayogopal, MRCP, of the University of Hull in England. "We don't know how much to give." Longer and bigger studies are needed. But he added that "in general, eating phytoestrogens is beneficial."


Phytoestrogens are chemicals in plants that resemble estrogen. Isoflavones are one type. The researchers' findings are significant for women past menopause because these women don't produce their own estrogen, and for this reason they are more vulnerable to heart disease, stroke, and other blood vessel diseases. People with diabetes are also generally more vulnerable to these often fatal diseases.


Giving women estrogen directly raises their risk of cancer, so researchers have been considering phytoestrogens as another option. "It seemed like this might give an alternative to a population that otherwise didn't have one," says Jayogopal. He and his colleagues plan further studies in an attempt to isolate the active ingredient in soy.


The study encouraged Simone Lemieux, PhD, physiologist at Laval University in Quebec, who is also studying blood vessel diseases in women past menopause. "It looks very promising," she says.


In general, she says, people should try to get their protein from a mixture of plant and animal sources.



© 2002 WebMD Inc. All rights reserved.

SOY Myths, Distortions and Lies.

Don't believe the soy hype. It is a bunch of lies propagated by the multi-billion dollar soy production industry. Check out some of the following links for the truth.

http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/soy_alert.html

http://www.mercola.com/article/soy/avoid_soy.htm

Chemicals in soy, beer may impact male fertility.
There has been a sharp drop in male sperm count in the last twenty years and could possibly be cause by soy consumption.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/775351.asp?0si=-

"Tofu Shrinks Brain!" Not a science fiction scenario, this sobering soybean revelation is for real. But how did the "poster bean" of the '90s go wrong? Apparently, in many ways — none of which bode well for the brain.
http://www.mercola.com/2000/sept/17/soy_brain.htm

Avoid soy protein powders as the amino acids are not in the correct proportions and one of the essential amino acids is missing. Whey protein powders are the best.

Kent

wow!! you have to wonder how you can read so many different articles that contradict each other. who do you trust and believe?
is "some" soy safe, and would it help your insulin? how can they write that it does, if it doesnt? i was just looking for some help with my insulin. now, i dont know what to believe. i will try the whey. i never did like the taste of the soy products. but i do like roasted,salty soybeans. i like them in my salad.
thanks for the info!!
paige17257

Kent is right to use caution when consuming soy products. The points made by Dr. Enig and supporters of the Weston A. Price organization are valid.

Kent is also right to point out that the manufacturers of soy products are flooding medical journals with studies on the benefits of soy. There have been 1,375 studies on soy in the last 5 years alone. (Soy is cheap to produce, but soy products are sold at substantial profits.)

The gist of all the new information is that soy products are generally not harmful for women, especially women in menopause. However, soy products should be very limited or not used at all in infants and men due to the elevation of estrogens despite studies that show that soy is safe for short-term use in men and infants.