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New York: Do you eat soy products daily? Do not exclude them from your
diet, especially if you are a woman, for a healthy heart. The key,
however, is to begin eating soy early in life. According to new
research, lifelong soy consumption, similar to the diet of women in
Asia, produces the least atherosclerosis (hardening and narrowing of
the arteries). Switching to a Western diet after menopause, similar to
Asian migrants to North America, leads to just as much atherosclerosis
as a lifelong Western diet. "While switching to soy from a Western
diet after menopause helps only if there is not much atherosclerosis
already," researchers stressed. Researchers from Wake Forest School of
Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, did a study on female
monkeys before and after surgical menopause. They fed pre-menopausal
monkeys a diet with protein derived mainly from animal sources or a
diet with protein from soybeans. After having their ovaries removed,
mimicking human menopause, one group of monkeys continued to eat a soy
diet, another switched from animal protein to soy, a third group stuck
with animal protein, and a fourth switched from animal protein to soy.
After 34 months, cholesterol levels were good in the monkeys who ate
soy before and after menopause. For those that switched to a soy
protein diet after menopause, cholesterol levels did improve
significantly. But when it came to how much plaque progressed in the
arteries, there were not any statistically significant differences,
despite trends favouring a lifelong soy diet and the switch to soy
after menopause. "But monkeys eating a lifelong soy diet showed a much
lower proportion of complicated plaque in the arteries than other
monkeys," researchers added. "This study underscores how important it
is for women to get into the best cardiovascular shape they can before
menopause. The healthy habits they start then will carry them through
the years to come," suggested Margery Gass, executive director of the
journal of the North American Menopause Society (NAMS), that published
the research.
IANS
