So-ya good

There have been a number of studies investigating the effects of soya isolates (eg extracted soya protein) on human health but not so many using soya foods as they are normally eaten. A recent study did just that as it was aimed at investigating the effect of soya milk consumption on cholesterol levels in blood. High cholesterol is responsible for furred up arteries so it’s important to keep your cholesterol in check in order to stay healthy. Healthy young to middle-aged volunteers consumed soya milk daily for a period of 21 days. At the end of this period, the volunteers had significantly reduced total cholesterol – on average by 11 per cent. The ‘bad’ cholesterol (LDL), which is the type that tends to stick to the walls of arteries, was reduced by an astonishing 25 per cent. On the other hand, the ‘good’ cholesterol (HDL) – that’s the type of cholesterol that is being cleared away – was increased by 20 per cent. These results are very positive as it’s been suggested by the authors that soya could be an important non-drug cholesterol-reducing agent.

_{Onuegbu, A.J., et al., 2011. Consumption of Soymilk Lowers Atherogenic Lipid Fraction in Healthy Individuals. Journal of Medicinal Food. 14 (3) 257–260.}