Soy and bone health have been research fairly extensively. After hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was recognized as a health risk, people have been looking for other ways to help keep bones strong to prevent fractures.
Early research thought that isoflavones found in soy could substitute for HRT. That concept didn’t really work out as hoped. However, there is still some evidence that including soy in your diet may be beneficial to bone health.
Usual soy intake was looked at in a large study including 24,402 healthy menopausal women with no history of bone fractures. After 4.5 years of follow up, 1,770 fractures were identified. Coorelating soy intake with fractures and adjusting for other risk factors, those women eating the most soy (top 20%) showed a 37% decrease in fractures compared to those eating the least soy (bottome 20%). When looking just at women within the first 10 years after menopause (that’s when they lose the most calcium from their bones), those eating the most soy cut their risk of fractures by nearly half (48%). The researcher’s concluded, “Soy food consumption may reduce the risk of fractures in post menopauslal women, particualrly among those in the early years following menopause.”
One advantage of soy foods is that they can help replace meat and other animal proteins in the diet that are linked to increased loss of calcium in the urine. Soy has also been shown to be protective aginst heart disease. The research seems to indicate that eating whole soy foods is better than trying to take soy isoflavones as a supplement. Good soy sources include: soy milk, tofu, soy burgers, soy nuts, fresh greens soybeens (look for them in the frozen food section of your grocery store), and baked soy beans (seasoned in tomato sauce). Adding a serving of soy daily may help you maint good bone health. |
