Want Muscle Gains - Don't Eat Soya
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Is soya detrimental to your muscle gains? - The untold story
Soy is widely considered to be something of a medicinal super food, touted as helping to prevent conditions as diverse as heart disease, hot flashes, osteoporosis, kidney disease, Alzheimer's disease, and even cancer. But a new government-sponsored review of soy research shows little to justify the hype.
An analysis of close to 200 soy studies conducted over the past two decades showed only limited evidence of specific health benefits associated with eating soy products or taking soy supplements.
Eating tofu and other soy-based products was associated with a small reduction in low-density lipoprotein, also known as LDL "bad" cholesterol. And taking soy supplements was found to reduce the
frequency of hot flashes in postmenopausal women.
But the analysts concluded that the studies are not convincing enough to recommend including more soy in your diet to lower heart disease risk or treat symptoms associated with menopause.
And the research to date fails to prove a protective benefit from soy against a wide range of other medical conditions, including osteoporosis, kidney disease, Alzheimer's disease, thyroid disease,
diabetes, and cancer.
"This report shows us that there is a lot we don't know about soy and that more research is needed to determine if soy has any impact on a number of health conditions," says Carolyn Clancy, MD. Clancy is director of the federal government's Agency for Healthcare Research Quality, which sponsored the researcher.
PS: I am increasingly concerned at how customers are being short-changed or conned into taking sports nutrition products that are not effective at the expense of profits and mass-market demand.
Soy is widely considered to be something of a medicinal super food, touted as helping to prevent conditions as diverse as heart disease, hot flashes, osteoporosis, kidney disease, Alzheimer's disease, and even cancer. But a new government-sponsored review of soy research shows little to justify the hype.
An analysis of close to 200 soy studies conducted over the past two decades showed only limited evidence of specific health benefits associated with eating soy products or taking soy supplements.
Eating tofu and other soy-based products was associated with a small reduction in low-density lipoprotein, also known as LDL "bad" cholesterol. And taking soy supplements was found to reduce the
frequency of hot flashes in postmenopausal women.
But the analysts concluded that the studies are not convincing enough to recommend including more soy in your diet to lower heart disease risk or treat symptoms associated with menopause.
And the research to date fails to prove a protective benefit from soy against a wide range of other medical conditions, including osteoporosis, kidney disease, Alzheimer's disease, thyroid disease,
diabetes, and cancer.
"This report shows us that there is a lot we don't know about soy and that more research is needed to determine if soy has any impact on a number of health conditions," says Carolyn Clancy, MD. Clancy is director of the federal government's Agency for Healthcare Research Quality, which sponsored the researcher.
PS: I am increasingly concerned at how customers are being short-changed or conned into taking sports nutrition products that are not effective at the expense of profits and mass-market demand.
