The Truth About Soy

October 28, 2011, By Taurus Londoño 1 comment

The humble soybean, also known as soya, is arguably the most controversial legume around. From fringe food to healthy menu staple, soy has come a long way in the western world. While some sing its praises, recent studies are rekindling nagging doubts about whether soy is really the superstar that it's cracked up to be.

Soy's sketchy past. Its name alone once evoked a gut-level reaction in guys more used to steak and potatoes than rice and tofu. Soy was initially dismissed by the western public as a hippie import from Asia. The reality is that soy's history in the U.S. stretches back much further. In fact, George Washington Carver and Henry Ford were just two of the early promoters of the crop, and Ford even experimented with soy-based plastics in cars.

An Asian staple becomes a western health food. The soybean has been a major part of the Asian diet for more than a thousand years in the form of dishes such as edamame (cooked soybean pods that look a lot like peas in a pod), tofu, miso, tempeh and a variety of soybean pastes, milk and more. While these might seem like exotic foods, they're as common throughout Asia as corn flakes are in America. Originally touted as a low-calorie meat alternative, studies on its potential health benefits culminated in a decision by the FDA in 1999 to allow soy products a heart-health claim, dramatically increasing sales and cementing soy's status as a health food.

The FDA: Soy lowers cholesterol, or does it? The heart healthy label allowed by the FDA for soy-based foods states that "25 grams of soy protein a day, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease." While studies seemed to show that soy intake lowered LDL (aka "bad") cholesterol, a risk factor for heart disease, a 2001 review by the Institute of Pharmacological Sciences claimed that the link was "poorly supported." In 2006, the American Heart Association found that soy's average effect on LDL and other heart disease risk factors was nonexistent. On the other hand, the AHA also stated that "soy products should be beneficial to cardiovascular and overall health because of their high content of polyunsaturated fats, fiber, vitamins and minerals, and low content of saturated fat." The FDA continues to stand by the heart-health claim.

NEXT: Soy and prostate cancer