By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, May 23, 2005, abstracted from “Longitudinal study of soy food intake and blood pressure among middle-aged and elderly Chinese women” in the May 2005 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
As we age, one of the predictors of overall health is your blood pressure. As the third leading cause of disability1 because of the role it plays in precipitating heart disease2 and kidney damage,3 researchers have concluded that high blood pressure is a global burden and an exploding epidemic.4
Now, a new study5 has found that a popular health food can help you effectively treat your high blood pressure.
In addition to generating over $1.4 billion in sales in the U.S. each year,6 research has found that Soy may help decrease breast cancer risk,7 improve insulin sensitivity8 and decrease inflammation9 in postmenopausal women.
In the study, researchers assessed soy intake in over 45,000 women aged 40-70 years who participated in The Shanghai Women's Health Study. All of the participants had no history of hypertension, diabetes, or cardiovascular disease.
They found that soy protein intake was inversely associated with a lower blood pressure, decreasing systolic BP by an average of 1.9 mm Hg and diastolic BP by an average of .9 mm Hg. The biggest drop in BP happened in women over 60, who averaged a drop in systolic BP of 4.9 mm Hg and a drop in diastolic of 2.2 mm Hg. For the group, the best results were found when women consumed more than 2.5 g of Soy protein per day.
For the researchers, “Usual intake of soy foods was inversely associated with both systolic and diastolic blood pressures, particularly among elderly women.”
Reference:
1 M Ezzati, AD Lopez, A Rodgers, S Vander Hoorn and CJ. Murray, Selected major risk factors and globasl and regional burden of disease. Lancet 360 (2002), pp. 1347–1360
2 J He and PK. Whelton, Epidemiology and prevention of hypertension. Med Clin North Am 81 (1997), pp. 1077–1097
3 PK. Whelton, Epidemiology of hypertension. Lancet 344 (1994), pp. 101–106
4 Casas JP. Homocysteine and stroke: evidence on a causal link from mendelian randomization. Lancet 2005; 365(9455): 224-232
5 Gong Yang. Longitudinal study of soy food intake and blood pressure among middle-aged and elderly Chinese women Am J Clin Nutr 2005 81: 1012-1017
6 Supermarket News; Vol.46, No.11; March 11, 1996; p.51
7 Jakes, R. W., S. W. Duffy, et al. (2002). "Mammographic parenchymal patterns and self-reported soy intake in Singapore Chinese women." Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 11(7): 608-13
8 Jayagopal, V., P. "Beneficial effects of soy phytoestrogen intake in postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes." Diabetes Care 25(10): 1709-14
9 Nagata, C., H. Shimizu, et al. (2003). "Soy product intake is inversely associated with serum homocysteine level in premenopausal Japanese women." J Nutr 133(3): 797-800
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