DALLAS - Veggie burgers and tofu might not be so great at warding off heart disease after all. An American Heart Association committee reviewed a decade of studies on soy's benefits and came up with results that are now casting doubt on the health claim that soy-based foods and supplements significantly lower cholesterol.

The findings could lead the Food and Drug Administration to re-evaluate rules that currently allow companies to tout a cholestorol-lowering benefit on the labels of soy-based food.

The panel also found that neither soy nor the soy component isoflavone reduced symptoms of menopause, such as "hot flashes," and that isoflavones don't help prevent breast, uterine or prostate cancer. Results were mixed on whether soy prevented postmenopausal bone loss.

Based on its findings, the committee said it would not recommend using isoflavone supplements in food or pills. It concluded that soy-containing foods and supplements did not significantly lower cholesterol, and it said so in a statement recently published in the journal Circulation.

Nutrition experts say soy-based foods still are good because they often are eaten in place of less healthy fare like burgers and hot dogs. But they don't have as much direct benefit as had been hoped on cholesterol, one of the top risk factors for heart disease.

"We don't want to lull people into a false sense of security that by eating soy they can solve the problem (with cholesterol)," said Dr. Michael Crawford, chief of clinical cardiology at University of California San Francisco Medical Center.

"If they are radically altering their diet where they're only eating soy in the hopes that this is going to bring their cholesterol down, they're deluding themselves," said Crawford, who was not on the panel that issued the new statement.

The FDA in 1999 started allowing manufacturers to claim that soy products might cut the risk of heart disease after studies showed at least 25 grams of soy protein a day lowered cholesterol. A year later, the Heart Association recommended soy be included in a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol.

But as more research emerged, the Heart Association decided to revisit the issue. The committee members reviewed 22 studies and found that large amounts of dietary soy protein only reduced LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, about 3 percent and had no effect on HDL, or "good" cholesterol, or on blood pressure.

They did a separate analysis of isoflavones. The review of 19 studies suggested that soy isoflavones also had no effect on lowering LDL cholesterol or other lipid risk factors.

"Soy proteins and isoflavones don't have any major health benefits other than soy protein products are generally good foods," said Dr. Frank Sacks, a professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston who led the committee. "They're good to replace other foods that are high in cholesterol."

Still, the Heart Association statement notes that soy products like tofu, soy butter, soy nuts and some soy burgers should be heart-healthy because they contain a lot of polyunsaturated fats, fiber, vitamins and minerals and are low in saturated fat.

"Soy isn't a magic bullet, but it can be a valuable contributor to a heart-healthy diet," said Jo Ann Carson, a professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas who was not part of the panel.

It's important not to think about foods in black-and-white terms, said Dr. Michael Lim, director of the cardiac catheterization lab at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

"There's no quick fix," he said. "Our bad cholesterol numbers would certainly get worse if instead of eating tofu burgers we went out and had hamburgers each night of the week."
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Hmmmm, why does this not surprise me?

Oh yea, because the American consumer's are sheep and will eat up anything you tell them...

First they say eat eggs, lots of em....then they say, no better not........hmmm, then new study shows eggs are good for ya.....so eat them........then we find, well hmmm...eggs are good for you, but not if you fry them and have 47 a day.....

Did that all need to be said? Maybe......

Soy is a good product, it is healthy, so are eggs, and chicken, and fish, and beans, ever heard of beans? Yea, well they are good for ya as well, and vegetable's yea, they are great for ya, but everything in moderation...

Now, Tuna has alot of protein, that is a good thing.

But you cannot eat tuna for 3 meals a day for 2 weeks straight......that is just dumb.

Same thing with soy...... Everything in moderation.....

When will the people learn? Over indulgence in anything is unhealthy......

That's not even news, that's just common sense.

Now please excuse me while I go and overdose on this fresh air, I'm sure that will be the next big health risk.......lol........New Alert: study shows taht if you don't breath you will suffocate and die!!!! Brilliant!

Pardon my sarcasm, I get carried away some times

In yer face!
Just substitute it for the high cholesterol foods. I'm assuming that's about it but I think the protein content is pretty good.

Being a vegan for sometime now The Dairy council makes it its buisness to to create the beleilf that soy is "bad" for you?? Who sponsored the study, that will tell you who has a vested interest. Those calling other sheeps it takes one to know one You fell for the biggest propagated sales tactic going,LOL since the organic community finally was able to get soy on the shelfs after years of issues brought on by the national dairy council, sales have been on the rise, you want to stop sales you tell the morons who get there information off the news and actually beleive and follow it, For instance get a bunch of people ( say 300 million people to become dependent on cows milk for their entire lives because they fear for there teeth and bones, you've just made alot of money, cow's don't ask questions or research but you can. LOL #rule number 1 never ever beleive anything the news tells you, find out for yourself, ask those that actually know. Do i need to go into how these studies work???? I didn't think people actually got there education off the T.V........ namaste sheri