The Soy Truth?

While I'm not in the habit of telling people to avoid certain foods, soy proteins are generally a poor choice for athletes that want to maximize recovery and results from exercise. Based purely on research, unlike whey proteins, there doesn't seem to be any unique health benefit from soy consumption. Additionally, protein metabolism research suggests that soy protein supplementation in large amounts may actually shift whole body protein metabolism towards amino acid degradation and a net loss in protein.

Soy’s heart-health claims (improve cholesterol profiles and markers of cardiovascular health), are also under investigation. This is because an equivalent amount of research has shown little if any benefit from soy on cardiovascular health. Soy’s impact on heart health is not as apparent as initially suspected.

For the record, all the negative hoopla about soy’s phytoestrogens (isoflavones) is moot. A wealth of literature confirms that when consumed as a food or food product, soy isoflavones in their natural state are benign in human metabolism.

However, one study has revealed that a diet rich in soy may activate a mutant gene that triggers a deadly form of heart disease. This particular form of heart disease is the leading cause of cardiac-related death in young adults.

The problem is that people don’t know if they are carrying this defective gene or not. While I don’t think that a little soy in the diet is harmful, all in all, I would not go out of my way to include soy in my nutrition plan.

Source: Journ of Clin Invest.

Dr Paul Cribb is an award-winning sports scientist, author, personal trainer and the creator of mp-body.com – the first ever science-based, research-proven, nationally accredited body transformation program. Learn more here.