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 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has allowed soy products to
carry claims about heart benefits since 1999. But in 2017 the FDA
proposed revoking this authorization, citing mixed results in more
recent studies of the heart benefits of soy.
For the current analysis, researchers pooled data from 46 soy trials
cited by the FDA in its proposal to revoke permission for soy
products to be marketed as heart healthy.
Soy reduced total cholesterol, the analysis found. Soy also reduced
levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, or so-called
"bad cholesterol," which can lead to blood clots and heart attacks.
"Patients can feel confident that soy will help lower cholesterol in
the same way as other FDA approved plant foods such as nuts, oats
and barley, psyllium products and plant sterol margarines," said Dr.
David J.A. Jenkins, lead study author and a nutrition researcher at
the University of Toronto in Canada.
"The FDA has been a `trailblazer' in alerting the public to plant
foods that lower cholesterol and it is so sad to see them retreating
now just as the public are waking up to the value of plant foods and
protein foods in particular," said Jenkins, who has received funding
from a wide range of food companies, including some that sell
soy-based products.
Since 1990, the FDA has been responsible for evaluating health
claims on packaged foods to ensure that they are rooted in strong
science, the FDA said in its October 2017 statement announcing its
proposal to revoke the claim for soy. Other claims approved for food
packages over the years include the potential for calcium and
vitamin D to lower the risk of osteoporosis or for certain fruits
and vegetables to lower the risk of cancer.
The FDA did not respond to a request for comment on the new study.
In the 2017 statement, Susan Mayne, director of the FDA Center for
Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said, "Our review of that
evidence has led us to conclude that the relationship between soy
protein and heart disease does not meet the rigorous standard for an
FDA-authorized health claim."
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In the current analysis, soy reduced LDL by an average of 4.2 to 6.7
mg/dL, researchers report in the Journal of the American Heart
Association. That's similar to the average reduction of 6.3 mg/dL
seen in studies completed by 1999 that contributed to the FDA
authorization of heart health claims for soy, the study team writes.
"Soy foods are heart healthy and a good source of protein," said Dr.
Omer Kucuk, a researcher at Emory University who wasn't involved in
the study. "Other habits for a healthy heart include daily physical
activity and a diet rich in vegetables and low in sugar and
saturated fat," Kucuk said by email.
People who want to reduce their risk of heart attacks and strokes
should also avoid egg yolk, limit intake of red meat, and in general
consume a more plant-based diet, said Dr. David Spence, a researcher
at Western University, in London, Ontario, who wasn't involved in
the study.
Soy is one of many ways people can achieve a more plant-based diet
without losing the protein they may be used to getting from meat,
Spence said by email.
"Any combination of grains and legumes contains all the essential
amino acids that are necessary for your body to make protein,"
Spence added. "So, any combination of peas, beans, lentils,
chickpeas, nuts, etc. with bread, pasta, or rice (all of which
should be whole grain) gets you protein."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2kdxJdt Journal of the American Heart
Association, online July 2, 2019.
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