Do Soy Nuts Lower Blood Pressure and Cholesterol?

Do Soy Nuts Help Lower Blood Pressure and Cholesterol?

For women who are concerned about their blood pressure and cholesterol, in addition to their routine medical care and medication, they may want to talk to their health care providers or dietitians about consuming soy nuts.  The results of this recent study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, suggest that consuming soy nuts lowers blood pressure in hypertensive women, but has no effect on blood pressure in women with normal blood pressure.

Study Background:

“Epidemiologic studies suggest a low incidence of cardiovascular disease in populations that consume dietary soy. For people aged 40 to 70 years, each increment of 20 mm Hg in systolic blood pressure (BP) or 10 mm Hg in diastolic BP doubles the risk of cardiovascular disease for BPs of 115/75 to 185/115 mm Hg. METHODS: To determine the effect of soy nuts on systolic and diastolic BP and lipid levels, 60 healthy postmenopausal women were randomized in a crossover design to a Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) diet alone and a TLC diet of similar energy, fat, and protein content in which soy nuts (containing 25 g of soy protein and 101 mg of aglycone isoflavones) replaced 25 g of non-soy protein. Each diet was followed for 8 weeks.”

Soy Nuts and Blood Pressure:

“Compared with the TLC diet alone, the TLC diet plus soy nuts lowered systolic and diastolic BP 9.9% and 6.8%, respectively, in hypertensive women (systolic BP> or =140 mm Hg).”

Additionally, the study authors concluded that soy nuts reduced both LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) as well as apolipoprotein B (high levels of apolipoprotein B correlate with heart disease risk).

Soy Nuts and Cholesterol Levels:

“Soy nut supplementation lowered low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and apolipoprotein B levels 11% and 8%.”

Study Conclusions:

“Substituting soy nuts for nonsoy protein in a TLC diet improves BP and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in hypertensive women and BP in normotensive postmenopausal women. These findings may explain a cardioprotective effect of soy.”

References:

1. Welty FK, Lee KS, Lew NS, Zhou JR.  Effect of soy nuts on blood pressure and lipid levels in hypertensive, prehypertensive, and normotensive postmenopausal women.  Arch Intern Med. 2007 May 28;167(10):1060-7.

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