I love cheese but sadly, cheese doesn’t like me. Adding insult of injury, neither do any other members of the dairy family. I was weaned onto soy from a fairly young age, and it has since been effortlessly incorporated into my lifestyle (with a few trips down Cheese Lane when I can’t hold out any more).
When I’m feeling dairy deprived I console myself with the fact that my relatively dairy-free existence has been great for my health. Did you know:
- Among women who have had breast cancer, the Shanghai Breast Cancer Survival Study, which included 5,000 women six months after diagnosis, showed that those who ate about 15g of soya protein a day had a 33 per cent lower risk of dying from breast cancer or relapsing compared with women who ate the least soya protein (6.6g per day).
- However, a pilot study carried out at the Federal University of Sao Paulo in Brazil on 30 post-menopausal women has indicated that soya isoflavones taken in supplement form over a six-month period appeared to improve skin elasticity in 75 per cent of women and to increase collagen (the protein in skin that gives it bounce and a youthful plump appearance) in more than 85 per cent of women.
- Although some studies appear to question this, most research does supports the claim that soy can help lower cholesterol. Intakes of 15g-40g of soya protein a day can lower “bad” cholesterol by 6 per cent.
For all the goodly soy details, check out the UK Times Online
