More good news about soy

[Guest guest]

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- Daily consumption of soy nuts might lower

blood pressure and reduce hot flashes in menopausal women, researchers

announced Tuesday.

However, the lead researcher of the study, preventive cardiologist Dr.

Francine Welty, cautioned that the findings must be confirmed in a

larger number of women for a longer amount of time than the study

involved.

Welty followed 61 menopausal women -- 12 with high blood pressure and 49

with normal blood pressure -- who served as their own control group by

consuming no soy for eight weeks, then having a daily serving of a

half-cup of dry-roasted, low-salt soy nuts for eight weeks.

The women were told to eat the soy nuts throughout the day -- some at

breakfast, some at lunch, some at dinner and some before going to bed.

The mean age of the participants was 53 for those with normal blood

pressure and 58 for those with high blood pressure.

The hypertensive women experienced an average 10 percent drop in

systolic blood pressure and a 7 percent drop in diastolic blood pressure

after eight weeks of daily soy consumption. Women with normal blood

pressure had a 5 percent decrease in systolic blood pressure and a 3

percent decrease in diastolic blood pressure.

Welty said the drop in systolic blood pressure was a surprise finding,

and she said it seems that even women with normal blood pressure can

benefit from a daily serving of soy nuts.

 

The full article can be found at

http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/diet.fitness/11/20/soy.nuts/index.html

 

 

--

Sherri

 

Wrinkled was not one of the things I wanted to be when I grew up.