Soy nuts may help reduce high blood pressure, cholesterol levels in women

Boffins have found that substituting soy nuts for other protein sources in a healthy diet might lower blood pressure in postmenopausal women, and reduce cholesterol levels in women with high blood pressure.

Washington, May 29 : Boffins have found that substituting soy nuts for other protein sources in a healthy diet might lower blood pressure in postmenopausal women, and reduce cholesterol levels in women with high blood pressure.

The study was conducted by a team of researchers led by Francine K. Welty at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston.

As part of the study, researchers assigned 60 healthy post-menopausal women to eat two diets for eight weeks each in random order.

The first diet, the 'Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes' (TLC) diet, consisted of 30 percent of calories from fat (with 7 percent or less from saturated fat), 15 percent from protein and 55 percent from carbohydrates, 1,200 milligrams of calcium per day, two meals of fatty fish (such as salmon or tuna) per week, and less than 200 milligrams of cholesterol per day.

The second diet had the same calorie, fat and protein content, but the women were instructed to replace 25 grams of protein with one-half cup of unsalted soy nuts.

Blood pressure and blood samples for cholesterol testing were taken at the beginning and end of each eight-week period.

Researchers found that high blood pressure was reduced in women taking the second diet plan."Soy nut supplementation significantly reduced systolic [top number] and diastolic [bottom number] blood pressure in all 12 hypertensive women and in 40 of the 48 normotensive women," the authors wrote.

"Compared with the TLC diet alone, the TLC diet plus soy nuts lowered systolic and diastolic blood pressure 9.9 percent and 6.8 percent, respectively, in hypertensive women and 5.2 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively, in normotensive women," the authors added.

Researchers also found that the soy diet also decreased levels of low-density lipoprotein ("bad") cholesterol by an average of 11 percent and levels of apoliprotein B (a particle that carries bad cholesterol) by an average of 8 percent in women with high blood pressure.

Cholesterol levels remained the same in women with normal blood pressure.

"A 12-millimeter of mercury decrease in systolic blood pressure for 10 years has been estimated to prevent one death for every 11 patients with stage one hypertension treated; therefore, the average reduction of 15 milligrams of mercury in systolic blood pressure in hypertensive women in the present study could have significant implications for reducing cardiovascular risk and death on a population basis," the authors wrote.

"This study was performed in the free-living state; therefore, dietary soy may be a practical, safe and inexpensive modality to reduce blood pressure. If the findings are repeated in a larger group they may have important implications for reducing cardiovascular risk in postmenopausal women on a population basis," the writers concluded.

The findings of the study were published in the May issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

ANI