There are very few foods that are allowed by the U.S. FDA to include health claims on the label. Yet, soy is among those that are. You may have even read one of the claims lately saying that diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol that include twenty-five grams of soy protein daily can lower the risk of heart disease. Soy has a lot of good properties, some of them are mentioned below.

Soy aids an assortment of ailments from cardiovascular disease to prostate cancer to menopause symptoms. Even with these benefits a lot of people simply don't eat soy because they're not acquainted with it. The soybean is a legume and is made into an assortment of foods like soy milk, tofu, miso, and tempeh. Many of these you can purchase in your local grocery store.

Soy improves cardiovascular disease by bringing down LDL (bad) cholesterol up to 4% to 5%. Even greater decreases of LDL occur when you replace soy for less heart healthy foods like red meat and other saturated fats. There are current hypotheses that indicate soy has such a advantageous effect because it step-ups the activity of receptors that "trap" low-density lipoproteins.

Soy is full of isoflavones. These chemicals, while weaker, are very similar to estrogen and have some of the same effects. Also called phytoestrogens, isoflavones help arteries relax and dilate thereby improving circulation. More blood flow to the body and its organs is always a good thing. This artery dilation also helps to decrease blood pressure. Some studies have shown decreases up to 15 points.

Men will be happy to know the following facts. Studies have shown that cancer patients who consumed soy isoflavones for six months showed a leveling off of prostate-specific antigen, a key indicator in prostate cancer. In addition, isoflavones are believed to inhibit enzymes that fuel tumor growth.

Men aren't the only ones to benefit from consuming soy. Menopausal women also get great benefits from soy because the phytoestrogens in soy are metabolized in the body into equol. Women who have had more than 5 hot flashes each day have found that eating soy can help reduce hot flash frequency up to 40%. Soy has also proven helpful in reducing vaginal dryness in some menopausal women.

Finally, people with kidney disease can also be helped by eating soy. Glomerular filtration rate is a measure of kidney stress that is reduced when animal proteins are replaced with soy proteins. This reduction in kidney stress may help slow kidney damage.

With its incredible health benefits for men and women of all ages, and its ability to provide a good source of high protein, low fat calories, soy is likely to continue to be a popular, and healthy choice for dieters everywhere. So start incorporating soy based foods into your diet today, and harness all the benefits soy has to offer.