Soy and Heart Disease

Q: I recently read that soy is no longer recommended to prevent heart disease. I finally started liking it; should I stop eating it?

A: Recent studies indicate that taking soy or isoflavone supplements will not significantly reduce cholesterol or the risk of heart disease. For that reason, the American Heart Association recently recommended people not rely on soy as a method of heart disease prevention. The bottom line: Taking soy or isoflavone supplements is unlikely to reduce your risk of heart disease.

However, soy products tend to be high in protein and low in saturated fat. Eating foods that contain soy protein to replace food high in animal fats may prove beneficial to heart health.

Jennifer H. Mieres, M.D., is director of nuclear cardiology and associate professor of clinical medicine at New York University. She’s also a spokesperson for the American Heart Association.