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New research has found that soy milk was a better choice than nonfat dairy milk for men and women with high LDL “bad” cholesterol levels.*
At the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, scientists put 60 people with high LDL levels, averaging 158 mg/dL, on a six-week cholesterol-lowering diet that emphasized fruits and vegetables and moderate servings of lean meat and nonfat dairy milk. Then, during weeks 7 through 12, half the subjects switched to soy milk. The other half kept drinking nonfat dairy milk. The soy milk drinkers ended up with LDL levels that were 10 points lower than the dairy milk drinkers.
In addition, the soy milk drinkers saw their HDL “good” cholesterol levels go up a little, from 58 to 62 mg/dL. The HDL levels of the nonfat dairy milk drinkers stayed the same.
The results, wrote the scientists, “indicate that soy milk as part of a lipid-lowering diet has beneficial effects in improving lipid profiles.”
If you haven’t already done so, give soy milk a try. Numerous studies support the heart health benefits of soy foods. And many guests at the Pritikin Longevity Center® & Spa, trying soy milk for the first time, find that they actually prefer the taste of soy milk to nonfat dairy milk.
Says former New York City mayor David Dinkins, who “discovered” soy milk during his first vacation at Pritikin in January 2002, “I was pleasantly surprised. Now, every morning I have oatmeal with vanilla-flavored soy milk. It’s very tasty.”
Nutrition, 2004; 20: 200.
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