Lowering Risk Of Heart Disease With Soy (NAPSA)—If you feel like attempts at improving your heart health have been in vain, try this tip: Have somesoy. The USDA hassaid that getting more soy in your diet can reduce your risk of heart disease. The newsis significant considering that cardiovascular disease, which includes heart attacks and strokes, is the number-onekiller of men and women in the U.S. Some experts even estimate that as many as 140 million Americans are at risk for heart disease, or one out of every two people. Unfortunately, because you can’t “feel” high cholesterol levels, most Eating more soy may help lower your risk of heart disease. people don’t learn of their condition until it has the chanceto progress. revealed significantly lower mor- causes, including: the FDA’s interest, and after years of reviewing almost 40 studies on What Causes Heart Disease? Heart disease has a numberof High cholesterol and blood pressure e A high-saturated-fat, highcholesterol diet Being overweight or physically inactive e Diabetes e Age, sex and family history e Smoking. While many of the causes are related to lifestyle, some are less controllable. That’s where soy comes in. The Role Of Soy Studies show that soy lowers total LDL, or “bad” cholesterol (which can be caused by genetics), and that it may raise HDL or “good” cholesterol. It has also been linked with lower triglyceride levels. The FDA and American Heart Association agree that soy should be included in a heart-healthy, low-fat, low-cholesterol diet. The Science Of Soy Initially, attention was drawn to the benefits of soy after data tality rates from cardiovascular disease in Asian populations with soy-rich diets. The studies piqued soy and cholesterol, the group concluded that diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol that include 25 crams of soy protein a day may reduce the risk of heart disease. Shortly following the FDA’s official claim regarding soy and heart health, the American Heart Asso- ciation joined the FDA in urging Americans to eat more soy. Soy Sources The easiest way to add more soy to your diet may be with supplements. There are a variety of high soy protein products available, which makes it easy to get the 25 grams of soy protein the FDA recommends. For example, one Revival Soy Low Carb Chocolate Raspberry Zing bar (19 grams) and one bag of baked pas- ta soy chips (7 grams) provide a total of 26 grams of soy protein in only two servings. For more information on soy’s benefits, go to www.soy.com.
