THE FOURTH SOY SYMPOSIUM: ATHEROSCLEROSIS
DR. BARNES: Another very important study that's emerging from Dr. Clarkson's group concerns atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is the hardening of the arteries. It's due to the laying down of cholesterol deposits and the proliferation of cells within the artery.
The advantage of using monkeys is that the amount of atherosclerosis could be detected in the carotid arteries of the monkeys on different types of diets.
The monkeys were placed on bad diets in terms of lipid and cholesterol content, and they had either casein, extracted soy protein, or unextracted soy protein as the protein content in the diet. The extent of the surface of the carotoid arteries having these atherosclerotic lesions is about 30 percent in the animals on the casein diet. In contrast, those on the soy plus diet have a value of less than 5 percent. This is very, very interesting news.
There's also a study that Dr. Clarkson has done, which wasn't reported at the meeting, this concerning the injuries that occur when people have balloon angioplasties.
An example of somebody famous who had a balloon angioplasty recently was Tommy Lasorda, who had atherosclerosis in one of his arteries. In this procedure the idea is to stretch the artery to open it up, so that the blood flows through more readily. However, the cells which have been stretched tend to start growing again, and the artery can become blocked again. So, three months later Tommy was back in the hospital for a second balloon angioplasty.
In the monkey, there is no re-growth on a soy diet. Soy prevents that re-growth. That's a very, very intriguing finding and one that we want to try and reproduce in humans, perhaps even Tommy Lasorda.
In summary, I think it's fairly clear that soy does lower the levels of cholesterol in both men and women. This is very well documented. The monkey studies only go to show that we can extend this use of soy a lot further.
What in soy is responsible for the effect, is still debatable. At the symposium, strong views were expressed as to whether the isoflavones were doing this or whether it was some part of the protein. A lot of dispute remains on this issue.
I know that some people are thinking about going for a health claim for soy in this area. I warn them to be very careful, and get their cases thoroughly documented because the FDA is not such a friendly audience as this one might be. It's important we make sure we have data before making these health claims. If it needs investigation, then further research investment is needed.
Source: TalkSoy.com
---
Marlon Wade
Staff Writer
info@cafesoy.com
The advantage of using monkeys is that the amount of atherosclerosis could be detected in the carotid arteries of the monkeys on different types of diets.
The monkeys were placed on bad diets in terms of lipid and cholesterol content, and they had either casein, extracted soy protein, or unextracted soy protein as the protein content in the diet. The extent of the surface of the carotoid arteries having these atherosclerotic lesions is about 30 percent in the animals on the casein diet. In contrast, those on the soy plus diet have a value of less than 5 percent. This is very, very interesting news.
There's also a study that Dr. Clarkson has done, which wasn't reported at the meeting, this concerning the injuries that occur when people have balloon angioplasties.
An example of somebody famous who had a balloon angioplasty recently was Tommy Lasorda, who had atherosclerosis in one of his arteries. In this procedure the idea is to stretch the artery to open it up, so that the blood flows through more readily. However, the cells which have been stretched tend to start growing again, and the artery can become blocked again. So, three months later Tommy was back in the hospital for a second balloon angioplasty.
In the monkey, there is no re-growth on a soy diet. Soy prevents that re-growth. That's a very, very intriguing finding and one that we want to try and reproduce in humans, perhaps even Tommy Lasorda.
In summary, I think it's fairly clear that soy does lower the levels of cholesterol in both men and women. This is very well documented. The monkey studies only go to show that we can extend this use of soy a lot further.
What in soy is responsible for the effect, is still debatable. At the symposium, strong views were expressed as to whether the isoflavones were doing this or whether it was some part of the protein. A lot of dispute remains on this issue.
I know that some people are thinking about going for a health claim for soy in this area. I warn them to be very careful, and get their cases thoroughly documented because the FDA is not such a friendly audience as this one might be. It's important we make sure we have data before making these health claims. If it needs investigation, then further research investment is needed.
Source: TalkSoy.com
---
Marlon Wade
Staff Writer
info@cafesoy.com
Labels: atherosclerosis
posted by Café Soy News @ 10:19 PM
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