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Media Releases
Soy and Bone Health: Can Soy Ward off Osteoporosis?
Columbia, Mo. (June 22, 2005) - Soy products have become a mainstay on grocery store shelves and gained a steady presence on the dinner table. The health-conscious crowd knows already that consuming soy might help maintain healthy cholesterol levels and ward off heart disease. But while most of the medical attention has been focused on soy's cholesterol-lowering properties, there is something to be said about its effects on bone health as well.
Soy may help protect the bones of post-menopausal women, who are prone to bone loss as result of hormonal changes.
Soy's bone-protective qualities gained some attention as a safer alternative to hormone-replacement therapy after studies found that hormonal pills might increase one's risk of heart disease, stroke and several types of cancers.
But how much do we really know about the soy-bone health connection? While soy products may offer a great variety of health benefits, when it comes to bone health, the jury is still out. In other words, don't throw away your calcium tablets and vitamin D pills quite yet, warns Dr. Celso Valazqauez, professor of assistant professor of rheumatology at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine.
"Evidence to support consuming soy products is at best inconclusive at this time, although soy proteins may be part of a healthy diet," Velazquez says. "There is terrific evidence to support the fact that adequate calcium and vitamin D intake are more useful to prevent osteoporosis, as is maintaining a healthy lifestyle of exercise and not smoking. Soy proteins just aren't at that level of evidence yet."
Here are some questions that might give your audience greater insight about soy and bone health.
How strong is the current evidence that soy maintains bone health?
Given the state of the current research, should women over 50 consume soy products regularly?
Who might benefit the most from adding soy to their diets?
Is soy consumed from food better than soy contained in dietary supplements?
Are there certain categories of women who have certain medical conditions be refraining from too much soy consumption?
Soybeans are rich sources of calcium. The following equal one cup of milk in terms of calcium content:
--One and a half cups of cooked soybeans
--Half cup of tofu with calcium
--Two and a half cups of broccoli
--Four cups of pinto beans
--Five cups of red beans
--Two cups of white beans
To schedule an interview with a MARRTC expert, please call Becky Woelfel, Senior Information Specialist, at (573) 882-2914 or woelfelr@missouri.edu
For more information on osteoporosis, go to www.marrtc.org/conditions/osteoporosis.html
Osteoporosis Primer:
Osteoporosis affects mainly older, post-menopausal women, but it can develop in younger women and men as well. Groups at risk for early-onset osteoporosis include women who have undergone premature menopause and lost their body's estrogen supply because of surgery or medication, as well as people with chronic illnesses such as emphysema, asthma, or lupus, who are on long-term corticosteroid therapy.
According to the Surgeon General's office, the 1.5 million osteoporotic fractures in the United States each year lead to more than half a million hospitalizations, more than 800,000 emergency room visits, more than 2,600,000 physician office visits, and the placement of nearly 180,000 individuals into nursing homes. Caring for these fractures is expensive. Studies show that annual direct care expenditures for osteoporotic fractures range from $12 to $18 billion per year.
The Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC) was established in 1971 at the University of Missouri-Columbia Arthritis Center. MARRTC is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (H133B031120) and is the only federally funded arthritis rehabilitation research and training center in the country.
As part of the MU Health Communication Research Center (HCRC), MARRTC's mission is to become a national leader in the areas of disability management and communication, improve the quality of life and promote independent living among people who have arthritis and arthritic conditions.
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