Higher soy intake and having a balanced diet can help reduce
risk of death, said a study result made public Thursday by the
University of Hong Kong.
The university's faculty of medicine conducted a study which
captured 81 percent of the death case in Hong Kong in 1998.
Researchers collected information on eating habits of the deaths 10
years earlier, as well as that of similar living people of the same
age.
The results show that people with a higher soy intake had a
lower risk of death. Those who ate soy four or more times per week
had about 30 percent lower risk of death compared with those who
ate soy less than once per month.
It is also revealed in the results that people with high intakes
of less healthy food like meat and dairy products and less intake
of healthy food including vegetables, fruits, fish, soy and tea,
had about 113 percent higher risk of death than those who had a
balanced diet.
Head of the university's department of community medicine
Professor Lam Tai-hing said that soy is rich in protein and fiber
and can help reduce the chance of having cancer and heart
disease.
Lam suggested member of the public to intake nutrients provided
by soy through eating food like tofu and soy milk, rather than
directly taking soy extracts.
Addressing the problem of Hong Kong people having a diet with
more meat than vegetables, Lam suggested people to have vegetables
and fruits before eating meat during every meal.
"There is little evidence that high intake of meat and milk are
harmful to health" if the same amount of healthy food are being
consumed, Lam explained, adding that the bad effects of those less
healthy food which might have on our body can be counteracted.
The above study results were published in 2006 in two renowned
international medical journals -- Preventive Medicine and
International Journal of Epidemiology.
(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2007)
