New Research on Soy

I believe many of us living in Asian countries regularly consume soy, such as soy bean milk, particularly in Singapore. One can actually find at least one shop selling soy bean milk when walking down the roads in Singapore. There are in fact many shops selling soy bean milk in malls here in Singapore.

The high demand for soy bean milk was of course derived from our knowledge that soy bean milk is very beneficial for health, in the hope for cancer and heart disease free in the future.

But the actual fact is that, with heart health, it takes a lot of soy to reduce your bad cholesterol by just a tiny amount, although soy whole foods may be good because they replace unhealthy nutrients.

And with cancer, the large amounts of soy taken by Asian populations may reduce breast cancer risk by a little. But recent gene research suggests that your genetic profile affects your response to soy. Some genes may increase cancer risk with high doses of soy and some may reduce it.

So my suggestion is for you that do not live in Asian countries where it is quite hard to find natto, miso, tofu, soy bean milk, you might start lowering your efforts in searching and/or buying those foods, in consideration of the above research.

Dark Chocolate Easter Eggs, Anyone?

Happy Early Easter!!! (^-^)

And yeah, the reasons why I greet happy Easter now is because I just read this interesting research, that I thought you all should know soon!!!

If you guys have not yet bought any Easter chocolate for your beloved friends and families, you'd better rush to nearest sweet tooth stores to get dark chocolate easter eggs!!! Why? Because a new study shows that dark chocolate can lower blood pressure, with no changes to cholesterol or blood sugar.

The main reason is because dark chocolate can contain blood-pressure reducing polyphenols. In this preliminary research, a small piece of dark chocolate was able to lower blood pressure by 2 or 3 points on average. The effects might be caused by polyphenols relaxing the arteries.

However, this study needs further research. But anyhow, a small or few small pieces of dark chocolate won't do you harm. Just remember the classic principle, not to take in any food in excessive amount.

Some of you might be wondering, why not white chocolate? what's with white chocolate then? Besides that it is too sweet (for me, of course), white chocolate is actually polyphenol-free.

So, if you want to indulge your guilty pleasure, at least you have to do it in the right way. Correct?


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References:
Title: Journal of the American Medical Association
Author: Taubert D et al. Effects of low habitual cocoa intake in blood pressure and bioactive nitric oxide. A randomized controlled trial. URL: http://jama.ama-assn.org/
2007;298:49-60