Add Fermented Soy Products To Your Diet For Better Health, Says A Study

With the increase in awareness of healthy foods, our diet regime has been changing day by day. From various exotic superfoods to healthy beverages, people have started adding nutritious ingredients to their regular diet chart. If we talk about the new food additions, fermented soy products definitely find a mention. Tofu, natto and miso have created quite a buzz in the world of fitness. These soy products are enriched with vitamins and minerals which include vitamin K1, folate, phosphorus, copper manganese and what not. Researchers say, a higher intake of fermented soy products such as miso (soybeans fermented with Aspergillus oryzae), tofu (soybean curd), and natto (soybeans fermented with Bacillus subtilis) is associated with the lower risk of early death.

For the findings, published in the journal The BMJ, researchers set out to investigate the association between several types of soy products and death from diseases such as cancer, total cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and injury. They based their findings on 42,750 men and 50,165 women aged 45-74 years who were taking part in a study based in 11 of Japan's public health centre areas.

Findings Of The Study On Soy Products

According to the study, participants filled in detailed questionnaires about their dietary habits, lifestyle, and health status. Deaths were identified from residential registries and death certificates over a follow-up period of nearly 15 years, the researchers said. The study found that a higher intake of fermented soy (natto and miso) was associated with a significantly lower (10 per cent) risk of all-cause mortality, but total soy product intake was not associated with all-cause mortality.

Men and women who ate natto also had a lower risk of cardiovascular mortality than those who did not eat natto, but there was no association between soy intake and cancer-related mortality. These results persisted even after further adjusting for the intake of vegetables, which was higher among those consuming larger portions of natto, the research said.

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Soy products are enriched with vitamins and minerals

According to the researchers, fermented soy products are richer in fibre, potassium and bioactive components than their non-fermented counterparts, which may help to explain their associations. However, this is an observational study so can't establish cause, and the researchers cannot rule out the possibility that some of the observed risks may be due to other unmeasured factors.

In Asian countries, especially Japan, several types of soy products are widely consumed. "In this large prospective study conducted in Japan with a high rate of soy consumption, no significant association was found between the intake of total soy products and all-cause mortality," said study researchers from National Cancer Centre in Japan. They even added, "In contrast, a higher intake of fermented soy products (natto and miso) was associated with a lower risk of mortality."

With inputs from IANS

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