From: Harvey Newstrom (newstrom@newstaffinc.com)
Date: Sat Nov 27 1999 - 11:55:57 MST
Ian Goddard <Ian@goddard.net> wrote to <extropians@extropy.org> on Saturday,
November 27, 1999 4:24 am:
>
> http://starbulletin.com/1999/11/19/news/story4.html
>
> Too much tofu induces 'brain aging,' study shows
>
> A Hawaii research team says high consumption
> of the soy product by a group of men lowered
> mental abilities
>
> By Helen Altonn
> Star-Bulletin
I have been watching this recent research with some concern, because I
am a vegetarian and eat tofu. However, we have to be careful when a
single new study comes out that refutes previous studies. Most studies
show soy foods helping fight cancer and aging. Maybe tofu does lower
mental acuity, but helps in other ways.
The study did not indicate higher death rates or disease rates among those
who ate tofu. They seemed to score lower on mental acuity tests, which are
much more subjective. Such test scores vary between cultural groups and
economic class. It may simply be that more Americanized Japanese eat less
tofu and have better English language skills than less Americanized Japanese
who eat more tofu and have lessor English language skills. The differences
may actually be in English-speaking acuity.
I am concerned that the study asked men about "27 foods and drinks" in their
diet. That is not very many items. There is no way that they got a good
picture of their overall dietary habits from just 27 questions. They claim
to have eliminated all other dietary factors except tofu, but I don't see 27
foods and drinks as being a complete dietary accounting. I also would have
preferred a nutrient workup rather than a food list. I would want to know
which nutrients were deficient and which were abundant.
I am also concerned about how much difference was really detected. They
said that those who ate "a lot of tofu" by the time they were "75-80 years
old" scored on tests as if they were five years older. A few years variance
at that age isn't very much difference. Those who ate less tofu than "a
lot" will see less of an effect, even if it exists.
I would like to see more study in this area. In the meantime, I will
continue to eat some tofu, but not a lot of tofu. I still see a lot more
evidence for the benefits of soy than harmful effects. It probably will
turn out, that like everything else, soy is good in moderation, but too much
can be harmful.
-- Harvey Newstrom <mailto://newstrom@newstaffinc.com> <http://harveynewstrom.com> Author, Consultant, Engineer, Legal Hacker, Researcher, Scientist.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:05:52 MST