Eating tofu regularly lowers risk of heart disease, study says

Eating tofu more than once a week reduces the risk of heart disease by 18 per cent, a study of 200,000 people over 30 years finds

Benefit was most pronounced among young women before menopause and postmenopausal women who were not taking hormones

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A new study has revealed that eating tofu more than once a week lowers the risk of heart disease. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 12:30pm, 10 Apr 2020Updated: 7:34pm, 11 Apr 2020

Eating tofu more than once a week is associated with a lower risk of heart disease, particularly in young women and postmenopausal women who do not take hormones, according to a new study.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, both in Boston in the US state of Massachusetts, analysed data from more than 200,000 people over three decades and found eating tofu more than once a week reduces the risk of heart disease by 18 per cent compared with those who eat it less than once a month.

Tofu is one of the most commonly consumed soybean products and is believed to have originated in China 2,000 years ago. It is high in protein and contains all nine essential amino acids as well as being an excellent source of fibre, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium and zinc.

Previous studies have concluded that soy consumption could be potentially beneficial for breast cancer sufferers because they contain isoflavones – a type of plant oestrogen that may block the action of oestrogen, which encourages cancer cell growth.

Soybeans have been linked to helping fight bad cholesterol, prostate cancer and menopausal symptoms. Photo: Getty Images

The consumption of soy products have been linked to reduction in incidence, or severity of, chronic diseases such as prostate cancer, menopausal symptoms and bone loss. Soya protein from which tofu is derived is also believed to help lower levels of bad cholesterol.

The latest research, published in Circulation, found the best results in young women before menopause and postmenopausal women who were not taking hormones.