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For many years, I have been teaching that a high intake of soy is protective against many maladies that we have seen in increasing amounts over the last several years.

When studies are done with soy, they use soy that has the full compliment of the isoflavones because those phyto-chemicals are what make the difference.

I prefer to have my primary source of soy from a protein drink that not only guarantees the full complement of phyto-chemicals are present, but that also is permitted by the FDA to make the claim that it is biologically complete. If you elect to increase your soy intake, whether you use the one I recommend or another, be sure that the isoflavones are present and that the isoflavones have not been denatured by the company using an alcohol wash, which is cheaper, rather than a water wash, and that you see the words, biologically complete on the label.

A new study from Japan showed that the risk of type 2 diabetes was 40 to 50% lower in overweight women who ate higher amounts of soy than those who ate less.

The study was very large and included both men and women. There were 25,872 men and 33,919 women between 45 and 75 years of age.

The group of women who had the lowered risk ate 118 grams of soy per day compared to another group who ate less than 43 grams.

It seems that just the isoflavones, daidzein at 22 mg a day and genistein at 36 mg a day, found in soy were associated with a 10% reduction of risk in overweight women.

“To our knowledge, ours in the first prospective study to examine the association of isoflavone intakes with type 2 diabetes in an apparently healthy population,” wrote the researchers, led by Akiko Nanri from the International Medical Center of Japan.
“[Furthermore,] no previous study to our knowledge has assessed the association between intake of these food factors and type 2 diabetes or glucose intolerance stratified by BMI,” they added.
“The possible protective associations of soy and isoflavone intakes among overweight women deserve further investigation,” wrote the researchers.
While intakes of soy products and isoflavones were not associated with a significant reduction in the risk of type-2 diabetes in men or all women, the highest intakes of soy products were found to significantly reduce the risk of diabetes in overweight women.
They are not ready to say that there is any causality implied at this time.

They feel that the estrogen like effects (those effects prevent the body from actually taking up the more powerful estrogen hormones that are related to some cancers) may affect genes involved in insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake. They also noted that isoflavones might also improve energy metabolism and inhibit the uptake of glucose in the gut.

Source: Journal of Nutrition
Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.3945/jn.109.116020
“Soy Product and Isoflavone Intakes Are Associated with a Lower Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Overweight Japanese Women”
Authors: A. Nanri, T. Mizoue, Y. Takahashi, K. Kirii, M. Inoue, M. Noda, S. Tsugane
To learn more about soy check out my website, and ask me for some extra info I have available.