Soy protein has been found in recent years to be excellent for a number of different conditions, one of the most important ones being heart disease. Soy protein has been shown in some studies to be able to lower total cholesterol levels by 30% and to lower LDL, or ¡°bad¡± cholesterol, levels by as much as 35-40%. This is important because high levels of cholesterol, especially LDL cholesterol, tend to become deposited into the walls of blood vessels, forming hard plaques. If these plaques grow too large or break, they can cause a heart attack or stroke.
Some studies have even shown that soy protein may be able to raise HDL cholesterol levels. HDL cholesterol travels through the body collecting the cholesterol that has been deposited in the arteries, so it can be taken away and removed by the liver. One of the main goals of atherosclerosis treatment and prevention, therefore, is to lower LDL cholesterol levels while raising HDL levels. And soy is one food that may be able to do both at once.
In addition, soybeans also contain very good amounts of fiber. When eaten, the fiber in soybeans binds to fats and cholesterol in food, so less is absorbed. In addition, soybeans' fiber binds to bile salts and removes them from the body. Since the liver gets rid of cholesterol by transforming it into bile salts, their removal by fiber forces the liver to use more cholesterol to form more bile salts, leading to lower cholesterol levels overall.
Soy protein has also been shown to reduce the stickiness of platelets, possibly because soybeans are a good source of the important essential fats called the omega-3 fatty acids. When platelets get overly sticky, which happens often in atherosclerosis patients, they are more likely to clump together to form blood clots. These blood clots can in turn lead to heart attacks or stroke. Reducing the risk of these blood clots is just another way that soybeans can protect against these events.