Does Soy Cause Alzheimer’s?
“Tofu Shrinks Brain,” shouted the headlines of a tidal wave of articles emanating from the anti-soy camp in recent years. The basis for the excitement were discoveries made in the Honolulu Heart Program, an ongoing study of the health of Japanese-American men living in Hawaii. It seems that those who consumed the most tofu (two to four times a week) during middle age showed the most signs of mental deterioration in later years, including greater incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. This was startling, because high cholesterol levels have long been intimately linked to increased risk for Alzheimer’s, and soy has been shown repeatedly to lower cholesterol levels. The researchers who conducted the study, led by Lon White, believe the negative effect could stem from the hormonal effects of the isoflavones found in soy. Other scientists were not so sure just what was going on here. If tofu consumption increased Alzheimer’s incidence, then there would be more Alzheimer’s in Japan than in Hawaii
