I wasn't suggesting that soy is not harmful. I was simply extrapolating from
D'Adamo's argument for soy as a good food for Type A's.

Troy G.




> On Wed, 24 Nov 1999 18:41:06 -0600, Troy Gilchrist <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> >This would apply to soy. I.e., since soy lectins don't
> >cause agglutination of type A blood, type A persons stand to benefit from
> >the nutrient content of soy without having to worry about soy lectins.
>
> Tofu linked to dementia, study says
> 2 servings a week may be harmful
>
> By Beverly Creamer
> Honolulu Advertiser Staff writer  (11/20/99)
>
> Eating tofu more than twice a week in midlife may diminish brain function
in
> old age, and lead to Alzheimer's disease, according to ground-breaking new
> research by Hawaii scientists.
>
> It's the first time scientists have labeled a dietary risk factor for the
> disease that affects 2 percent of the nation's 65 year olds and up to 16
> percent of 80 year olds.  The various forms of dementia cost the country
as
> much as $180 billion a year in health care.
>
> "It's big news," said Dr. Patricia Blanchette, president of the board of
the
> Aloha Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association and director of the Geriatric
> Medicine program at the University of Hawaii.
>
> Hawaii researchers, led by Dr. Lon White, a scientist with the Pacific
> Health Research Institute at Kuakini Medical Center, are waiting for word
on
> publication of their research in a scientific journal, offering further
> validation of their findings.
>
> White's work has been viewed as some of the most important in the country,
> because it's based on a detailed, long-term database -- that of the 3,734
> Japanese-American men in the Honolulu Heart Program study and the immense
> interest in finding causes for Alzheimer's.
>
> The first word of White's findings came during a recent Washington, D.C.
> conference sponsored by the nation's soy industry at which White had been
> invited to speak.
>
> White has been working on the tofu connection for several years as part of
> the Honolulu-Asia Aging study and the Honolulu Heart program, with
financing
> by the National Institute on Aging.  His work, comparing cognitive tests
on
> the subjects with their dietary histories, has shown that more than two
> servings a week during the years of middle age (from 45 on) may affect
> cognitive function in older age.
>
> Although Hawaii researchers don't really know what part of the tofu may be
> affecting cognitive function, they think that the plant estrogens it
> contains somehow block the brain's ability to use natural estrogens
produced
> by the bodies of both men and women.  Estrogen is necessary for healthy
> brain function.
>
> "We don't know exactly.  But there are different biochemical pathways in
the
> brain and (it) could possibly interfere with natural human estrogen
binding
> in the brain," says Dr. Helen Petrovich, a co-investigator in the study.
> "It's possible it could be slowing down the production of our estrogen, or
> blocking it.  Certain chemicals can block that."
>
> White's work has sweeping implications for women who turn to plant
estrogens
> as hormone replacement therapy after menopause, and for those hoping high
> levels of estrogens can improve their cognitive functioning.
>
> "So many people have been touting tofu and its plant estrogen content as
> possibly helpful with regard to maintaining cognition into old age,"
> Blanchette said.  "It's an example of how research is very important.
> Intuitively, you might think something is helpful, and then it turns out
not
> to be."
>
> But she said the public should view this the same way they should view the
> latest research on beta-carotene.  "Just because excess amounts of
> beta-carotene are bad for you, I don't think I would tell people to stop
> eating carrots,"  Blanchette said.  "Moderate amounts are good for you."
>
> Same with tofu, she said.
>
> "Everything in moderation, because there are such good things that tofu
does
> for you."
>
> The journals Nature and Science have turned down White's findings for
> publications -- mostly because the study is not of wide appeal for their
> readers, said fellow researcher Petrovich.  But it's now being considered
> for publication by The Journal of the American Nutrition Society.
>
> White's data goes back to 1965 when the Honolulu Heart Program study began
> with 8,006 returning AJA veterans.  The data collected over the years --
and
> continuing to be collected today -- is unusually detailed, and should
> produce more and more answers about causes of Alzheimer's.
>
> "What we have here in Honolulu is a gold mine," White told the Advertiser
> more than a year ago, as he pushed forward in his research, hoping for
> definitive results.
>
> "It's one of the few large studies where people are moving into the age
> where they're getting dementia, and lots of background information was
> recorded."
>
> In comparing the dietary habits of 3,634 Japanese-American men whose tofu
> consumption ranged from zero to many servings a week, White found that
those
> who ate the most scored lower than those who ate little on a standard
> cognitive function test for determining dementia.
>
> "When you look at tofu consumption, there's a relationship between the
> amount you eat and cognitive functioning in old age," Petrovich said.
>
> In addition, examination of the brains at autopsy of the 300 who have died
> reveals that the brains of the men who ate more than two servings a week
> weighed less than those who consumed fewer than two servings of tofu a
week.
>
> In developing the research White factored out all other dietary items that
> could effect cognitive changes.
>
> "He put into the model everything he could think of that could be another
> cause," Petrovich said.  "Green tea, black tea, rice, miso, meat, fish,
> milk, coffee."  He also tried to compare data with Hawaii's sister study
in
> Japan, but there wasn't the wide spectrum of tofu consumption available in
> Hawaii, Petrovich said.  "Our study is one of the few that could show this
> kind of effect because most societies either eat a lot of tofu or none at
> all."
>
> None of the other items showed any consistency in effect on cognitive
> function, she said.  Only tofu.
>