SOY STORY

DOES SOY STILL DESERVE A PLACE OF HONOR IN A HEALTHY PLANT-FORWARD DIET? SEE WHAT THE RESEARCH HAS TO SAY.

- MIKE CARLSON AND ANNE L'HEUREUX

If an award were given for “Hyphenate of the Year,” the phrase “plant-based diet” would win by a landslide. Recommendations abound urging you to eat more plants, which is not a bad idea given the well-documented positive effects of a veggie-full diet — improved body composition, decreased risk of cancer and heart disease, and improved cholesterol, to name but a few. It’s also easier than ever to indulge in plant-based foods, and a recent marketing survey found that sales of plant-based meat and dairy substitutes have increased significantly year over year.

Then … there’s soy.

Once the darling of the vegetarian and vegan movement, soy has been marginalized and even vilified in recent years by conflicting results in clinical studies as well as by a marketplace replete with new-age competitors. Does soy still have a place at the trending table, or is it time to drop it into the bin with the Shake Weight and those five-fingered shoes?

A Hill of Beans

Nutritionally speaking, the soybean actually has a lot to offer. Like all foods, soy is a collection of several biologically active compounds and contains many beneficial macronutrients and micronutrients. It is one of the few sources of complete protein in the plant world, and when it comes to vitamins and minerals, soybeans get top billing in the vitamin C and folate department, with calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, thiamin and magnesium following closely behind.