Soya-fortified muffins, cereals or nutritional bars in which the soya protein was baked at high temperatures do not provide the benefit, study author James Anderson said.
An 8 percent to 9 percent drop in low-density lipoprotein, the so-called bad cholesterol that can lead to heart disease, can be gained from eating uncooked soya protein in the form of two 12-ounce (340 ml) servings of soya milk daily or two 2-ounce (57 grams) servings of tofu, said Anderson, a scientist at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. Cooking the tofu does not destroy the key proteins because they have been stabilised, he said.
The health benefit also is found in such products as soya nuts, soya powder sprinkled on food or in milkshakes, or edamame, a raw or parboiled edible form of soyabeans popular in Japan, he said in a telephone interview.