Soy Milk Benefits: What You Should Know

Milk has long been established as one of the essential sources of vitamins and minerals. Numerous organizations worldwide have touted the benefits of milk. The daily consumption of milk has also been deemed as necessary for a healthy balanced diet. While cow’s milk has been the most enduring source of these for centuries, other alternative options have also come into focus. The benefits of soy milk (or soya milk) and soy products, in particular, should be examined to determine their health benefits should people choose to give them a try. Here are some soy milk benefits.

Why We Love Soy

What are some soy milk benefits? Soy products do reduce the risks of developing various age-related chronic diseases and epidemiologic data strongly suggest that populations that regularly consume soy products have reduced incidence and prevalence of the aforementioned age-related conditions and diseases than populations that eat very little soy.

While soy consumption has been done for more than 1000 years, it’s only taken the last 30 years for Western cultures and diets to adapt to it.

Regularly consuming soy products reduce the risk for chronic diseases including cancer, heart disease, and stroke. Vitamins, minerals, fiber, and flavonoids are beneficial agents that can be found in soy foods.

In human clinical intervention trials, soy product consumption reduced levels of total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). In October 1999, the US Food and Drug Administration approved a health claim for the relationship between consumption of soy protein and reduced risk of coronary heart disease.

Soy Milk Benefits

Soybeans provide an alternative source of protein for people who are allergic to milk protein. Soy protein is highly digestible (92% to 100%) and contains all essential amino acids. Although relatively low in methionine, it is a good source of lysine. Soy dairy-free products are lactose-free and are a good source of essential fatty acids. They contain no cholesterol and little or no saturated fat. These alternatives can be good sources of high-quality protein, B vitamins, potassium, iron, dietary fiber and bioactive components, including isoflavones.

Since lactose intolerance has become more prevalent, searching for milk alternatives without dairy has also risen. These days, dairy soy products free of lactose and milk protein, including soy milk, cheese alternatives, yogurt, soy sour cream, soy cream cheese and frozen soymilk desserts are more readily available.

Soy milk is also consumed now in western countries also consume soy milk mainly as an important replacer of cow milk due to lactose intolerance or allergic reaction to cow’s milk and as a low-cost source of good quality protein and energy. Many soymilks are fortified calcium, vitamins A and D, riboflavin, zinc and vitamin B12.

A 2002 study showed that subjects with hypertension who had followed a three-month soy milk diet had modest but significant effects. They showed decreased blood pressure compared to people who consumed cow’s milk.

Perhaps most importantly, a 1998 study concluded that men who consumed large amounts of soy milk were 70% less likely to have prostate cancer.

So as you can see, soy milk benefits are numerous!

Key Takeaways

While most people are more exposed to cow’s milk and thus tout its benefits, the rise in awareness of soy milk and other soy products has proven to be beneficial to many. Soy products and soy milk not only help those with lactose intolerance or allergic reaction to cow’s milk. These have also proven to lower the risk of prostate cancer, help people with hypertension, and reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. These are no longer just a quirky replacement for cow’s milk but, in some instances, even more desirable for long-term health.

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