Soy is a legume, a plant-based food product, whereas meat is an animal product. Soy and meat both contain protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. Yet they differ in risk with cause and prevention of diseases. Consult your doctor or nutritionist about your health and diet and the benefits and risks of eating soy and meat.
Proteins
Proteins are vital nutrients you need for growth, to build lean muscle mass, produce enzymes and hormones, stimulate the immune system and repair tissues. Food contains proteins your body digests and breaks down into amino acids. There are 20 amino acids that can be part of a protein, and nine amino acids are essential because your body cannot produce them, but it can make any of the remaining 11 amino acids. Meat is a complete protein, as it contains all nine essential amino acids, while most plant-based foods are incomplete proteins. Soy is distinctive because it is a plant-based food that is a complete protein. Research by scientists at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine in Maywood, Illinois and published in the "American Family Physician" in January 2009 reports that soybeans contain all of the essential amino acids necessary for human nutrition. In fact, protein in soy is equivalent in quality to protein in animal foods.
Fats
Both soy and meat contain fat. The difference is the type of fat. Soy contains polyunsaturated fats, healthy fats that can reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, while meat contains saturated fat, an unhealthy fat that can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. Research by scientists at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada and published in the "Journal of Nutrition" in September 2009 found consumption of soy protein can reduce the risk cardiovascular disease in adults with Type 2 diabetes.
Kidney Disease
Patients with kidney disease, particularly chronic renal failure, must minimize their intake of animal proteins. Yet these same patients may benefits from soy protein. Research by scientists at the University of Kentucky and published in "Clinical Nephrology" in July 2005 found that a soy-based diet appears to reduce the glomerular filtration rate, a measurement of how well you can filter out waste from the blood, and improve the clinical profile.
Cancer
Eating soy foods can reduce your risk of cancer, while eating meat can increase your risk of cancer. Research by scientists at the National Cancer Center Research Institute in Tokyo, Japan and published in the "Journal of the National Cancer Institute" in June 2003 found that frequent consumption of miso soup is associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer. Consumption of both red and processed meat are positively associated with cancers of the colon, rectum and lung, and red meat is associated with an elevated risk for cancers of the esophagus and liver, according to research by the National Cancer Institute in Rockville Maryland and published in "PLoS Medicine" in December 2007.
References
- McKinley Health Center University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign; Macronutrients: The Importance of Carbohydrate, Protein, and Fat; March 2008
- "American Family Physician"; Soy: A Complete Source of Protein; Aaron Michelfelder; January 2009
- MedlinePlus; Soy; May 2009
- Harvard School of Public Health: Fats and Cholesterol: Out with the Bad, in with the Good
- "Journal of Nutrition"; Soy Protein Reduces Serum LDL Cholesterol and the LDL Cholesterol:HDL Cholesterol and Apolipoprotein B:Apolipoprotein A-I Ratios in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes; Elizabeth Pipe, et al.; September 2009
- "Clinical Nephrology"; Effect of Soy Protein-Rich Diet on Renal Function in Young Adults with Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus; T.J. Stephenson, et al.; July 2005
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