Role of Dietary Soy Protein in Obesity

Abstract

Soy protein is an important component of soybeans and provides an abundant source of dietary protein. Among the dietary proteins, soy protein is considered a complete protein in that it contains ample amounts of all the essential amino acids plus several other macronutrients with a nutritional value roughly equivalent to that of animal protein of high biological value. Soy protein is unique among the plant-based proteins because it is associated with isoflavones, a group of compounds with a variety of biological properties that may potentially benefit human health. An increasing body of literature suggests that soy protein and its isoflavones may have a beneficial role in obesity. Several nutritional intervention studies in animals and humans indicate that consumption of soy protein reduces body weight and fat mass in addition to lowering plasma cholesterol and triglycerides. In animal models of obesity, soy protein ingestion limits or reduces body fat accumulation and improves insulin resistance, the hallmark of human obesity. In obese humans, dietary soy protein also reduces body weight and body fat mass in addition to reducing plasma lipids. Several potential mechanisms whereby soy protein may improve insulin resistance and lower body fat and blood lipids are discussed and include a wide spectrum of biochemical and molecular activities that favorably affect fatty acid metabolism and cholesterol homeostasis. The biologic actions of certain constituents of soy protein, particularly conglycinin, soyasaponins, phospholipids, and isoflavones, that relate to obesity are also discussed. In addition, the potential of soy protein in causing food allergy in humans is briefly discussed.

Antiobesity Potential of Fresh Cow Urine and its Distillate - A Biomedicine for Tomorrow

“…28 The difference in the body weight was observed between the groups fed a HFD and normal diet, however, no substantial difference was detected in the daily food intake of animals. This observation revealed the fact that an increase in body weight was not dependent on the extent of food consumed by the rats but it was a result of consumption of HFD.As stated earlier high-fat diet resulted in lipid abnormalities associated to obesity include an raised serum concentration of fatty acids, TC, LDL-C, VLDL-C, TG and reduction in serum HDL-C. 29,30 results of the evaluation of lipid profile from control group of this study revealed similar observations thus here confirmed the establishment of the experimental model for the assessment of anti-obesity activity. This suggest that the fresh cow urine and its distillate may reduce pancreatic lipase activity thus reducing the absorption of dietary fat and regulates lipid profile.…”

Amaranth Protein Improves Lipid Profile and Insulin Resistance in a Diet-induced Obese Mice Model

“…The notable effects of the oil and hormone-like molecules of soybean have been studied in depth, but protein isolates for the treatment of obesity and related disorders only include the fatty acid metabolism [25], bone structure improvement [26], and steatosis models [27]. On the other hand, several studies have indicated that soybean protein consumption limits the body fat accumulation, improves insulin resistance and reduces plasma lipids [28]. Then, soybean is a good reference protein to compare with the effects produced by consumption of amaranth proteins.…”

The potential impact of animal protein intake on global and abdominal obesity: evidence from the Observation of Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Luxembourg (ORISCAV-LUX) study

“…Evidence is emerging that the type of dietary protein consumed can elicit different health effects and play an important role in disease aetiology (13) . In general, plant proteins have been related to health benefits more than animal proteins (14)(15)(16)(17) .…”