14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers at the University of Colorado have discovered that the health of mice carrying a genetic mutation for a disease that is the leading cause of sudden cardiac death in people under 30 worsened considerably when the animals were fed a soy-based diet.
Male mice carrying the mutation for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM, were severely affected by the soy diet, exhibiting progressively enlarged heart muscles and eventual heart failure, said Professor and study author Leslie Leinwand.
When the mice in the study were switched to a diet of the milk protein, casein, the condition of the males improved significantly.
Female mice carrying the mutation for HCM, which is characterized by the thickening of heart muscle that can obstruct blood flow, were relatively unaffected.
The research team hypothesized that heart deterioration in male mice was due at least in part to plant-based estrogens in the soy food diet that triggered a cascade of biochemical reactions leading to cell death in the heart.
In addition, male mammals, from mice to humans, are more severely affected by the symptoms of HCM than females
"We were shocked by the results. This study shows that at least in mice, diet can have a more profound effect on heart disease than any drug that we could imagine," Leinwand said.
"I don't think normal, healthy people should be alarmed by the results of this study. But we are seeing more cautionary reactions from the medical community in recent years regarding the ingestion of huge quantities of dietary supplements, including soy phytoestrogens," the researcher concluded.