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Posted on Jul 06, 2008, 8 p.m.
By Jeanelle Topping
Older people who consume soy products such as tofu could increase their risk of memory loss, according to new research.
Older people who consume soy products such as tofu could increase their risk of memory loss, according to new research.
Scientists from Loughborough and Oxford Universities discovered that people who eat tofu more than once a day on a regular basis had a 20 per cent decrease in memory function compared to those who rarely eat the soy product.
Professor Eef Hogvervorst of Loughborough University said: "Soy consumption is on the increase in the West and it is often promoted as a 'superfood'. Soy products are rich in micronutrients called phytoestrogens, but it is not entirely clear what their effect on the aging brain is."
In a study funded by the Alzheimer's Research Trust, scientists found that eating tofu contributed to the worsening memory of Indonesians living in Java in their sixties.
Professor David Smith, of the University of Oxford, told the BBC: "There seems to be something happening in the brain as we age which makes it react to oestrogens in the opposite way to what we would expect."
Findings from the study can be found in the journal, Dementias and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, this month.
