HEALTH UPDATE: soya nuts reduce blood pressure and cholesterol

One half of a cup of soya nuts each day may work as well as anti-hypertension medication to lower blood pressure, a new study in postmenopausal women demonstrates.
And women with moderately elevated blood pressure - a condition known as pre-hypertension - also showed reductions in their blood pressure after eight weeks of eating soya nuts, Dr Francine K. Welty of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and her colleagues found.
The researchers chose soya nuts, Welty noted, because they are among the least processed sources of soya available, and are more convenient and portable than either soya milk or tofu. Women also showed an 11-percent reduction in their low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or "bad" cholesterol. Two similar studies, one using soya milk, the other with soya cookies-also found that soya reduces blood pressure, Welty noted.