Cited by 561Phytoestrogen effects and researchNutritional Studies and DietSoybean genetics and cultivation

Soy and Health Update: Evaluation of the Clinical and Epidemiologic Literature

Open access
Messina, Mark·2016·Nutrients

Abstract

Soyfoods have long been recognized as sources of high-quality protein and healthful fat, but over the past 25 years these foods have been rigorously investigated for their role in chronic disease prevention and treatment. There is evidence, for example, that they reduce risk of coronary heart disease and breast and prostate cancer. In addition, soy alleviates hot flashes and may favorably affect renal function, alleviate depressive symptoms and improve skin health. Much of the focus on soyfoods is because they are uniquely-rich sources of isoflavones. Isoflavones are classified as both phytoestrogens and selective estrogen receptor modulators. Despite the many proposed benefits, the presence of isoflavones has led to concerns that soy may exert untoward effects in some individuals. However, these concerns are based primarily on animal studies, whereas the human research supports the safety and benefits of soyfoods. In support of safety is the recent conclusion of the European Food Safety Authority that isoflavones do not adversely affect the breast, thyroid or uterus of postmenopausal women. This review covers each of the major research areas involving soy focusing primarily on the clinical and epidemiologic research. Background information on Asian soy intake, isoflavones, and nutrient content is also provided.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3390/nu8120754

Cites

434 of 435 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

11 of the 446 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Messina, M.
Affiliations
Nutrition Matters, Inc., 26 Spadina Parkway, Pittsfield, MA 01201, USA
Corresponding author
Messina, Mark
Venue
Nutrients
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2016-11-24
Volume
8
Issue
12
Pages
754
ISSN
2072-6643 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2553807112
Cited by
537
References
446
Citations by year
2026: 63 · 2025: 86 · 2024: 58 · 2023: 53 · 2022: 61 · 2021: 57 · 2020: 68 · 2019: 37 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 21 · 2015: 1
FWCI
4.61
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nutrients (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Phytoestrogen effects and research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Soybean genetics and cultivation
Keywords
isoflavones, phytoestrogens, selective estrogen receptor modulators, chronic disease prevention, coronary artery disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer, hot flashes, menopausal symptoms, renal function, depressive symptoms, skin health, postmenopausal women, nutrient content
MeSH terms
Breast Neoplasms, Female, Heart Diseases, Humans, Legislation, Food, Male, Prostatic Neoplasms, Soy Foods

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review