Soy - good for mens bones ?

Soy - good for mens bones ? NO - unfortunately.

A 10 year study in Singapore which followed 63,000 men and women came to the conclusion that consumption of soy, tofu and isoflavones had no protective benefits for men.

Gender-specific Associations Between Soy and Risk of Hip Fracture in the Singapore Chinese Health Study

For both genders, hip fracture risk was positively associated with cigarette smoking and was inversely associated with body mass index. There was a statistically significant association of tofu equivalents, soy protein, and isoflavones with hip fracture risk among women but not among men.

Should men eat a lot of soy ?

Probably not - read more.

Vitamin D

Are you getting enough Vitamin D ?

What exactly is "enough Vitamin D ?"

My favorite Nutrition textbook Nutrition Now by Judith Brown (University of Minnesota) - 4th edition from as far back as 2005 - gives the recommended daily dose of Vitamin D as 200 IU's (5 mcg) with 2,000 IU's as the Upper Level.

By way of contrast the April 2008 issue of Tufts University Health & Nutrition Health Letter talks about taking 1,000 IU's of Vitamin D daily.

Our skin makes Vitamin D3 at a great rate when exposed to the sun but do we get enough sun on our bodies ? Last month the Arizona Cancer Center published their study of Vitamin D status amongst residents of Arizona. Due to the states large number of sunshine days there was not expected to be a problem. But there is ! Most adults in the survey were Vitamin D deficient.

The big new piece of information concerning Vitamin D in the April 2008 Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter is that it helps strengthen muscles just as much as strengthening bones. These benefits only seem to come with the new higher levels of Vitamin D - at least 700 IU's and better still 800 IU's.

Vitamin D precursors come in 3 forms - D1, D2 and D3. It is the D3 form which is most effective. If you read nutrition labels look for D3. D2 is 25 % less effective and D1 is not worth much at all.

How high can you go with Vitamin D ? Dr Bruce Hollis of the Medical University of South Carolina maintains that much higher dosages are safe. He has provided nursing mothers with up to 6,000 IU's a day with no reported adverse affects.

However most doctors worry about possible side-affects with very high dosages e.g. calcium deposits in heart, kidney, liver; abnormal bone growth; young children mental retardation. The side-affects are definitely not trivial.

You can obtain Vitamin D from all kinds of dairy foods, eggs, fish, mushrooms. Milk and margarine are generally Vitamin D fortified. The easiest and best source is to allow your skin to make Vitamin D when exposed to sunlight.

The problem is that most people do not get enough sun-light on enough of their skin for long enough. If you are fairly light skinned and less than 55 years then 5 to 15 minutes exposure to the skin 3 times a week is enough to keep Vitamin D supplies high. Darker skin or older then you'll need to expose more skin and for longer.