Soy Beans and Weight Loss

I've written about soy beans before (check the AC archives). Soy beans are fast becoming the "next big thing" in a healthy lifestyle. Soy beans can be processed into many ways for easy consumption - for example hotdogs, milk, steaks and ice cream. Most soy bean products (at least those I've tried lately) taste pretty good. Current research being conducted at the University of Illinois on lab rats is demonstrating -- when soy consumption goes up, an individual's weight goes down. And you can imagine, in weight-loss circles this is pretty exciting news.

According to an article on Webmd.com, scientists discovered that soy consumption increased metabolism in lab rats. Scientists compared soy peptides with leptin. Leptin is a hormone released by your fat cells. Although it has a number of functions, one of leptin's main roles is to let your brain know when your stomach is full. So, lab rats - according to webmd.com were injected in the brain with a form of soy protein; then researchers injected leptin as a positive control. When the scientists could see their model was working, they injected two formulations of hydrolyzed soy protein and soy peptides so the scientists could monitor the effects of each on food intake and weight loss.

Injections were given three times a week for two weeks; during that time, the animals had unlimited access to food and water. Food intake was measured 3, 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours after injection, and the rats were weighed 24 and 48 hours after injection. All rats received the same amount of exercise, and all rats lost weight.