In 1999 the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed the health claims on food labels stating that a daily diet containing 25 grams of soy protein may reduce the risk of heart disease, it also allowed claims that it was low in saturated fat and cholesterol (actually it has no cholesterol because cholesterol only comes from animal fat). If the FDA says it then it must be true; well maybe, but I personally do not have much faith in the FDA, but in the case of soy protein many other independent researchers have come to the same conclusion.

Soy protein has all the amino acids needed to build a healthy human body; this is something that other sources of plant protein do not possess. While it has all the amino acids we need it does not have as much fat as meat. Those two facts alone make soy protean an excellent choice.

Animal protein does not contain any phytonutrient but soy protein is high in phytonutrient including isoflavones which is believed to reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. Research has shown that soy protein also helps to lower the LDL (bad cholesterol) in the blood while raising the level of HDL (good cholesterol).

How to get 25 grams of soy protein is the next problem to solve. Here are some suggestions in ways to get that and more: Four ounces of firm tofu contains about 13 grams, one soy sausage link will yield 6 grams of protein while one soy burger will provide 10 to 12 grams, and for 19 grams of soy protein you could eat a quarter cup of roasted soy nuts. So you can eat two soy sausage links with breakfast, and a quarter of a cup of soy nuts as a snack during the day and you will have 31 grams of soy protein. One soy burger and one serving of soy nuts would equal 29 to 31 grams of soy protein.

Some people take soy supplements and that may be okay if they are using high quality supplements but most of the time people pick up the cheapest brand they can find. Cheap supplements do not provide the answer because you can't really be sure how much of the desired nutrition these products actually contain and you don't know what else might be in them (a lot of leeway is given between the product label and the product inside the container.) Pharmaceutical quality supplements are more expensive but you can be sure of the quality and quantity.

For weight loss programs there are diet shake mixes that use a combination of soy protein and whey protein. Protein helps curb appetite between meals. These diet shake mixes can also be used as a means to increase soy protein in your diet even if you don't need to lose weight. There are several people who will give testimony that they could not gain weight and thus were unhealthy due to insufficient weight but after using a soy protein diet shake mix they were able to gain weight up to a healthy level.

There are people who are allergic to soy products and these people should avoid using soy protein but for the rest of the people soy protein makes an excellent and healthy choice for at least part of their daily protein needs.