Soy consumption and self-reported health

Soy consumption is linked to both reduced- and increased-risk for age-related morbidity. This chapter covers our investigation of the association between soy consumption and self-reported health, as well as health-related factors including physician and hospital visits in the previous year. The study was carried out in three Indonesian cohorts on Java. These included rural Javanese and Sundanese elderly, as well as a mixed ethnicity urban cohort in Jakarta. Consumption of orange/red vegetables, fish and tempeh (a fermented soy product) was seen to have a protective association, while green vegetables were associated with poorer health, possibly due to the use of pesticides. Although higher levels of education were seen to have a protective association with better health, associations of foods with health were independent of education and occupation. This suggests that public health messages should focus on promoting consumption of non-animal based protein products and orange/red vegetables for better health. More research needs to focus on the association between poor health and consumption of products traditionally associated with better health, such as green vegetables.