Soy Guidelines by Dr Esselstyn

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Soy Guidelines by Dr Esselstyn

22 May 2022

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Dr Esselstyn recommends a strict low fat WFPB diet. In books and articles from 2008-2013 time frame, Dr Esselstyn highlighted that soy derivatives like soy milk, tofu and tempeh are sufficiently high in fat that we should minimize their intake. In his book from 2008, he asks us to eat soy products cautiously; he recommends non-fat soy milk for many recipes in his book.

An excerpt from offset 00:53 of this video, Dr Esselstyn says: ''' + summary_box.BlockQuote(''' I eat soy (tofu) maybe 3 to 4 times a month. My wife makes a wonderful dessert with it. But I'm a little cautious about soy that has been highly processed. I think edamame is fine but even that is 40% fat. My good friend T Colin Campbell who wrote The China Study has pretty well convinced me that an excess of soy protein can increase your IGF-1 which is a tumor promoter. ''') + '''

An excerpt from "This or That" With Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr — Q&A with Bill Clinton's Heart Doc (2010, Philadelphia Magazine):

Interviewer: Tofu or tempeh?

Dr Esselstyn: The problem with tofu and all those soy products is that they are about 40% fat. If anything, I prefer a very, very light silken tofu occasionally.

From the same article:

Interviewer: Soy milk or almond milk?

Dr Esselstyn: Unsweetened almond milk.

I wondered why. FDA data shows that 1 glass of almond milk has 40 calories and 2.9 g fat but 1 glass of soy milk has 80 calories and 3.9 g fat. Maybe that's why.

In 2013, a landmark paper was published in Permanence J that enabled Kaiser Permanente physicians to start recommending plant-based diet to patients: Nutritional Update for Physicians: Plant-Based Diets by Tuso et al, Perm J, 2013 Spring; 17(2): 61-66. An excerpt from this paper:

"Esselstyn, who directs the cardiovascular prevention and reversal program at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute, recommends completely avoiding all animal-based products as well as soybeans and nuts, particularly if severe coronary artery disease is present.[12]"

What's reference 12? It actually points to an old website by Dr Esselstyn called HeartAttackProof that no longer exists today. Luckily, we can find relevant pages at Wayback Machine. The October 2013 snapshot of reference 12 is here. An excerpt from this page:

Question: Soy products — What about soy products?

Dr E: Soy products are 40% fat and most of them are highly processed. An excess of soy protein may stimulate insulin growth factor, which is a tumor promoter. Eat soy products cautiously

An Esselterian (folks who follow Dr Esselstyn) has this writeup which says:

Eat soy products cautiously. They are high in fat (40% +) and many are highly processed. Only use Lite Tofu (like Mori-Nu or NaSoya Lite Firm Tofu). I also use Soy Boy Organic 5 Grain Low Fat Tempeh.

… but later versions of the same webpage removed the soy concerns. See a copy of the page from Nov 2013.

Dr Esselstyn's book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" (320 pages, 2008) cautions us about soy. Several recipes nonfat soy milk; "light" tofu is considered okay.

The Rules …

9. Do not eat any nuts (although if you have no heart disease, you can occasionally have walnuts).

10. Do not eat avocados. That includes guacamole!

11. Do not eat coconut.

12. Eat soy products cautiously. Many are highly processed and high in fat. Use "light" tofu. Avoid soy cheese, which almost always contains oil and casein.

The Esselstyn Breakfast

· Instead of milk, use oat, almond, or nonfat soy milk.

Esselstyn Family Foundation: A recent publication (around 2022 time frame) — The Esselstyn Foundation's Plant-Based Jumpstart Guide — asks us to be careful with {nuts, seeds, avocados} but they don't mention soy foods in the entire publication. I wonder why.

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