Women concerned about their bones becoming more fragile as they age have another way to combat the problem, according to new research. Eating soy foods appears to lower women’s risk of breaking a bone later in life.

The new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine questioned about 24,000 Chinese women ages 40 to 70 on their eating habits. Researchers surveyed the women again approximately four and a half years later to determine how many had suffered broken bones. The results showed that women who ate the highest amounts of soy had 29 to 48% lower risk than women who ate the lowest amount.

Previous, smaller studies have shown that eating soy can increase bone density and reduce the amount of bone being lost during the menopausal years. One study in the European Journal of Nutrition showed drinking two glasses of isoflavone-rich soy milk a day prevented bone loss in postmenopausal women. Isoflavones are chemicals in soy that seem to be responsible for slowing bone loss.

In general, experts advise consuming two to four servings of soy foods daily to get 90 to 100 mg of isoflavones. Here’s how:

• Use soy milk as a beverage, on cereal, and for cooking. You also can buy soy yogurt, cheese, sour cream, and frozen desserts.
• Swap soy flour for a third of the all-purpose flour in baking. For yeast breads, drop that to 15%.
• Eat tofu or textured soy protein foods, such as patties, hot dogs, sausage links, and nuggets.
• Snack on soy nuts.

Did You Know?

During the years leading up to and following menopause, women lose an average of more than 15% of their bone mass.