. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Apr 28.

Published in final edited form as: Eur J Nutr. 2008 Apr 22;47(3):138–144. doi: 10.1007/s00394-008-0707-x

TABLE 2.

The relation of soy intake and body mass index (BMI) in 1,418 women by ethnicity

	BMI (kg/m²) at study entry^*
Soy intake	N	All	Native Hawaiian	Japanese	Caucasian	Others
*Early life*
None	568	25.5	28.1	23.5	25.5	25.4
<1 serving/wk	401	26.0	28.1	24.4	27.2	24.9
>1 serving/wk	449	25.8	28.8	24.1	23.0	24.8
*P for trend*		0.66	0.49	0.63	0.88	0.55

*Adulthood*
None	244	26.0	28.1	25.2	25.8	23.2
<1 serving/wk	421	26.1	28.8	24.2	26.2	26.0
>1 serving/wk	313	25.5	27.0	24.1	25.5	25.4
> 2 servings/wk	440	25.3	28.8	24.0	23.7	24.2
*P for trend*		0.02	0.89	0.36	0.01	0.96

*Combined*
Low early & low adult	415	25.9	28.8	23.5	25.8	25.5
High early & low adult	250	26.2	28.4	24.5	28.0	24.8
Low early & high adult	153	24.6	26.4	23.5	24.5	25.2
High early & high adult	600	25.7	28.4	24.1	24.6	24.8
*P for low vs. high adult*		0.002	0.19	0.72	0.001	0.93

BMI (kg/m²) at age 21^**

*Early life*
None	568	20.9	21.9	20.7	21.0	19.8
<1 serving/wk	401	21.1	21.9	20.6	21.4	21.1
>1 serving/wk	449	21.1	22.2	20.6	20.6	20.6
*P for trend*		0.55	0.60	0.84	0.99	0.19

Weight (kg/year) change since age 21^*

*Combined soy intake*
Low early & low adult	415	0.41	0.59	0.21	0.40	0.53
High early & low adult	250	0.41	0.54	0.28	0.56	0.40
Low early & high adult	153	0.34	0.54	0.19	0.34	0.68
High early & high adult	600	0.38	0.55	0.25	0.33	0.35
*P for low vs. high adult*		0.02	0.74	0.44	0.01	0.64

Adjusted for ethnicity, age, education, fat intake, energy intake, physical activity, drinking status, age of menarche, number of children, and age at first live birth

^**

Adjusted for ethnicity and age of menarche