A new study has suggested that adopting a soy-rich diet for one year doesn't assist in the lowering of the blood cholesterol levels in postmenopausal women, despite the general belief.

The findings support the Food and Drug Administration's 2007 report to conduct a re-evaluation of its decade-old approval permitting soy product makers to claim heart benefits, Dr. Sara Chelland Campbell of Florida State University in Tallahassee and her colleagues reveal.

Previous studies had uncovered that isoflavones present in soy products have estrogen-like action and hence can resist the rise in total cholesterol and LDL levels commonly reported in postmenopausal women.

The new study published in Menopause reveals that consuming extra soy for one year poses no effect on the blood levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) or triglyceride in postmenopausal women.

However, its consumption is linked with a small increase in the total cholesterol and good HDL levels, the study discovered.

Among the controlled group women enrolled for the study, average total cholesterol was reported to rise to 254 mg/dL after a year, compared to about 243 mg/dL for the soy group. HDL levels jumped from 58 mg/dL to 63 mg/dL in the control group, and from 57 mg/dL to 60 mg/dL in the soy group.