Does too much tofu give you dementia?

Too much tofu could give you the memory of a goldfish.

That’s according to a new study carried out by clever but obviously meat-eating researchers at Loughborough and Oxford Universities.

They found eating the soya product beloved by vegetarians more than once a day could lead you to forget important stuff - like to cut down on eating tofu.

We know what you are thinking. But let’s at least hear these people out before making snap judgments.

After all, Loughborough and Oxford are good universities. It’s not as if it’s some former poly in Hull or Teesside, or anything like that.

Now, tofu has long been hailed as a superfood, but these boffins, funded by the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, found that people who ate it had a 20 per cent lower level of brain functioning compared with those who rarely touched it.

Not that they are saying vegetarians are thick or anything. I mean, meat-eaters sometime have tofu too. Just joking!

So I guess you are wondering how they came up this? (Unless you eat too much tofu and you have already forgotten what this story is about.)

Well, along with colleagues in Indonesia, they investigated the effects of high soya consumption in Java, which included carrying out a number of memory tests.

The researchers’ findings, which will be published in the journal Dementias and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders this month, found of the 719 people tested those who stuffed their faces with tofu tended to have poorer memories than those who didn’t. This was particularly the case among those 60 or above.

So could something which is touted as a superfood be so harmful?

Well, tofu is packed with isoflavones, which could give people approaching their 60s a boost of oestrogen-like hormones at a time when it is more likely to harm the brain than improve it.

Professor Eef Hogervorst, who led the study, said:

“Soy consumption-is on the increase in the West and is often promoted as a superfood.

“Soy products are rich in micronutrients called phytoestrogens, but it is not entirely clear what their effect on the ageing brain is.

“They have similar effects to oestrogen, which may offer neuroprotection to the middle-aged and young but not to over-65s, for whom it could heighten risk of dementia and lower memory function.”

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, said:

“This kind of research could lead scientists to new ways of preventing this devastating disease.”