Soy Study | School of Public Health

Fermented Soy Study Participants Needed!

Thanks for your interest in the Fermented Soy Study. This study will test the health benefits of a fermented soy food product. The product will be available in the form of a powder. The primary goal of this study is to determine whether this food product can improve cognition, immune status and response to influenza vaccine in elderly men and women.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is eligible for the study?

Investigators are looking for participants who are 65 years and over, living close to Loma Linda area, who are able to commute to the Nutrition Research Center, located at Loma Linda University. Volunteers must not be sensitive or allergic to soy or whey protein.
If you are on dialysis, take insulin, or have an autoimmune disease (like rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis etc.) you may not be eligible for the study.

What is expected of participants?

Participants must be willing to commit to 20 weeks. During this time, participants are expected to attend all scheduled meetings and visits. Participants must take the fermented soy supplement as prescribed and should be willing to continue their routine and lifestyles as before. Participants will also be asked to avoid consumption of other soy-containing products.

How can I participate?

If you would like to participate and would like to attend a study information session, you can reach us through any of the following 3 ways:

Fill out the screening form.
Send us an email at soystudy@llu.edu
Call us at 909-558-8382

How long will the study last?

The study will last for 5 months starting from the start to finish. Participants are expected to visit the clinic 6 times during the study. At these visits, the fermented soy powder will be provided, body measurements including height, weight and body composition will be taken, cognitive tests will be administered and some questionnaires will need to be completed. During three of these visits blood samples will be collected from all participants.

What will it cost?

There is NO cost to the participants for any of the study-associated intervention or tests. In fact, as an incentive to fully partake in the study, participants will receive the results of their body composition assessment, which will be performed by a state of the art body impedance analyzer. In addition, participants will receive $150 as compensation at the end of the Fermented Soy Study, upon successful completion of all study protocols

Required Dates

The dates will be posted soon.

Who is conducting the study?

This study is one of the many dietary studies conducted by a team of nutrition researchers at Loma Linda University. The protocol of Soy Study is approved by Institutional Review Board (IRB), which is the independent committee of physicians and public health professionals, to make sure that there is no harm toward participants and possible benefits, not only for participants, but also for others in the future.

Dr. Joan Sabaté

Nutritionist, Principal Investigator

Dr. Joan Sabate is a Professor of Nutrition and Director of the Center for Nutrition, Healthy Lifestyle and Disease Prevention at Loma Linda University School of Public Health. He is the Principle Investigator of the study. He is a leading researcher in nutrition. He has several decades of experience in conducting clinical trials on the benefits of many plant foods including nuts, avocado, and soybean. He has also directed considerable research in the area of Vegetarian Nutrition in the prevention of chronic diseases and the Environmental impact of vegetarian diets. He has authored more than 150 research articles many of them in high-impact journals

Ella Haddad, DrPH, MS, RDN

Registered Dietician

Dr. Ella Haddad is an Associate Professor of Nutrition and Director of the MS Nutrition program at Loma Linda University School of Public Health. She is the co-investigator of this study. She is a Registered Dietitian who managed many clinical feeding trials conducted by the team. She is also a nutritional biochemist and instrumental in facilitating the laboratory research for the studies.

Ifeanyi Nwachukwu, PhD

Assistant Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry

Dr. Ifeanyi Nwachukwu is an Assistant Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry in the School of Public Health, Loma Linda University. He is one of the co-investigators for this study. Dr. Nwachukwu earned a PhD in Human Nutritional Sciences from the University of Manitoba and worked briefly as a postdoctoral scientist at the University of Ottawa before joining LLU. He has authored/co-authored over 40 peer-reviewed publications. His most recent works were focused on the health-promoting properties of plant food protein-derived bioactive peptides.

Amandeep Wright

Research Manager

Amandeep Wright is a Research Manager at the Loma Linda University School of Public Health. She has experience with conducting research trials for the past 7 years. Her main expertise is in the field of subject recruitment, coordinating research trials and being a liaison between funding agencies as well as other research partners such as the School of Medicine, Basic science, Behavioral Health etc. She is also actively involved in getting IRB approvals and oversees personnel working in research.

Rawiwan Sirirat, DrPH

Research Associate

Dr. Rawiwan Sirirat is a research associate at Nutrition Research Center. She is a Registered Dietitian with doctoral degree of public health in Nutrition. Her main interest is in nutrition epidemiology. Dr. Sirirat has accumulated research experience over the years via multiple clinical trials as well as a large cohort study. Her experiences include nutrition data collections, quality control of the data as well as nutrition data management. She is also well acquainted with laboratory analyses of nutrition biomarkers, bio specimen processing and handling. She will be primarily involved in data and bio specimen collection and handling in this study.

Laura West Kong

PhD Student

Laura West Kong is a PhD student in nutrition at Loma Linda University School of Public Health. She is the doctoral graduate student of this study who will be one of the clinicians interacting with the study participants throughout the study from recruitment and selection of participants, to conducting study clinic visits. She has a Master of Public Health in health promotion and education and international health, maternal and child health. Laura has worked in health access and health education, and works in educational technology at Loma Linda University School of Medicine.