A woman may improve her chances of staying free from type 2 diabetes by adding more soy foods to her diet.

This study examined how dietary ingestion of proteins and isoflavones from soy foods affect an individual's odds of developing type 2 diabetes. Researchers surveyed the diets of 8,269 diabetes-free Korean men and women aged 40 years and above. During the course of the study, a total of 531 participants were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. 

The research team identified a favorable association between increased intake of soy proteins and isoflavones and decreased risk of type 2 diabetes in women, but not in men. This study supports existing evidence that eating soy foods may be beneficial for the prevention of type 2 diabetes in women.