Mel,

I think the truth is that everything in excess is bad for you.

A lot of these studies are done by "competitors" or people that abuse the way they eat it.

For example, somebody read, "oh, Tofu is good for you" so they start to eat nothing but Tofu...but neglect other nutritions

or somebody goes, "oh, nuts are good for you" so they eat a bucket full of nuts a day.

it's kind of like diets, all diets WORK short term, but then people start to abuse them on a long term basis.

because the trick to dieting is to get ourselves back on track to eating the RIGHT and "BALANCED" meals...

balance is the key...

Tofu was and is and will be a main staple in Asian countries but they don't eat it 10 times a day or do they drink Soy milk with every meal and neglect other things.

because of it's high protein content, it is best eaten with other veggies that are high in fiber.

I've read a lot of those studies and really, I find them a very puzzling....I am not saying that they are wrong, but I just think there ARE folks out there that might be allergic or have other reactions to soybeans but then you can say that about nuts, eggs, wheat, the whole shabam and then nothing is edible anymore.

The other truth is LEAN BEEF...LEAN beef especially for women after menopause is healthy. Anything that has the word "-loin" behind is good for you because of the high iron and vit B family groups...

but that doesn't mean you eat lean beef three meals a day.

And eating too much fish can give you mercury poisoning so while fish is very good for you, you have to deal with that...

my thoughts on egg white is that is provides great protein. But I wouldn't eat 4 egg whites three times a day.

Perhaps two egg whites in the morning supplemented with something high in fibre like whole wheat toast and then have a handful of nuts between lunch and breakfast would give you a good amount of protein

and like debm said, beans are high in protein, that with brown rice (which is high in fibre) could help in the digestion of protein. (black eyed peas, kidney beans, soy beans are high in protein but once again, don't eat them three times a day)

Of course, don't forget your other important nutrients...

variety is the spice of life, if you stick to any ONE diet constantly, not only will you get sick of it, you will also get "Sick" from it...

just my two cents