Want to cut back on meat but worry about getting enough protein? It’s all good: There are plenty of protein sources that aren’t meat-based. In fact, one of the more easily accessible plant-based foods is packed with protein, as well as being beneficial to your heart health.
It’s tofu, the superstar of stir fry recipes, vegan egg-like scrambles, and other tasty dishes. Yet tofu is far from just another versatile vegetarian ingredient. It also has the distinction of being a complete protein, meaning it contains all the essential amino acids your body requires to thrive.
Nutritionally, tofu has some eyebrow-raising credentials. If you eat just 100 grams of tofu (which is about 3.5 ounces), you’ll fuel up on around 8 grams of protein, 350 milligrams of calcium, and only 7 grams of sodium. These nutrients, along with a few others, are what make tofu a good friend to your cardiovascular system.
Take protein, for instance. Protein consumption has been linked to a lowered risk of heart disease in clinical settings. A 2022 study in Hypertension examined the effects of regularly eating different protein sources on blood pressure. The study’s findings showed that when adults ate a diverse array of proteins, their chance of developing high blood pressure declined. Therefore, adding protein-packed tofu to your weekly menu may have a cardioprotective result as long as you also focus on eating other proteins.
Superfood status from a versatile ingredient
Calcium may be advantageous if you’re trying to use food to lower your high blood pressure or avoid hypertension completely. A 2022 review in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews examined 18 existing clinical studies to determine whether calcium could have an effect on blood pressure. The review found that taking calcium could potentially help younger adults ward off elevated blood pressure.
Sodium can be problematic in large doses, so eating foods without much sodium (like tofu) can keep your body and your cardiovascular system in balance. Per a 2019 review in Nutrients, following a low-sodium diet can also lead to a reduction in blood pressure levels. And a low-sodium diet for the average adult involves consuming no more than the maximum amount of salt you should have in a day, which is around 1,500 milligrams.
But tofu may be more impactful to your heart health than the sum of its cardioprotective parts. In fact, it may hold intrinsic properties that help keep you from becoming hypertensive simply because tofu originates from soy. Like other soy products, tofu is rich in isoflavones, which are compounds that mimic the hormone estrogen at a low level. As noted in a 2021 review in Biology, isoflavones may work to regulate blood pressure, even when they’re not in a soy food.
Healthy for the most part, but exercise caution
But does tofu really deserve superfood status for its heart-friendly abilities? After analyzing more than 1,900 studies, authors of a 2023 review in Nutrients found that eating just 26.7 grams of tofu each day could bring down an individual’s likelihood of being diagnosed with cardiovascular disease by 18%. Likewise, a 2021 review in Complementary Therapies in Medicine concluded that there was a positive correlation between consuming soy and experiencing a drop in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
In other words, tofu is pretty healthy and has shown a lot of positive aspects. However, for all its high points, it may not be the right plant-based protein for you if you take a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) medication such as Nardil or Marplan. The tyramine in tofu may react with the MAOI to cause your blood pressure levels to spike. With that in mind, you may want to curb your love of bean curd until you make sure your current medications mix well with tofu or speak with your healthcare provider.