You may think of soy as a food, but it's also used in manufacturing.

In the 1930s, Henry Ford hired chemists to turn it into artificial silk, which he named Azlon. While Azlon never reached the market, Ford still used soy in his automobile paints, and soy plastics eventually were used to make horn buttons, gear-shift knobs, and accelerator pedals in all Ford cars.

A new study has found that there may be yet another benefit from soy. It turns out that soy milk and other soy foods could help keep bones strong, staving off osteoporosis, which is a serious concern for women as they age (24.5 percent over age 65 have the condition).

In addition, soy milk does not contain the worrisome proteins and saturated fat in dairy. Soy milk has 0.5 grams of saturated fat per cup; whole milk has 4.6 grams.

For a new study in Bone Reports, researchers divided rats into two groups. For 30 weeks, one group ate a soy-based diet, the other a corn-based one.

At the study's end, the leg bones of the rats on the soy diet were significantly stronger. This was true for rats with ovaries and without, suggesting that the benefits could be the same for pre- and postmenopausal women.

So women (and older men, 5 percent of whom of those over 65 have osteoporosis of the femur, neck, and lumbar spine) might try adding more soy-based products to their diet.

Sub in tofu for meat a couple times a week or try your cereal and coffee with soy milk.