Search Strategy
The systematic review and meta-analysis was reported based on the guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)28. A computerized literature search was performed from inception to April 2020 using various databases including PubMed (http://www.pubmed.com), ISI Web of Science (http://www.webofknowledge.com), Scopus (http://www.scopus.com), and Google Scholar (http://www.scholar.google.com) search. The following phrases and their combinations of MeSH and non-MeSH terms were used, including: “soy protein”, “soybean proteins”, “soy isoflavones”, “soy”, “isoflavones”, “soy diet replacement”, “meal replacement therapy”, “adipokines” “adiponectin”, “leptin”, “controlled trial”, “randomized”, “randomised”, “random”, “randomly”, “randomized clinical trial”, “RCT”, “blinded”, “double blind”, “double blinded”, “trial”, “controlled clinical trial”, “crossover procedure”, “cross-over trial”, “double blind procedure ”and “equivalence trial”. Reference lists of all articles were examined for identification of further eligible studies.