Soy - The Full Story?

[Guest guest]

We eat a lot of soy so I sure hope this is off-base or anti-soy propaganda,

but I'm not sure, and we can all research this and make up our own minds.

 

Soy Stuff - Not Sure How Accurte

 

Not sure whether to believe this or not but read this article. It strikes

me as anti-soy propaganda but still, better to be informed of possible

problems.

 

Here is why: " ...Likewise, adults who boost their thyroid with drugs such

as Synthroid while also eating thyroid-inhibiting foods such as soy put

extreme stress on their thyroids. Toxicologist Michael Fitzpatrick, PhD,

points out that this is the way that researchers induce thyroid cancers in

laboratory animals.62... "

 

FULL ARTICLE:

 

http://www.mothering.com/10-0-0/html/10-6-0/soy-story.shtml

 

Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food

 

 

By Kaayla T. Daniel

Issue 124: May/June 2004

 

Over the past decade, soy foods have become America's favorite health food.

Newspapers, magazines, and best-selling health writers have proclaimed

the " joy of soy " and promoted the belief that soy food is the key to

disease prevention and maximum longevity.

 

The possibility that an inexpensive plant food could prevent heart disease,

fight cancer, fan away hot flashes, and build strong bodies in far more

than 12 ways is seductive. The truth, unfortunately, is far more complex.

Soy foods come in a variety of forms, including many heavily processed

modern products. Even good forms of soy foods must be eaten sparingly-the

way they have been eaten traditionally in Asia. Most important, many

respected scientists have issued warnings stating that the possible

benefits of eating soy should be weighed against the proven risks. Indeed,

thousands of studies link soy to malnutrition, digestive distress,

immune-system breakdown, thyroid dysfunction, cognitive decline,

reproductive disorders and infertility-even cancer and heart disease.

 

Americans rarely hear anything negative about soy. Thanks to the shrewd

public relations campaigns waged by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Protein

Technologies International (PTI), the American Soybean Association, and

other soy interests, as well as the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA)

1999 approval of the health claim that soy protein lowers cholesterol, soy

maintains a " healthy " image.

 

This article is written for parents who need to know the risks of feeding

soy formula to infants, or soy milk and other soy foods to growing

children. It's designed for prospective mothers and fathers who need to

know the links between soy foods, infertility, and birth defects. Finally,

it will serve anyone considering soy as a preventive for menopausal

symptoms, osteoporosis, cancer, heart disease, or other ills.

 

How Much Soy Do Asians Really Eat?

Those who dare to question the benefits of soy tend to receive one stock

answer: Soy foods couldn't possibly have a downside because Asians eat

large quantities of soy every day and consequently remain free of most

western diseases. In fact, the people of China, Japan, and other countries

in Asia eat very little soy. The soy industry's own figures show that soy

consumption in China, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan ranges from 9.3

to 36 grams per day.1 That's grams of soy food, not grams of soy protein

alone. Compare this with a cup of tofu (252 grams) or soy milk (240 grams)

..2 Many Americans today think nothing of consuming a cup of tofu, a couple

glasses of soy milk, handfuls of soy nuts, soy " energy bars, " and veggie

burgers. Infants on soy formula receive the most of all, both in quantity

and in proportion to body weight.

 

In short, there is no historical precedent for eating the large amounts of

soy food now being consumed by infants fed soy formula and vegetarians who

favor soy as their main source of protein, or for the large amounts of soy

being recommended by Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Christiane Northrup, and many

other popular health experts.

 

What's more, the rural poor in China have never seen-let alone feasted

on-soy sausages, chili made with Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP), tofu

cheesecake, packaged soy milk, soy " energy bars, " or other newfangled soy

products that have infiltrated the American marketplace.

 

The Right Stuff

The ancient Chinese honored the soybean with the name " the yellow jewel "

but used it as " green manure " -a cover crop plowed under to enrich the soil.

Soy did not become human food until late in the Chou Dynasty (1134-246 B.

C.), when the Chinese developed a fermentation process to make soybean

paste, best known today by its Japanese name, miso.3 Soy sauce-the natural

type sold under the Japanese name shoyu-began as the liquid poured off

during the production of miso. Two other popular fermented soy foods,

natto and tempeh, entered the food supply around 1000 A.D. or later in

Japan and Indonesia, respectively.

 

Tofu came after miso. Legend has it that, in 164 B.C., Lord Liu An of

Huai-nan, China-a renowned alchemist, meditator, and ruler-discovered that

a purée of cooked soybeans could be precipitated with nigari (a form of

magnesium chloride found in seawater) into solid cakes, called tofu. In

Japan, as in China, tofu was rarely served as a main course anywhere

except in monasteries. Its most popular use was-and is-as a few bland

little blocks in miso soup or fish stock.

 

The Chinese almost never ate boiled or baked soybeans or cooked with soy

flour except in times of famine. Modern soy products such as soy protein

isolate (SPI), TVP, soy-protein concentrate, and other soy-protein

products made using high-tech industrial processes, were unknown in Asia

until after World War II.4

 

Contrary to popular belief, neither soy milk nor soy infant formula is

traditional in Asia. Soy milk originated as a byproduct of the process of

making tofu; the earliest reference to it as a beverage appeared in 1866.5

By the 1920s and 1930s, it was popular in Asia as an occasional drink

served to the elderly.6-8 The first person to manufacture soy milk in

China was actually an American-Harry Miller, a Seventh Day Adventist

physician and missionary.9

 

The first soy infant formulas in China were developed in the 1930s and

have never been widely used.10-14 Today, babies in Asia are almost always

breastfed for at least the first six months, then switched to a

dairy-based infant formula. Orphans and others who cannot be breastfed by

a wet nurse are fed from birth on dairy formulas.15

 

Claims that soybeans have been a major part of the Asian diet for more

than 3,000 years, or from " time immemorial, " are simply not true.

 

Processing Matters

Soy in the West has been a product of the industrial revolution-an

opportunity for technologists to develop cheap meat substitutes, to find

clever new ways to hide soy in familiar food products, to formulate

soy-based pharmaceuticals, and to develop a renewable, plant-based

resource that could replace petroleum-based plastics and fuels.

 

For years, the soy protein left over from soy-oil extraction went to

animals and poultry. Now that food scientists have discovered inexpensive

ways to improve or disguise the color, flavor, " bite characteristics, " and

" mouth feel " of soy protein-based products, soy is being aggressively

marketed as a " people feed. " Although the newer refining techniques yield

blander, purer soy proteins than the " beany, " hard-to-cover-up flavors of

the past, the main reason that soy foods now taste and look better is the

lavish use of unhealthy additives such as sugar and other sweeteners, salt,

artificial flavorings, colors, and monosodium glutamate (MSG).

 

Soy now lurks in nearly 60 percent of the foods sold in supermarkets and

natural food stores. Much of this is " hidden " in products where it wouldn'

t ordinarily be expected, such as fast-food burgers and Bumblebee canned

tuna. Soy is also a key ingredient in ersatz products with names like

Soysage, Not Dogs, Fakin Bakin, Sham Ham, and TofuRella, which have been

named after and made to look like the familiar meat and diary products

they are intended to replace.

 

There's nothing natural about these modern soy protein products. Textured

soy protein, for example, is made by forcing defatted soy flour through a

machine called an extruder under conditions of such extreme heat and

pressure that the very structure of the soy protein is changed. Production

differs little from the extrusion technology used to produce starch-based

packing materials, fiber-based industrial products, and plastic toy parts,

bowls, and plates.16

 

The process of making soy protein isolate (SPI) begins with defatted

soybean meal, which is mixed with a caustic alkaline solution to remove

the fiber, then washed in an acid solution to precipitate out the protein.

The protein curds are then dipped into another alkaline solution and

spray-dried at extremely high temperatures. SPI is then often spun into

protein fibers using technology borrowed from the textile industry. These

refining processes remove " off flavors, " " beany " tastes, and some of the

worst flatulence-producing components. They improve digestibility, but

vitamin, mineral, and protein quality are sacrificed, and levels of

carcinogens such as nitrosamines are increased.17-22 SPIs appear in so

many products that consumers would never guess that the Federation of

American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) decreed in 1979 that

the only safe use for SPIs was for sealers for cardboard packages.23

 

Antinutrients and Toxins in Soy

Scientists who have studied the use of soy protein in animal feeds over

the years have discovered a number of components in soy that cause poor

growth, digestive distress, and other health problems.24-27 To list just a

few of these: Protease inhibitors interfere with protein digestion and

have caused malnutrition, poor growth, digestive distress, and

pancreatitis.28 Phytates block mineral absorption, causing zinc, iron, and

calcium deficiencies.29-34 Lectins and saponins have caused leaky gut and

other gastrointestinal and immune problems.35-36 Oxalates-surprisingly

high in soy-may cause problems for people prone to kidney stones and women

suffering from vulvodynia, a painful condition marked by burning, stinging,

and itching of the external genitalia.37, 38 Finally, oligosaccharides

give soy its notorious reputation as a gas producer. Although these are

present in all beans, soy is such a powerful " musical fruit " that the soy

industry has identified " the flatulence factor " as a major obstacle that

must be overcome for soy to achieve full consumer acceptance.39, 40

 

Apologists for soy dismiss such claims, saying that food processing and

home cooking remove most of these antinutrients. In fact, modern

processing removes most of them, but not all. The levels of heat and

pressure needed to remove all protease inhibitors, for example, severely

damage soy protein and make it harder to digest. The trick is to eliminate

the most antinutrients while doing the least damage to the soy protein.

Success varies widely from batch to batch.41-44

 

For years, the soy industry tried to improve the quality of animal feeds

by finding better ways to get rid of these undesirable antinutrients.

Having failed, they routinely supplement animal feeds heavily with

vitamins, minerals, and methionine, a sulfur-containing amino acid that is

low in soy. Even so, makers of animal chows are still limited in the

amount of soy they can add without causing growth and fertility problems.

Food processors making soy-protein products for people may or may not add

these supplements. Generally, calcium and vitamin D are added to soy milk

so it can compete with dairy products.

 

Today, the soy industry has switched tactics-from trying to remove

unwanted antinutrients to trying to convince people that they are actually

a good thing. Protease inhibitors, saponins, and lectins are being touted

as curers of cancer or lowerers of cholesterol, while phytates are being

recommended for their ability to remove toxic minerals such as cadmium and

excess iron from the body.45-51 Although some of these uses look promising,

it is important to note that researchers are not achieving these

successes using regular soy foods. Most take carefully extracted

components and administer them in carefully measured and monitored

pharmaceutical doses. News headlines to the contrary, there is no reason

to think that just eating a lot of soy foods will do the trick.

 

Soy Allergens

Soy is one of the top eight allergens that cause immediate

hypersensitivity reactions such as coughing, sneezing, runny nose, hives,

diarrhea, difficulty swallowing, and anaphylactic shock. Delayed allergic

responses are even more common and occur anywhere from several hours to

several days after the food is eaten. These have been linked to sleep

disturbances, bedwetting, sinus and ear infections, crankiness, joint

paint, chronic fatigue, gastrointestinal woes, and other mysterious

symptoms.52, 53

 

Soy allergies are on the rise for three reasons: the growing use of soy

infant formula (now 20 to 25 percent of the formula market), the increase

in soy-containing foods in grocery stores, the possibility of the greater

allergenicity of genetically modified soybeans.54 Although severe

reactions to soy are rare compared to reactions to peanuts, tree nuts,

fish, and shellfish, soy has been underestimated as a cause of food

anaphylaxis. Recently, after a young girl in Sweden suffered an asthma

attack and died after eating a hamburger that contained only 2.2 percent

soy protein, Swedish researchers looked into a possible soybean connection.

They concluded that the soy-in-the-hamburger case was not a fluke, and

that minute amounts of soy " hidden " in regular food had caused four of the

total of five deaths caused by allergic reactions in Sweden between 1993

and 1996. Of the children who suffered fatal attacks, all had been able to

eat soy without any adverse reactions right up until the dinner that

caused their deaths.55 According to the Swedish Ministry of Health and

Social Affairs, children at highest risk are those who suffer from peanut

allergies and asthma; parents of such children should make every effort to

eliminate all soy from their children's diets.56

 

Soy and the Thyroid: A Pain in the Neck

More than 70 years of human, animal, and laboratory studies show that

soybeans put the thyroid at risk. The chief culprits are the plant

hormones in soy known as phytoestrogens or isoflavones.57-59 The United

Kingdom's Committee on Toxicology has identified several populations at

special risk: infants on soy formula, vegans who use soy as their

principal meat and dairy replacements, and men and women who self-medicate

with soy foods and/or isoflavone supplements in an attempt to prevent or

reverse menopausal symptoms, cancer, or heart disease.60

 

Infants with congenital hypothyroidism need 18 to 25 percent higher doses

of thyroxine drug than usual if they are bottle-fed with soy formula.61

Likewise, adults who boost their thyroid with drugs such as Synthroid

while also eating thyroid-inhibiting foods such as soy put extreme stress

on their thyroids. Toxicologist Michael Fitzpatrick, PhD, points out that

this is the way that researchers induce thyroid cancers in laboratory

animals.62

 

Soy and Reproduction: Breeding Discontent

Scientists have known since the mid-1940s that phytoestrogens can impair

fertility. Fertility problems in cows, sheep, rabbits, cheetahs, guinea

pigs, birds, and mice have all been reported.63, 64 Although scientists

discovered only recently that soy lowers testosterone levels,65 tofu has

traditionally been used in Buddhist monasteries to decrease the libido,

and by Japanese women to punish straying husbands. Humans and animals

appear to be the most vulnerable to the effects of soy estrogens

prenatally, during infancy and puberty, during pregnancy and lactation,

and during the hormonal shifts of menopause. Of all these groups, infants

on soy formula are at the highest risk because of their small size and

developmental phase, and because formula is their main source of nutrient.

66, 67

 

A crucial time for the programming of the human reproduction system is

right after birth-the very time when bottles of soy formula are given to

many non-breastfed babies. Normally during this period, the body surges

with natural estrogens, testosterones, and other hormones that are meant

to program the baby's reproductive development from infancy through

puberty and into adulthood. For infants on soy formula, this programming

may be interrupted.68-70

 

Male infants experience a testosterone surge during the first few months

of life and produce androgens in amounts equal to those of adult men. So

much testosterone at such a tender age is needed to program the body for

puberty, the time when a male's sex organs should develop and he should

begin to express male characteristics such as facial and pubic hair and a

deep voice. If receptor sites intended for the hormone testosterone are

occupied by soy estrogens, however, appropriate development may never take

place.71-74 To date, most of the evidence damning soy formula can be found

only in animal studies, because investigations in which humans' sex

hormone levels are lowered experimentally cannot ethically be done.

However, in the years since soy formula has been in the marketplace,

parents and pediatricians have reported growing numbers of boys whose

physical maturation is either delayed or does not occur at all. Breasts,

underdeveloped gonads, undescended testicles (cryptorchidism), and steroid

insufficiencies are increasingly common. Sperm counts are also

falling.75-79

 

Soy formula is bad news for girls as well. Natural estrogen levels

approximately double during the first month of life, then decline and

remain at low levels until puberty. With increased estrogens in the

environment in the diet, an alarming number of girls are entering puberty

much earlier than normal.80-82 One percent of girls now show signs of

puberty, such as breast development or pubic hair, before the age of three.

By the age of eight, 14.7 percent of Caucasian girls and 48.3 percent of

African American girls had one or both of these characteristics.83 The

fact that blacks experience earlier puberties than whites is not a racial

difference but a recent phenomenon.84, 85

 

Most experts blame this epidemic of " precocious puberty " on environmental

estrogens from plastics, pesticides, commercial meats, etc., but some

pediatric endocrinologists believe that soy is a contributor.86 Of all the

estrogens found in the environment, soy is the likeliest explanation of

why African American girls reach puberty so quickly. Since its

establishment in 1974, the federal government's Women, Infants and

Children (WIC) program has provided free infant formula to teenage and

other low-income mothers while failing to encourage breastfeeding. Because

of perceived or real lactose intolerance, black babies are much more

likely to receive soy formula than Caucasian babies.

 

Early maturation in girls heralds reproductive problems later in life,

including amenorrhea (failure to menstruate), anovulatory cycles (cycles

in which no egg is released), impaired follicular development (follicles

failing to mature and develop into healthy eggs), erratic hormonal surges,

and other problems associated with infertility. Because the mammary

glands depend on estrogen for their development and functioning, the

presence of soy estrogens at a susceptible time might predispose girls to

breast cancer, another condition that is on the rise and definitively

linked to early puberty.87

 

Recently, a team of researchers headed by Brian L. Strom, MD, studied the

use of soy formula and its long-term impact on reproductive health. They

announced only one adverse finding: longer, more painful menstrual periods

among women who'd been fed soy formula in infancy.88 Dr. Strom's

conclusion that the results were " reassuring " made newspaper headlines all

over the world, though the data in the body of the report were anything

but. Indeed, data left out of the headlines and buried in the report

revealed higher incidences of allergies and asthma, and higher rates of

cervical cancer, polycystic ovarian syndrome, blocked fallopian tubes, and

pelvic inflammatory disease.89 Although thyroid damage from soy formula

has been the principal concern of critics for decades, the researchers

excluded thyroid function as a subject for study. Not surprisingly, this

study was funded in part by the infant-formula industry.

 

Most of the fears concerning soy formula have focused on estrogens. There

are other problems as well, notably much higher levels of aluminum,

fluoride, and manganese than are found in either breastmilk or dairy

formulas.90-96 All three metals have the potential to adversely affect

brain development. Although trace amounts of manganese are vital to the

development of the brain, toxic levels accrued from ingestion of soy

formula during infancy have been found in children suffering from

attention-deficit disorders, dyslexia, and other learning problems.97, 98

 

Soy apologists sometimes argue that the plant hormones in soy formula

could not possibly be harmful because Japanese women eat a lot of soy

products and so must have high levels of phytoestrogens in their

breastmilk. Researchers, however, have measured the soy isoflavones in

breastmilk and found them low even in vegetarian women who consume copious

quantities of tofu, soy milk, soy protein shakes, and other soy

foods.99-101

 

Limited evidence, however, suggests that vegetarian women who eat a lot of

soy foods during pregnancy may put their infants at risk in terms of their

future reproductive health, fertility, and possibly increased risk of

breast cancer. All of the problems that have befallen infants on soy

formula, as well as estrogen-related birth defects, have occurred (in

animal studies, at least) to the offspring of mothers who were given high

doses of soy during pregnancy.102 One of these birth defects that has been

linked to vegetarian diets in humans is hypospadias, a developmental

disorder in which the opening of the penis is located on the underside of

the shaft.103

 

Until soy estrogens are definitely linked to reproductive-tract

abnormalities, infertility, and other health problems in humans, most

health authorities recommend that we " wait and see. " This could be a

terrible mistake.

 

In the 1940s and 1950s, another estrogen, diethylstilbestrol (DES), was

widely given to Western women early in their pregnancies in a misguided

attempt to prevent miscarriage. That fact is relevant not only because DES

bears a striking structural similarity to some plant estrogens-including

soy isoflavones-but because it took more than 20 years before the full

spectrum of harmful effects was observed.104, 105

 

DES is 100,000 times more potent than soy phytoestrogens. However, the

large quantities of phytoestrogens in soy products are more than enough to

counteract their lower potency. When the effects of isoflavones in fetal

and neonatal animals have been studied, they have paralleled those

observed in human infants exposed to DES.106, 107 Recent studies indicate

that the soy isoflavone known as genistein may be even more carcinogenic

than DES.108

 

Yet the belief persists that soy hormones are " safe " because they are

" weak " and " natural. " Although the soy industry has claimed that soy

estrogens are anywhere from 10,000 to 1,000,000 times weaker than the

human estrogen estradiol, the correct figure is only 1,200 times as

weak.109 Though this still sounds quite weak, it is not-because of the

quantity of these estrogens ingested by infants on soy formula, and by

children and adults who eat soy every day. These individuals consume far

more soy estrogens than were ever part of a traditional diet in Asia. The

average isoflavones intake in China is 3 milligrams, or 0.05 mg per

kilogram of body weight. In Japan, the figures range from 10 to 28 mg, or

0.17 to 0.47 isoflavones per kg of body weight. In contrast, infants

receiving soy formula average 38 mg of isoflavones, which comes to a

shocking 6.25 mg/kg of body weight. Compare that dose to the 0.47 mg/kg

per day fed to healthy Japanese adult men and women who experienced

thyroid suppression after just three months-or to the 0.75 mg/kg of

isoflavones fed to American women who experienced hormonal changes

sufficient to skew their menstrual cycles after just one month.110

Although children and teenagers are less vulnerable than infants, their

young bodies are still developing, and highly vulnerable to

endocrine-system disruption by soy. And soy has been shown to pass through

the placentas of pregnant women to their unborn babies.

 

Meanwhile, the jury is still out on whether soy might help alleviate

menopausal symptoms or prevent osteoporosis and breast cancer. The soy

industry's top scientists, convened at the Fifth International Symposium

on the Role of Soy in the Preventing and Reversing Chronic Disease (held

in Orlando, Florida, September 21-24, 2003), conceded that the data are

confusing and contradictory, with some studies suggesting that soy might

be helpful, and others showing that soy contributes to osteoporosis and

promotes breast cancer.

 

What's certain is that the levels of soy estrogens that might possibly

have a beneficial effect on hormonally related diseases have been proven

to jeopardize the health of the thyroid. Likewise, the 25 grams of soy

protein per day touted by the FDA to lower cholesterol (see sidebar, " Boon

to the Industry: The FDA's Soy Protein Health Claim " ) is very likely to

harm the thyroid, and thus increase one of the risk factors for heart

disease.

 

The bottom line is that the safety of soy foods has yet to be proven, and

that human beings have become guinea pigs in what Daniel M. Sheehan,

formerly senior toxicologist with the FDA's National Center for

Toxicological Research, has called a " large, uncontrolled and basically

unmonitored human experiment. " 111

 

 

NOTES

 

For a full discussion of all issues and complete citations, see The Whole

Soy Story, by Kaayla T. Daniel (New Trends, 2004), or visit

www.wholesoystory.com.

 

1. P. Golbitz, " Traditional Soyfoods: Processing and Products, " J Nutr 125

(1995): 570S-572S.

2. Janet L. Christian, Janet L. Greger, Nutrition for Living, 4th ed.

(Redwood City, CA: Benjamin Cummings, 1994): A9-A41.

3. Information about soy and agriculture can be found in Nutritional

Anthropology (Liss, 1987) edited by Francis Johnston. For the history of

miso, soy sauce, tempeh, tofu and other products see William Shurtleff and

Akiko Aoyagi's The Book of Miso (Ten Speed Press, 1976) The Book of Tofu

(Ballentine, 1979) and The Book of Tempeh (Ten Speed Press, 1979).

Information about the history of soy, including modern manufacturing

processes can be found in KeShun Liu's Soybeans: Chemistry, Technology and

Utilization (Aspen, 1999).

4. William Shurtleff, Akiko Aoyagi, " The History of Soybean Crushing: Soy

Oil and Soybean Meal, " in The History of Soybeans and Soyfoods: Past,

Present and Future (unpublished manuscript). Soyfoods Center, Lafayette,

CA.

5. William Shurtleff, Chronology of Soymilk Worldwide: Part I: 220 AD to

1949, Special Exhibit, Museum of Soy (2001):

www.thesoydailyclub.com/mossoymilk/mossoymilk1.asp.

6. R. A. Guy, " The Diets of Nursing Mothers and Young Children in Peiping,

" Chinese Med J 50 (1936): 434-442.

7. R. A. Guy, K. S. Yeh, " Roasted Soybean in Infant Feeding, " Chinese Med

J 54, no. 2 (1938): 101-110.

8. R. A. Guy, K. S. Yeh, " Soybean 'Milk' as a Food for Young Infants, "

Chinese Med J 54, no. 1 (1938): 1-30.

9. H. W. Miller, " Survey of Soyfoods in East Asia, " Soybean Digest (June

1948): 22-23. Summarized in William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi,

Bibliography and Sourcebook on Seventh Day Adventists, 1866-1992

(Lafayette, CA: Soyfoods Center): 74.

10. Ernest Tso, " The Development of an Infant Fed Eight Months on a

Soybean Milk Diet, " Chinese J Physiol 2, no.1 (1928): 33-40.

11. C. Y. Chou, " Studies on the Use of Soybean Food in Infant Feeding in

China and the Development of Formula, " unpublished manuscript in the

possession of Bernard Zimmerli at the Federal Office of Health, Berne,

Switzerland (1983).

12. See Note 6.

13. See Note 7.

14. See Note 8.

15. Toxicologist Michael Fitzpatrick, PhD, as quoted by the Soy

Information Network Newsletter (5 March 1996): 6-7.

16. KeShun Liu, Soybeans: Chemistry, Technology and Utilization

(Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen, 1999): 379-411.

17. David R. Erickson, ed., Practical Handbook of Soybean Processing and

Utilization (Champaign, IL: AOCS Press, 1995).

18. A. Visser, A. Thomas, " Review: Soya Protein Products-Their Processing,

Functionality and Application Aspects, " Food Rev Inter 3, nos. 1 & 2

(1987): 220, 1-32.

19. Zeki Berk, " Technology of Production of Edible Flours and Protein

Products from Soybeans, " Food and Agricultural Organization of the United

Nations, Rome, FAO Bulletin (1992): 24.

20. See Note 16: 425-436.

21. Ibid.: 386-388.

22. E. W. Lusas, K. C. Rhee, " Soybean Protein Processing and Utilization, "

in Erickson. See Note 17: 138-146.

23. " Evaluation of the Health Aspects of Soy Protein Isolates as Food

Ingredients, " SCOGS-101, prepared for Bureau of Foods, US Food and Drug

Administration, by the Life Sciences Research Office (FASEB) (1979).

24. J. J. Rackis, " Biologically Active Components, " in Allan K. Smith,

Sidney J. Circle, eds., Soybeans: Chemistry and Technology 1 (Westport, CT:

Avi Publishing, 1972): 159-189.

25. I. E. Liener, M. L. Kakade, " Protease Inhibitors, " in I. E. Liener, ed.

, Toxic Constituents in Plant Foodstuffs (New York: Academic Press, 1980):

7-71.

26. I. E. Liener, " Trypsin Inhibitors: Concern for Human Nutrition or Not?

, " J Nutr 116, no. 5 (1986): 921.

27. R. L. Anderson, W. J. Wolfe, " Composition Changes in Trypsin

Inhibitors, Phytic Acid, Saponins and Isoflavones Related to Soybean

Processing, " J Nutr 125 (1995): 581S-588S.

28. J. J. Rackis, M. R. Gumbmann, " Protease Inhibitors: Physiological

Properties and Nutritional Significance, " in Robert L. Ory, ed.,

Antinutrients and Natural Toxicants in Foods (Westport, CT: Food and

Nutrition Press, 1981): 203-238.

29. N. R. Reddy, S. K. Sathe, eds., Food Phytates (Boca Raton, FL: CRC

Press, 2002).

30. R. F. Hurrell et al., " Soy Protein, Phytate and Iron Absorption in

Humans, " Am J Clin Nutr 56, no. 3 (1992): 573-578.

31. B. Lonnerdal et al., " Effects of Phytate Removal on Zinc Absorption

from Soy Formula, " Am J Clin Nutr 48, no. 5 (1988): 1301-1306.

32. L. Davidsson et al., " Iron Bioavailability Studied in Infants: The

Influence of Phytic Acid and Ascorbic Acid in Infant Formulas Based on Soy

Isolate, " Pediatr Res 36, no. 6 (1994): 816-822.

33. J. D. Cook et al., " The Inhibitory Effects of Soy Products on Non-Heme

Absorption in Man, " Am J Clin Nutr 34, no. 12 (1981): 2622-2629.

34. N. S. Shaw et al., " A Vegetarian Diet Rich in Soybean Products

Compromises Iron Status in Young Students, " J Nutr 125 (1995): 212-219.

35. Arpad Pusztai, Plant Lectins (Cambridge University Press, 1991).

36. P. Seeman et al., " Structure of Membrane Holes in Osmotic and Saponin

Hemolysis, " J Cell Biol 56, no. 2 (1973): 519-527.

37. L. K. Massey et al., " Oxalate Content of Soybean Seeds (Glycine Max:

Leguminosae), Soyfoods and Other Edible Legumes, " J Agric Food Chem 49, no.

9 (2001): 4262-4266.

38. Clive Solomon, " Low Oxalate

[Guest guest]

Wow, this is a really well-researched article.

 

If you think it's propaganda, you can always check the cited sources.

 

Soy as a human food is an idea that has been sold to the West. We have been

lied to about its use in the East. It isn't a naturally healthy food for us,

and it causes all sorts of problems.

 

I used to be a soy evangelist. I ate it every day, I thought it was the bee's

knees. I read things like this and thought " Oh, that's beef industry

propaganda! " But once I stopped eating soy as a staple, I was amazed at how my

body changed. I've since spoken to other people who have been through the same

thing, and to a person, they are all healthier and happier. When I started

doing real, deep research, it backed up the allegations in this article.

 

Don't take my word for it- you can read all about it yourself.

 

 

 

The Stewarts <stews9 wrote:

We eat a lot of soy so I sure hope this is off-base or anti-soy propaganda,

but I'm not sure, and we can all research this and make up our own minds.

 

Soy Stuff - Not Sure How Accurte

 

Not sure whether to believe this or not but read this article. It strikes

me as anti-soy propaganda but still, better to be informed of possible

problems.

 

 

 

 

 

Vote for the stars of 's next ad campaign!

 

 

[Guest guest]

i haven't cut soy out of my diet 100% since

it is almost impossible as a vegetarian to do

so unless you quit eating all of the yummy

convenient products that companies like

Boca, Garden Burger, and MorningStar Farms

make. But i have cut way back! There are

enough delicious ways to get my daily protien

that i don't have to eat soy all the time.

Now i pay attention and try to limit my use

of soy laden products to three servings or

less a week and i have notced a difference

in how i feel.

 

i am not saying i think soy is all bad,

but i am saying i think eating too much can

be bad for us and if we aren't careful to watch

our intake of this food source we could easily be

eating too much.

 

~ pt ~

 

Thou shalt be in league with the beings of the future,

and the generations to come after shall be at peace

with thee.

~ Joanna Macy, 'World as Lover, World as Self'

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~~~~>

 

, reptile grrl

<reptilegoddess>

wrote:

once I stopped eating soy as a staple, I was amazed at how my body

changed.

I've since spoken to other people who have been through the same

thing, and to

a person, they are all healthier and happier. When I started doing

real, deep

research, it backed up the allegations in this article.

[Guest guest]

I gotta say,

 

Sounds like a bunch of alarmist bunk to me. I know

people who use soy products on a daily basis, and

their health is just fine.

 

John W.

 

 

 

 

 

Vote for the stars of 's next ad campaign!

http://advision.webevents.//votelifeengine/

[Guest guest]

I am only healthy when I use soy products everyday.

Otherwise I get ill. I get latargic, tired, my

appetite for junk food increases and well it's just

icky.

~Mel

 

--- John Walsh <budicebear wrote:

> I gotta say,

>

> Sounds like a bunch of alarmist bunk to me. I know

> people who use soy products on a daily basis, and

> their health is just fine.

>

> John W.

>

>

>

>

>

> Vote for the stars of 's next ad campaign!

>

http://advision.webevents.//votelifeengine/

>

>

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vote for the stars of 's next ad campaign!

http://advision.webevents.//votelifeengine/

[Guest guest]

Except that in this context, you don't know that their health is just fine. The

changes that soy causes are subtle and internal, and often take al ong time to

manifest

 

 

John Walsh <budicebear wrote:

I gotta say,

 

Sounds like a bunch of alarmist bunk to me. I know

people who use soy products on a daily basis, and

their health is just fine.

 

John W.

 

 

 

 

 

Vote for the stars of 's next ad campaign!

http://advision.webevents.//votelifeengine/

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Or any food source, perhaps. We won't even discuss

what a diet of carrots would do to us!!! But I agree.

Moderation in all things - not as a trite goody-goody

anti-fun kinda temperance thingie, but as a caution to

enthusiasts in one direction or another.

 

We already know that a diet of, say, Mcburgers will do

us harm - quite apart from the ethical reasons and

aesthetic reasons we wouldn't want to eat them. Why we

should then assume that we can replace them with

commercially prepared soyburgers I dunno, except for

the ethical and aesthetic reasons mentioned and also

the cholesterol-free quality of the soy - which is

most of what makes the mcburgers unhealthy. (Yeah

yeah, I know, but I'm trying to move along here ;=).)

 

If we care for our *health* as well as for the

animals, the earth, the hungry, etc etc, then we will

take care what we eat and eat nothing in excess but

strive for a well balanced diet. Soy, according to

personal preference, may be part of that. But only, I

think, a small part if one is to kick the old/new

north american food habit. In Europe, for eg, you

don't get adults drinking litres of milk. Therefore

vegans don't substitute litres of soy milk for dairy.

Why would they? Somehow, on this continent (I'm in

Canada), we tend to feel that we *need* milk - either

for its nutrients or because we feel comfortable with

the habit of drinking it. As I say, it's like the

mcburgers - we do without the 'real' ones but

substitute the soy ones. I say do without both except

now and then when you might want to kid yourself

you're having me*t.

 

Just my farthing's worth. Nor worth more.

 

Best,

 

Pat in Montreal ;=)

 

>i am not saying i think soy is all bad,

>but i am saying i think eating too much can

>be bad for us and if we aren't careful to watch

>our intake of this food source we could easily be

>eating too much.

 

=====

psybermus

LISTS: townhounds/

/

vegetarianslimming/

HOMEPAGE: http://www.angelfire.com/art/pendragon/

----

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Exactly... moderation. i guess i am more aware

and careful about soy since i am on the cusp

of having thyroid issues and my doctor [while

not an expert on nutrition by any means] has

warned me about eating too much soy when

they discovered i was a veg. i assured them i

don't eat it every day or in large quantities when

i do consume soy, but i guess the doctor was

coming from the school of thought that all

vegetarians eat is salad and tofu. *lol*

Anyway, different strokes i say...

As others have stated here they can eat soy daily

and feel fabulous, and i certainly don't doubt they

do, and i am glad for them. Soy is versatile and

delicious and i am not giving it up entirely.

 

BTW, good points you brought up about the language

of that article. Definately coming from a certain spin

and it is wise to be watchful of that.

 

~ pt ~

 

Hear my faith-cry for them who are more thine than

mine. Give each of them what is best for each. I cannot

tell what it is. But thou knowest.

~ Alistair MacLean, 'Hebridean Altars'

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~~~~~~~~>

, psybermus <psybermus>

wrote:

> Or any food source, perhaps. We won't even discuss

> what a diet of carrots would do to us!!! But I agree.

> Moderation in all things

[Guest guest]

Very interesting article and not completely surprising to me. As

other people have discussed here, with any food including soy foods,

moderation is the key to staying healthy. My (vegan) naturopath

expounds on this all the time, encouraging me to eat a varied diet

and how eating the same food every day can lead to problems such as

allergies. She also is adamant that I eat some kind of seaweed

whenever I eat tofu or another soy product, because of the studies

done on phytic acid contained in soybeans - the acid can inhibit the

absorption of minerals, which can be replaced by the sea veggies.

Much as she doesn't want to believe that soy can be " bad " , she

recognizes that just because it's natural and grows in the ground,

doesn't mean that it is entirely safe or healthy in large amounts

and/or with chronic, repeated use.

 

Pat wrote:

--- ...we will take care what we eat and eat nothing in excess but

strive for a well balanced diet. Soy, according to personal

preference, may be part of that. But only, I think, a small part if

one is to kick the old/new north american food habit. In Europe, for

eg, you don't get adults drinking litres of milk. Therefore vegans

don't substitute litres of soy milk for dairy.

 

I agree that the average North American tends to overdose on habits

and trends, especially if it's perceived to be good for you. If it's

good for you in small quantities, well gee whiz, it must be even

better if you eat lots and lots!! Witness the use of soy, soy

protein, soy derivatives, etc in cereals, breads, drinks, cosmetics,

soy veg products, baking mixes, Power Bars, protein mixes, chocolate,

and on and on. If the average consumer eats a few typical processed

foods with soy (New! Now! With Soy!!), they are probably a live

experiment in the making. Soy may seem like a benign food, but as my

(evil Food Scientist) husband points out, rice also seems benign but

it still causes a rice allergy in a portion of the population in

Asia. Why? Because they eat a lot of it, because rice is such an

important part of the culture. This is much like wheat and peanut

allergies in North America - whenever a population eats a lot of one

particular product, eventually some portion of the population will

have some kind of adverse reaction to it. You don't see peanut

allergies in Europe because they don't eat much of the stuff. We must

remember that whatever we think we know about how the human body

works and how food can affect it (positively or negatively), no doubt

we don't know enough yet to understand all the interactions.

 

Pat wrote:

--- Why we should then assume that we can replace them with

commercially prepared soyburgers I dunno, except for the ethical and

aesthetic reasons mentioned and also the cholesterol-free quality of

the soy - which is most of what makes the mcburgers unhealthy. (Yeah

yeah, I know, but I'm trying to move along here ;=).)

 

As an aside to this thread, my hubby in his " industry readings " came

across an article about how the food industry is beginning to add soy

protein to me*t protein, as a means of creating a new, healthier

product that will appeal to the " health-conscious " population. Even

more alarming, if you flip through one of his industry magazines,

there is no shortage of advertisments by companies who will process

soy into anything your heart desires or needs to make a shiny

new " food " for.

 

As for me, I eat tofu occasionally, maybe a couple of times a week,

and I tend to avoid processed soy products (unless I'm completely

lazy and just want to cook up a veggie burger some night). I avoid

gimicky soy foods and stick with the least processed variety, eaten

in moderation, just like everything I eat. Except for maybe chocolate

(soy-free!).

 

Cheers,

Kathy (ironically, enjoying soy butter on toast for a change from

pb & j)