Is Soy Healthful – – or Dangerous?
Soy products have been praised as the leading “health” food of the era. With the rising concerns about contamination and disease in animal products, more people are turning to soy.
On one hand we hear claims of its benefits to cardiovascular health, breast cancer prevention, cholesterol lowering effects and even prevention of osteoporosis and menopausal symptoms.
On the other hand, reports of potentially dangerous effects of soy are surfacing, dampening enthusiasm for the widespread use of these products.
So what is the real story?
Components of soy, including isoflavones, phytates and saponins are said to have strong antioxidant activity and help prevent the formation of free radicals that contribute to arterial damage.
One of these isoflavones, genistein, is said to prevent blood clots that may lead to a heart attack by inhibiting thrombin formation and platelet activation, two steps in the formation of a clot. Other components of soy are said to restrict the growth of blood vessels that feed cancerous tumors, thus inhibiting the growth of the cancer.
Some studies have demonstrated that soy contains anti-carcinogenic factors that decrease the risk of a number of different cancers such as breast, colon, prostate, stomach and lung cancer.
These are advantageous effects, even though some scientific investigators admit there is a downside. Yet the consensus among the researchers is that the benefits of soy outweigh the risks. But must we look at soy products the same way doctors evaluate drugs, by saying, “Yes, there are significant harmful side effects, but the benefits outweigh the risks”?
This is nonsense!
Regular food in its natural state is healthful-NOT dangerous! Natural food is meant to be our natural medicine. If healthful food in its natural state does not agree with us, then there is something wrong with our immune system that needs to be corrected by getting the entire body back in proper working condition.
The first problem with soy is that it is rarely eaten in its natural state because its natural state is unpalatable. For years, it was considered to be either an industrial product, or a waste product.
In order to make it fit for human consumption, the soybeans are first ground and subjected to high temperature and solvent extraction processes, mixed with an alkaline solution to remove fiber, then precipitated and separated using an acid wash. The resultant curds are neutralized in an alkaline solution before being spray-dried at high temperatures. Then flavorings, preservatives, sweeteners, emulsifiers and synthetic nutrients are added to make it palatable to the human consumer.
On October 25, 1999, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced their decision to allow a health claim for products “low in saturated fat and cholesterol” that contain 6.25 grams of soy protein per serving. That means that hundreds of products, including breakfast cereals, baked goods, convenience food, sausages and other processed meats, vegetarian meat substitutes and smoothie mixes could now be sold with labels touting their health benefits. The only requirement is that these products must contain one heaping teaspoon of soy protein per
100-gram serving.
What a coup for the soy growers and marketers who have spent huge sums of money “educating” the public about the wonders of soy products! Yet, in 1913, soy was listed not as a food, but as an industrial product in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) handbook.
Presently, 72 million acres of American farmland are planted with soybeans.
However, two senior government researchers at the National Center for Toxicological Research, Dr. Daniel Doerge and Dr. Dan Sheehan, wrote a strong protest letter to the FDA citing 28 studies that demonstrate the toxic effects of soy. They revealed that chemicals in soy products could increase the risk of breast cancer in women, brain damage in men and abnormalities in infants.
But, soybean marketers have plenty of funds available to manipulate public opinion. All soybean producers pay a mandatory assessment of one-half to one per cent of the net market price of soybeans, totaling nearly $80 million annually, that is used to “strengthen the position of soybeans in the marketplace and maintain and expand domestic and foreign markets for uses for soybeans and soybean products.” Archer Daniels Midland, reportedly one of the three corporations that control virtually all the food growing and distribution in America, spent during the course of One year, $4.7 million for soy-product advertising on Meet the Press and $4.3 million on Face the Nation.
These efforts have had a huge payoff. Soy milk sales in 1980 were $2 million. By 1999 they had skyrocketed to $300 million. Clearly, the public is responding to this expensive media blitz by the soy producers.
But soy definitely has a downside! First of all, the soybean contains large quantities of natural toxins including phytic acid or phytate that can block the action of trypsin and other enzymes needed for digestion of protein. These enzyme inhibitors are not completely inactivated during ordinary cooking. They can cause gastric distress and reduce protein digestion leading to a deficiency of amino acids, the building blocks of protein.
In test animals, diets high in trypsin inhibitors cause the pancreas to become enlarged and even cancerous changes can occur. Phytic acid can also block the normal uptake in the intestinal tract of essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc.
Studies show that these soybean phytates are highly resistant to the techniques that usually reduce them, that is long, slow cooking. Only a long period of fermentation will reduce the phytate content of soybeans to an acceptable level, as is done in the case of the soy products, miso and tempeh.
Soybeans contain hemagglutinin, a clot-promoting substance that causes red blood cells to clump together. These clusters of blood cells cannot absorb oxygen properly, nor flow through the smallest arteries, the capillaries.
In 1991, Japanese researchers reported that consumption of as little as 30 grams, or two tablespoons, of soybeans per day for only one month resulted in hypothyroidism and goiter in some subjects, with many others complaining of constipation, fatigue and lethargy. The amount of soy protein isolate claimed to have cholesterol-lowering effects, contains significantly more isoflavones than that necessary to cause a reduction in hormones needed for adequate thyroid function. In the studies, these effecis persisted for three months after soy consumption was discontinued.
Protein Technologies International recommends 100 grams of soy protein as the maximum suggested cholesterol-lowering dose. This amount contains almost 600 mg of isoflavones, a quantity that is admittedly toxic. This same amount of soy protein provides the estrogen equivalent of the birth control pill, according to the Swiss health service.
Reproductive problems, infertility, thyroid disease and liver disease due to dietary intake of isoflavones have been observed for several species of animals including mice, cheetah, quail, pigs, rats, sturgeon and sheep.”
Dangers of Soy Protein.
Fermentation apears to significantly reduce or eliminate the harmful substances present in soy. The fermented soy products miso and tempeh are considered safer than tofu and bean curd, both of which are precipitated products and are the ones to be specifically avoided. But miso and tempeh are still highly processed and therefore are not part of the ten-step Natural Health Plan, promoted in this workbook.
Dr. Russell Blaylock, neurosurgeon and author of the book Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills, reveals that tofu contains MSG, a known neurotoxin that contributes to many neurological diseases including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Since all the protein any person needs is available from natural, unprocessed, whole foods, it is unnecessary and unwise for anyone with any serious disease to use soy products.
WRITTEN BY DR LORRAINE DAY
DRDAY.com
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