soy....dangerous???

a woman in australia wrote a book called take control of your health. her website i think is called doctors are dangerous, or something like that. not sure if she promotes meat-eating, but i read the chapters on soy (and amalgam fillings! horrors!) when i worked at a health shop last year. the soy stuff was interesting. there is also a famous case where these parents sued a manufacturer cos their kid died and it seemed soy-related. wish i could remember the names...it was a while ago.

soy itself seems not to be the problem - it's soy protein isolate. the process it needed to get left with this product is what seems to render it no longer nutritious, if not bad for us.

 

ahhh!!!! lets go burn down all factories that don't make condoms!!!! but yes, i agree with you. i also think a good start would stopping the gov't from giving money to certain industries (dairy, etc) and instead give it to fruit and vegetable growers. that way, healthy food will be cheap enough for everyone and we might be able to put a dent in the nation's obesity issue.

 

But we're safe with organic soy products, right?

 

Another good article on soy: http://www.foodrevolution.org/what_about_soy.htm

I don't know anything about the guy but the article seems pretty good.

Skip, if you don't mind me asking, about how much soy would you say you consume?

I also agree with you on organic soy. Unfortunately GM soy has become very dominate and if it does not say it is organic soy then there is a very good chance that it has been genetically modified. No one really knows what that can do to us over an extended period of time.

 

too much of anything is bad.....life is change, trying new things is good!!! keep your options open, enjoy what you want....

 

We are a vegan family and have eliminated PROCESSED soy from our diets. We eat organic tofu, purchased fresh weekly. It doesn't sit around in our fridge for long. We eat one standard package once a week-ish. We eat freshly purchased organic tempeh several times a week and miso occasionally too. We use earth balance in place of butter. We DON'T do soy milk however because I think it's a bit too processed besides being manufactured by dairy companies which we want to avoid supporting if at all possible. Instead we use almond milk which is way yummier than soy anyway. The kid gets hemp milk which is less yummier than almond but way more nutritionally dense and his tastes are just forming anyway. We get our protein with a variety of legumes and grains. Beans (black, pinto, kidney and my fav garbanzo, etc.), lentils of all kinds. Grains like bulghur, brown rice, quinoia, corn and whole grain breads. I think the key is to start from scratch with whole unprocessed ingredients, cook your own meals, and use a great variety and you should be just fine!

 

a little bit of anything is alright. But if you eat too much...

 

I don't use soy, nor will I, because it is not health food. Most of it is GMO, and that's only the half of it. It's also loaded with estrogens, and if you're a female, you're overloading your body with these estrogens and setting yourself up for breast or ovarian cancer. If you're a male, expect a lower sperm count. This would explain why the sperm count in the west is down by 85%, and that's because most processed foods now contain soy. So there is a method to their madness, and it's the same people who are loading our foods with high fructose corn syrup (which has contributed to the rise in diabetes), aspartame and MSG (the latter two, both excitotoxins).

I don't drink regular milk, either, which is even worse, and I try to keep my consumption of dairy products to a minimum.

I won't say that soy in moderation is bad, but it is most certainly bad for people who consume tons of processed foods, most of which contain soy. (And for what reason?)

 

I saw this post from the main page and I wanted to give my input. I think there is too much GMO soy floating around in our food supply. We don't yet know the harmful effects of it, but it's added to virtually every food product on the mainstream market. I started having allergic reactions to soy at the beginning of this year, so I feel the inconvenience of having to check every damn label for everything I eat. On the upside I feel healthier because I eat fewer processed foods now. The theorized reason that soy is becoming such a common food allergen to people is that GMO soy is added to EVERYTHING. Another thing about soy is the possible correlation between high soy consumption and thyroid disease. I agree that more research needs to be done (however, I don't see it happening because the mainstream soy industry has its own interests at heart, not ours, just as much of the mainstream food industry does), but I can tell you my own story. I had an underactive thyroid before I had to give up soy. When I found out soy was one of the things causing my allergic reactions, I had been reading about the possible ill effects of high soy-isoflavone consumption and found the thyroid thing fascinating. For 2 months I gave up my thyroid meds and of course had a soy-free diet. I asked my doctor to test all my thyroid hormone levels after that and he did, and he and I were both astonished to find that my thyroid is functioning perfectly well now, without meds. Of course my case can't be enough to prove it, but it's enough proof to me that soy can be dangerous in high amounts. Also, our bodies don't digest it well and it's high in phytoestrogens - one glass of soy milk has as much estrogen in it as 5 birth control pills - it's estrogen from a plant source, but still...and people feed their infants soy formula thinking it's super healthy. Skip, I want to see more clinical trials and experiments regarding human consumption of soy, but I don't think the food industry wants that to happen since soy is a cheap filler and additive in a lot of things. Also, I'd like to note that fermented soy such as miso, tempeh, and tamari, have their chemical structures altered enough that there are few phytoestrogens left in them, so they're safer for a lot of folks to eat. I have been wary of trying to eat them myself given the success giving up soy has given me. Anyway, just my $0.02 and my own personal experience. I don't touch the stuff and I'm healthier as a result.

 

Actually Skip, it's kind of a misconception that Asians consume high amounts of the kind of soy we eat here in the US. Most of what they consume is fermented soy - they know how to prepare it so it is lower in phytoestrogens and safer to eat. Pressed Rat has some good points, actually.

http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/

 

I will not touch soy anymore. I used to be a vegan and I ate a lot of soy.

Soy feminizes men. Boys who were raised on soy forumula as an infant are not ... developing ... when they reach puberty, in many cases, and have very low sperm count and high estrogen levels. This is not seen in breast-fed and even bovine-milk fed children as much.

Soy in women raises estrogen, which leads to: osteoperosis, breast/ovarian cancer, heavier periods, more violent mood swings.

Violent prison inmates are also being found to have elevated estrogen levels.

Mice that are given estrogen supplements become violent and agitated.

Estrogen is the hormone of violence, not testosterone.

Men with healthy testosterone levels develop higher labido, more muscle mass, and calmer, more easily managed emotions, which leads to more confidence and assertiveness, but not aggressiveness.

Estrogen leads to more intense emotions, anxiety, moodiness, which leads to stress and aggression, or extreme withdrawal from society.

Chronic increased levels of estrogen in women leads to lower sex drive and destroys sex drive in men.

Soy is not good. Sorry. Estrogen has it's place but for the most part it needs to stay in that place.

 

wow, no need to get defensive, Skip. If you like soy, continue to eat it, that's your call. I'm just a person who's found omiting it from my life to be beneficial to me, and these are my beliefs. I'm not going to agree with you. Sorry. But you have the right to have your opinions and beliefs too. Also, I'm allergic to it, so I ain't going to eat it so I can have explosive diahrea (sp?) and break out in hives all over my neck and face, and have the inside of my mouth break out in a rash, cause that's what happens to me if I eat it. You don't have to agree with me and if you don't have a problem with soy, it's up to you to consume it. However, don't get all explosive and defensive about it. You're coming off as very tempermental and defensive and it weakens your arguments in my opinion. That's it, that's all I'm saying on the matter. No more posting in this thread for me. Thanks.

 

Learn The Truth About The Historical Use Of Soy - Just How Much Soy Did Asians Eat? In short, not that much, and contrary to what the industry may claim, soy has never been a staple in Asia. A study of the history of soy use in Asia shows that the poor used it during times of extreme food shortage, and only when the soybeans were carefully prepared (e.g. by lengthy fermentation) to destroy the soy toxins. Yes, the Asians understood soy all right!

http://www.***********/2000/jan/9/truth_about_soy.htm

Here are some more articles on soy:

http://www.***********/article/soy/index.htm