Soy Products--Good or Bad???

Hi eveyone! Hey I was wondering what you all think about soy products. I just read in a post that it can be linked to many health problems. Is this true? I eat lots of soy.... soy milk, tofu, soy "dogs". My boyfriend is veggie too... and he jokes around saying he's gonna grow boobs from the estrogen in the soy (of course that's prob not true). Is there estrogen in soy? And if so... how does that affect us? I can recall that I've heard bad stuff about soy before. So give me the low down everyone.

 

I have read about some deliterious effects of soy, but I don't have time to dig up the info at the moment. I'll definitely post some good stuff later, so stay tuned

 

Oriental people eat a great deal of soy, and last time I checked, a lot of Manufactured stuff is made by Orientals, and sent here. If soy were bad, we would be hearing about how many Chinese are dropping dead at their USA goodie making work stations. I haven't seen little Chinese guys crossdressing, so I don't think the estrogen is causing problems. I eat a lot of soy, and never felt better. The Soy pods (Edamame)are my favorites. The key is moderation, I would think. SARS, and bird flu would frighten me more than a weekly meal of soy. Never take the soy supplements, but try to take it in natural form. There are phyto-estrogens in soy, and that's why Chinese women don't seem to have problems with menopause. I was told to take Premarin (hormones made from mares urine) and I told them NO. Now my female pals are asking me how they can get OFF Premarin. I suppose the controversy can rage on, and I have heard nay sayers, but they don't provide photographs of the so- called "damage" from taking soy. I don't drink soy milk, but I eat Tofu, TVP, and the wonderful soy pods. So far, I haven't begun to dress like a man....hee hee....best thing : research, experiment, and then decide.

 

deleterious
adj

• 1. formal
  • Harmful or destructive.
  • Thesaurus: harmful, damaging, injurious, noxious, destructive, detrimental, hurtful, prejudicial; Antonym: helpful.

Derivative: deleteriously
adverb

Etymology: 17c: from Greek deleterios.


man...you could have just used the word harmful and saved me expanding my vocab!!!

 

Maybe I could've used the correct spelling

 

my mom is obessed with soy products.. but i find they lack taste..

 

If the products you are using list partially hydrogenated oils (trans fats) then they can be harmful to your health. That is true for any product, soy or other.

 

I'm still sifting through the wad of "soy" literature that I've found, and there's plenty of pros AND cons discussed, even on the vegan web sites.

There's lots of anti-soy info out there; here's just a few sites

http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do?article=302poison2

http://www.wholesoystory.com/

http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/isoflavones.html

To highlight a few points:

(1) There's some suggestion that soy probably shouldn't be the staple that
it is -- in other words, eaten sparingly, rather than for breakfast lunch and dinner. Some people even consider it dangerous, and should therefore not be had at all.

(2) It seems as though the Asian countries haven't been eating soy for as long as we first thought, they don't eat as MUCH as we've been led to believe, and the soy they eat is slightly different to the highly processed stuff we get in the west.

(3) The main concern is the effect that soy may have on the thyroid, especially amongst people such as vegans and vegies who don't get enough iodine.



By the way, I'm no soy basher; I love my vanilla flavoured soy milk with my morning coffe...oooooh baby.

 

I wonder if anyone ever did studies on identical twins. Feed one of them a moderate soy diet, balanced with other things, and see if he/she develops trouble or (heaven forbid) drops dead within a year. That ought to settle it. Have an autopsy, report the findings. I have been eating soy for ten years, and feel great. I may eat it every day for a week, and then leave off for a week...I saw a show about Tofu and the Orient. There are vendors everywhere selling Bean Curd cakes. I didn't see anyone dropping dead and being run over by Rickshas...to the contrary...people were scurrying. It bears researching, yes, but no one with a negative "report" would scare me away from soy. Perhaps if I glanced into the mirror, and saw a second head on my shoulders shaped like a soybean...nah ! I would just spoon feed it tempeh, and smoked Tofu...and listen to music !

 

http://www.afic.org/Press Release-Soy a traditional food for asia.htm
I found the article to be somewhat helpful.

 

Whether soy is good or bad I really can't say...though I would hazard a guess that like anything moderation is probaly the key! However if it is a problem then it is not only vegans and vegetarians who would have to worry as so many foods on the supermarket shelves contain soy in some form or another...check out those labels!!

 

most soy=terrible for health

fermented soy=okay in small quantities

 

Does soy have to be a large part of a vegan or vegy diet?

 

what what what!?!?!?!?! explain.

 

omni vore pretty much covered anything that i would say about soy in his post http://hipforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=949094&postcount=8

 

One of those links does mention something about fermented and non-fermented soy.

 

I can't believe you bite down on these omnivore facts. OF COURSE there anti soy there omnivores (I know not all omnivores are against it but when they write thˆngs about it they don't tend to be good). I am not going to say you should eat soy all the time there are other ways to get your protien but take a look at japanese culture lots of soy in there diet for centuries and they were very healthy. But like I said, it is not an essential part of a veggies/vegans diet you can get protien elsewhere. Lets not add to the "soy is evil" brainwashing.

 

The use of soy in Asia and Japan has been greatly exagerated by people with a vested interest. Unfortunately, the "Asian live on soy" myth has been the brainwashing.

http://www.***********/2003/apr/5/soy_shadow.htm

Quote:

"....the soy industry and media have spun a self-serving version of the traditional use of soy in Asia. The tradition with soy is that it was fermented for a long time, from six months to three years, and then eaten as a condiment, not as a replacement for animal foods,"

"The so-called Asian diet--far from centring around soy--is based on meat. Approximately 65 percent of Japanese calorie intake comes from fish in Japan, while in China the same percentage comes from pork. They’re not using a lot of soy in Asia--an average of 2 teaspoons a day in China and up to a quarter cup in some parts of Japan, but not a huge amount."

There's also plenty of negative soy info on vegetarian web sites:
http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/harris_soy_products.htm
Why would they be soy bashers?


Why would I be a soy basher? I love soy milk and soy beans (mmmm..beans, yum)

 

I'm vegetarian and that's where half the protein I get comes from. Does it have to be? Probably not. But soy is such a good source of protein I can't think of anything better.

 

Everything is bad for you it seems. I stopped drinking milk, moved on to soy milk now that's bad for me too????