Friday, April 16, 2010

The Dangers of Soy

Soy is often hailed as a healthy, protein filled alternative for meat. It is recommended for vegans, menopausal women, body-builders, and even for infant formulas.

It is said to be beneficial for heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, woman's health, diabetes and for stamina.

What kind of soy are they referring to? Is it the traditional soy products of Asia (fermented Miso and Tempeh)?

Westerners usually use soy in an isolate form. This isn't the whole food, but this is the form that most people eat. It comes in protein shakes, infant formula, packaged "meat" alternatives, "milks", and a variety of packaged food. This is a highly processed "food".

"SPI is not something you can make in your own kitchen. Production takes place in industrial factories where a slurry of soy beans is first mixed with an alkaline solution to remove fiber, then precipitated and separated using an acid wash and, finally, neutralized in an alkaline solution.
Acid washing in aluminum tanks leaches high levels of aluminum into the final product. The resultant curds are spray- dried at high temperatures to produce a high-protein powder. A final indignity to the original soybean is high-temperature, high-pressure extrusion processing of soy protein isolate to produce textured vegetable protein (TVP).
Much of the trypsin inhibitor content can be removed through high-temperature processing, but not all. Trypsin inhibitor content of soy protein isolate can vary as much as fivefold. (In rats, even low-level trypsin inhibitor SPI feeding results in reduced weight gain compared to controls.)
But high-temperature processing has the unfortunate side-effect of so denaturing the other proteins in soy that they are rendered largely ineffective. That's why animals on soy feed need lysine supplements for normal growth.
Nitrites, which are potent carcinogens, are formed during spray-drying, and a toxin called lysinoalanine is formed during alkaline processing. Numerous artificial flavorings, particularly MSG, are added to soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein products to mask their strong "beany" taste and to impart the flavor of meat." (Sally Fallon & Mary G., read full article here. Very informative.)

Soy is very high in Phytic acid, one of the highest levels of grains or seeds. Is contains phytoestrogens, (hormonal imbalance terrible for infants), causes thyroid problems, allergies and infertility, it is full of toxins and often genetically modified.

The phytoestrogen content should alone be enough to scare anyone away. Worried about cancer, especially prostate and breast cancer? These are both propelled by estrogen domination. Children are reaching puberty years earlier. Weight gain, brain fog, headaches, fatigue and depression are also linked to estrogen dominance.

Men and children should especially avoid soy!

It is also interesting to note, that when cultures become more Westernized, they will consume less of their traditional foods, whatever they may be. So for Asian countries, for example, soy isn't the only traditional thing about their diet. There is a whole picture, a whole way of eating. It is dangerous to pick out one beneficial thing, while ignoring the rest of a whole, real diet.

For health nuts (and I would classify myself as a health nut - I'm not name calling) who are pro-soy usually consume a substantial amount of soy - soy milk, soy burgers, soy cheese...But even if you could forget about all the other dangers of soy, this is not how soy was intended to be eaten, and not in these large quantities. Soy was eaten (prepared in a way as to neutralize the harmful effects) as a side, with other animal proteins and broth and lots of vegetables. It was part of a whole meal, not the whole meal itself.


There is SO much information on the dangers of soy. As with everything, I encourage you to do your own research.The following is very interesting if you are interested;

Soy for as punishment for inmates (I didn't include the 2nd part - it wasn't as much info about soy itself, you can view it at YouTube if you like)

There is also another four part video with Sally Fallon on YouTube

A very good site to look at is SoyOnlineservice there is really a lot of good information there.

This is the article quoted above. I really suggest you reading it.

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