How Safe is Soy?
c.2002 Susun S Weed
author of Breast Cancer?
Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way
Condensation of an article in NewLife Mag, May '96, by Sally
Fallon, M.A. and Mary Enig, Ph.D.
With widespread concern about the possible unhealthy effects of commercial
meat and cows' milk many more people than before are using soy products
as substitutes for animal products. Soy products are supposed to be
high protein, low calorie, devoid of cholesterol, and easy to digest.
The authors disagree on most of these counts.
Soybeans were one of the five sacred grains in the Orient according
to records dating back to before 1134. Agricultural reports speak
frequently of using soybeans in crop rotation (to fix nitrogen and
thus improve soil fertility) but there is no indication that soybeans
were eaten until fermentation processes were discovered, sometime
around 440 BCE. The first soy products eaten by people were tempeh,
natto, miso, and shoyu tamari. And it was not until some centuries
later (2nd Century BCE) that the process of making tofu was discovered.
While it is true that the people of the Orient have relied heavily
on tofu as a source of protein for about a thousand years, this is
not necessarily by choice or beneficial. The early Chinese did not
eat soybeans, although they did eat other pulses, because they recognized
the large quantities of a number of harmful substances which have
been well studied scientifically. Some of the most detrimental are
potent trypsin inhibitors which block the action of enzymes needed
for protein digestion. Soybeans also contain hemagglutinin, which
causes red blood cells to lump together. Soybeans are also high in
phytates, an organic acid which blocks the uptake of calcium, magnesium,
iron, and especially zinc, and contributes to widespread mineral deficiencies.
In fact there are more phytates in soybeans than in any other grain,
bean, or plant studied and these phytates are remarkably resistant
to reduction techniques. Only a long period of fermentation will significantly
reduce the phytate content of soybeans. The phytates and other anti-nutrients
in soybeans are only partially deactivated during ordinary cooking
and can produce gas, reduce protein digestion, and create chronic
deficiencies in children.
Another way to moderate the harmful effects of tofu and other unfermented
soybean products is to eat tofu with meat or fish, as is traditionally
done in the Orient. Vegetarians - especially vegetarian children -
who eat tofu and drink soy milk as substitutes for meat and dairy
products are at very high risk of loss of bone mass and severe mineral
deficiencies. Oriental children who eat soy but no meat, eggs, or
dairy often suffer from rickets, stunted growth, and lowered intelligence.
Unfermented soy virtually destroys all zinc in the body; and zinc
is critical for optimal development and functioning of the brain,
nervous system and immune system.
To what do we owe the current upsurge in use of soy products such
as TVP and tofu in America? Most of the 140 billion pounds of soybeans
raised in the USA every year are made into animal feed or pressed
into soy oil.
The soy industry has concentrated for 20 years on creating markets
for the byproducts of soy oil manufacture: lecithin and soy protein.
But these were generally (and rightly) considered "poverty foods"
and rejected by most consumers.
The soy industry recognized that, according to a spokesman: "The
quickest way to gain product acceptability in a less affluent market
is to have the product consumed on its own merit by those who are
more affluent." Thus these soy byproducts have been cleverly
marketed to resemble traditional foods: soy milk malteds, soy baby
formula, soy yogurt, soy ice cream, soy cheese, soy hot dogs, and
so on. Let's face it: these are fake products, not health foods.
The production of soy milk does remove trypsin inhibitors, but at
the expense of denaturing the proteins, making them indigestible,
of creating a carcinogen, lysinealine, and of reducing the cystine
content, an essential amino acid which is already very low in soybeans.
The phytate content remains, further deranging the diet.
Soy formula and soy milk is often made with soy protein isolate, an
extremely refined product lacking virtually all minerals and vitamins.
Many soy formulas sold for infants are rich in trypsin-inhibitors
which can stunt growth. And all contain staggering amounts of mineral-depleting
phytates. The aluminum content of soy formula is 100 times greater
than unprocessed milk. Aluminum has a toxic effect on infants’
kidneys and may be a cause of Alzheimer's in adults. Soy formula lacks
three important nutrients found in all milk: cholesterol, which is
essential for brain development, and lactose and galactose, which
play vital roles in the development and functioning of the nerves.
All is not what it seems with the supposed health benefits of soy.
Allergies to soy are at least as common as allergies to milk. Nitrosamines,
potent carcinogens often associated with meat, are found in high concentrations
in all commercial soy protein foods. Isoflavones, anticarcinogenic
substances present in soybeans may have a pro-cancer effect when consumed
unfermented. Although soybeans contain large amounts of omega-3 fatty
acids, these acids are particularly susceptible to rancidity when
subjected to the high heat and pressure required to remove the oil
from the bean; such rancidity promotes cancer and heart disease. Additionally,
all soy oil is extracted with a solvent, traces of which remain in
the oil.
In addition to containing anti-nutrients, soybeans lack these important
nutritional elements (found in all animal products): cysteine, vitamin
B12, vitamins A and D, and cholesterol. Consumption of unfermented
soy products actually increases the body's needs for vitamin D and
vitamin B12.
To summarize: traditional fermented soy products,
especially when made with organic beans, are beneficial in the diet
when combined with rice, seafoods, and fermented vegetables. The value
of other soy products is questionable at best, disease causing at
worst. The use of soy as a primary protein source is misguided.
1. The Five Sacred Grains were barley, wheat, millet, rice, and soybeans.
2. In test animals trypsin inhibitors cause enlargement of the pancreas,
disease states, and occasionally pancreatic cancer.
3. Bran is very rich in phytates as well.
4. They are referred to scientifically as "growth depressant
substances."
5. Most of this oil is hydrogenated and consumed as margarine.
6. Milk, meat, and eggs are rich in cystine; soy cannot substitute
for animal products, and in fact is complemented by them.
7. There has been a rapid rise in liver and pancreatic cancer in Africa
since the introduction of unfermented soy products there.
Condensed by:
Susun Weed
PO Box 64
Woodstock, NY 12498
Fax: 1-845-246-8081
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