People assume that soy is a very healthy food because it is what the mainstream media tells us. Soy flour and soy products are in almost every packaged food today. But is soy really a healthy food? This is an important question to ask because soy is everywhere in processed foods today, even pet foods. You do not have to be a vegan or health food "nut" who eats soy substitutes for dairy and meat to acquire a lot of soy in your diet. Soy is a hidden ingredient found in many processed foods. It is used to extend fast food hamburgers, added to most supermarket breads and found in many dry kibble pet foods, even the premium brands. You will find even higher levels of soy in the foods at health food stores, where it is promoted as a heart-healthy, cancer-preventing, menopause-alleviating ingredient.
Manufacturers that promote soy assert that Asians have eaten "tons of soy" for millennia. If you search the Internet for "soybeans", you can find statements such as "soybeans have been a major source of protein for people in Asia for more than 5,000 years". However, the Chinese first started eating soybeans about 2,500 years ago, after they figured out how to ferment it. Somehow, the ancient Chinese knew that soybeans still contain many toxins after cooking and thus avoiding eating it until they learned to neutralize those toxins through fermentation. And in traditional Asian diets, soy is only used in small amounts as a condiment, with pork, seafood and other animals providing the bulk of the protein. Only very recently has soy been eaten the way we typically eat it, consuming large amounts in an unfermented and often highly processed form. Soy was originally considered an inedible plant, used to fix nitrogen in the soil. Even today you can find people from farming families who remember that as the primary use of soy.
Americans eat soy mostly in unfermented forms of soy, made into various processed imitation foods such as burgers, sausages, TVP chili, soymilk, soy cheese, and soy ice cream, as well as consuming large amounts of "hidden" soy flour, protein and oil in most processed foods. Many doctors, including holistic doctor Andrew Weil, promote it. Dr. Weil even partnered with a pet food brand containing soy that is marketed as a high-end super premium food, sold in health food stores and natural pet stores. Unfortunately, consumption of soy can create many health issues, both in humans and animals. Following are some of the major problems caused by soy:
High levels of phytic acid in soy reduce assimilation of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc. Phytic acid in soy is not neutralized by ordinary preparation methods such as soaking, sprouting and long, slow cooking. High phytate diets have caused growth problems in children.
Trypsin inhibitors in soy interfere with protein digestion and may cause pancreatic disorders. In test animals soy containing trypsin inhibitors caused stunted growth.
Free glutamic acid or MSG, a potent neurotoxin, is formed during soy food processing and additional amounts are added to many soy foods.
Vitamin B12 analogs in soy are not absorbed and actually increase the body's requirement for B12.
Soy foods increase the body's requirement for vitamin D.
Fragile proteins are denatured during high temperature processing to make soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein.
Soy phytoestrogens are potent antithyroid agents that cause hypothyroidism and may cause thyroid cancer. In infants, consumption of soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease.
Soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential to cause infertility and to promote breast cancer in adult women.
Processing of soy protein results in the formation of toxic lysinoalanine and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines.
Soy foods contain high levels of aluminum which is toxic to the nervous system and the kidneys.
There are numerous problems caused by soy formulas fed to infants, including difficulty digesting it, lack of sufficient nutrients and toxins.However, one of the biggest problems is the hormonal disruption caused by the isoflavones in soy. Soy isoflavones are phytoestrogens, which are plant-based estrogens that act like hormones. There are enough of them in soy to cause severe disruption to the hormonal systems of infants during a critical period in their hormonal development. The effects are often not seen until later, when they enter puberty (sometimes the phytoestrogens even cause early puberty).
How could something so bad for us be promoted as a health food, you may ask? Like many other things, it's all about big business, marketing and profits. Even the holistic doctors promoting soy usually benefit from it financially, in their associations with companies that make foods containing soy. Growing and processing soy is a big business. All the various components of soybeans are highly processed to create the wide array of soy foods now on the market, as well as adding soy components to many existing foods, like meats at fast food restaurants. No part of the soybean is thrown away--every part of it is processed into some type of food product for humans or animals. There is a huge profit to be made in selling all these soy products.
The soybean industry therefore puts a spin on the supposed health benefits of soy and downplays the levels of toxins in them. For instance, soy is promoted as helping alleviate the symptoms of menopause but there are numerous studies showing that soy is no better than a placebo for this. Soybeans have replaced indigenous crops in many countries around the world. Soybean farming has caused more loss of Amazon rain-forest than cattle ranching. So if you are eating your soy burgers to spare the rain forest, you are actually causing more destruction of it.
Soy products as we know them is not a health food, quite the contrary. Most soybeans grown in America is genetically altered. Every aspect of soy, from soy milk to soy burgers to soy bacon and soy cheese, is very harmful to your health and provides no nutritional value, in fact all it provides is a major cause of health problems for you. So many new vegans complain of being sick, no energy, headaches and so many other health issues. They blame it on their vegan diet. I ask them what they are eating and they tell me all good stuff like what is promoted at Whole Foods in their frozen and deli section; "Soy Meat,." and practically every vegan and vegetarian restaurant in America and Europe features soy. After convincing them to stop eating anything soy and substitute for organic beans, whole grains and lots of fresh local organic fruits and vegetables, these people come back to me in droves and thank me for pointing them in the right direction.......
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