Soy-Things You Didn't Know, But Need To
I've been getting a lot of questions lately about soy and soy products (think soymilk, tofu, veggie burgers, etc.), so I figured I'd share a little bit about what I know with all of you. Soy is one of those products that has been dubbed a "miracle" food, and is one of the most widely used ingredients in world-wide food production. But is it as good for you as they'd like you to believe? Here are some things for you to read and chew over.
During early Chinese dynasties, the soybean became one of the five sacred grains - along with barley, wheat, millet and rice. However, the soybean, wasn't always used as food; it was originally used in crop rotation to fix nitrogen (a process which helps plants build amino acids by "fertilizing" the soil with nitrogen). The soybean didn't become a food until the discovery of fermentation techniques, some time in the early 1100 BCE.
So what have we learned about the soybean? It contains large quantities of natural toxins or "antinutrients". Potent enzyme inhibitors block the action of trypsin and other enzymes needed for protein digestion. These inhibitors can produce serious gastric distress, reduced protein digestion and chronic deficiencies in amino acid uptake. In test animals, diets high in trypsin inhibitors cause enlargement of the pancreas, and in some cases cancer. Soy also contain hemagglutinin, a clot-promoting substance found on viruses and bacteria that causes red blood cells to clump together. Oh yea, and did I mention goitrogens? Those depress thyroid function by blocking our body's ability to absorb iodine (an essential element for proper thyroid hormone function). Also, soybeans are high in phytic acid which can block the absorption of essential minerals - calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc - in the intestinal tract. (Are you seeing a pattern here?) The soybean has one of the highest phytate levels of any grain or legume, and only a long period of fermentation will significantly reduce the phytate content of soybeans.
Soy is also high in phytoestrogens that throw off endocrine function (our hormone regulators). Infants fed soy-based formula have 13,000 to 22,000 times more estrogen compounds in their blood than babies fed milk-based formula, the estrogenic equivalent of at least five birth control pills per day. Early development of girls has been connected to the use of soy formula, as has the underdevelopment of males, and infant soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's). Soy is linked to infertility, breast cancer, hypothyroidism, thyroid cancer, and many other disorders.
Soy protein isolate (SPI) which is the key ingredient in most soy foods that imitate meat and dairy products, including baby formulas and some brands of soy milk, is another doozy to watch out for. The production of SPI takes place in industrial factories where the soy beans are first mixed with an alkaline solution to remove fiber, then separated using an acid wash. Finally, it's neutralized in an alkaline solution. Well, acid washing in aluminum tanks leaches high levels of aluminum into the final product. So not only does it remove the good fiber from the bean, but adds high levels of a heavy metal linked to osteoporosis and Alzheimer's. Also, nitrites (potent carcinogens) are formed during spray-drying, and a toxin called lysinoalanine is formed during the alkaline processing. Then artificial flavorings, particularly MSG, are added to SPI products to hide the beany taste and to give the flavor of meat. SPI is used extensively in school lunch programs, commercial baked goods, diet drinks and fast food.
So what was once a minor crop, listed in the 1913 US Department of Agriculture (USDA) handbook not as a food but as an industrial product, now covers 72 million acres of American farmland and is one of the most genetically modified foods used. Turn over almost any food package in a conventional grocery store and you're bound to find soy-something in the ingredients list. My suggestion? If you do soy, buy the fermented stuff - think miso, tempeh, tamari, etc. And try getting your protein from other sources - anything with eyes, ears, nose, or beak are going to be a great source of complete protein. If you don't do meat, proteins can be found in veggies, nuts, and seeds. And always buy organic! This guarantees the food to be non-genetically modified and it benefits the environment as well.
During early Chinese dynasties, the soybean became one of the five sacred grains - along with barley, wheat, millet and rice. However, the soybean, wasn't always used as food; it was originally used in crop rotation to fix nitrogen (a process which helps plants build amino acids by "fertilizing" the soil with nitrogen). The soybean didn't become a food until the discovery of fermentation techniques, some time in the early 1100 BCE.
So what have we learned about the soybean? It contains large quantities of natural toxins or "antinutrients". Potent enzyme inhibitors block the action of trypsin and other enzymes needed for protein digestion. These inhibitors can produce serious gastric distress, reduced protein digestion and chronic deficiencies in amino acid uptake. In test animals, diets high in trypsin inhibitors cause enlargement of the pancreas, and in some cases cancer. Soy also contain hemagglutinin, a clot-promoting substance found on viruses and bacteria that causes red blood cells to clump together. Oh yea, and did I mention goitrogens? Those depress thyroid function by blocking our body's ability to absorb iodine (an essential element for proper thyroid hormone function). Also, soybeans are high in phytic acid which can block the absorption of essential minerals - calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc - in the intestinal tract. (Are you seeing a pattern here?) The soybean has one of the highest phytate levels of any grain or legume, and only a long period of fermentation will significantly reduce the phytate content of soybeans.
Soy is also high in phytoestrogens that throw off endocrine function (our hormone regulators). Infants fed soy-based formula have 13,000 to 22,000 times more estrogen compounds in their blood than babies fed milk-based formula, the estrogenic equivalent of at least five birth control pills per day. Early development of girls has been connected to the use of soy formula, as has the underdevelopment of males, and infant soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's). Soy is linked to infertility, breast cancer, hypothyroidism, thyroid cancer, and many other disorders.
Soy protein isolate (SPI) which is the key ingredient in most soy foods that imitate meat and dairy products, including baby formulas and some brands of soy milk, is another doozy to watch out for. The production of SPI takes place in industrial factories where the soy beans are first mixed with an alkaline solution to remove fiber, then separated using an acid wash. Finally, it's neutralized in an alkaline solution. Well, acid washing in aluminum tanks leaches high levels of aluminum into the final product. So not only does it remove the good fiber from the bean, but adds high levels of a heavy metal linked to osteoporosis and Alzheimer's. Also, nitrites (potent carcinogens) are formed during spray-drying, and a toxin called lysinoalanine is formed during the alkaline processing. Then artificial flavorings, particularly MSG, are added to SPI products to hide the beany taste and to give the flavor of meat. SPI is used extensively in school lunch programs, commercial baked goods, diet drinks and fast food.
So what was once a minor crop, listed in the 1913 US Department of Agriculture (USDA) handbook not as a food but as an industrial product, now covers 72 million acres of American farmland and is one of the most genetically modified foods used. Turn over almost any food package in a conventional grocery store and you're bound to find soy-something in the ingredients list. My suggestion? If you do soy, buy the fermented stuff - think miso, tempeh, tamari, etc. And try getting your protein from other sources - anything with eyes, ears, nose, or beak are going to be a great source of complete protein. If you don't do meat, proteins can be found in veggies, nuts, and seeds. And always buy organic! This guarantees the food to be non-genetically modified and it benefits the environment as well.
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