Not Soy Fast: Why Soy Might Be Hazardous To Your Health

civileats.com:

Hexane processing is really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to problems associated with eating soy--and many of the health problems are unknown to the general public.

In 1999, the FDA approved the health claim that soy is "heart healthy" and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. But this wasn't without controversy. Two researchers for the FDA, Daniel Doerge and Daniel Sheehan stated that they were opposed to the labeling of foods containing soy as heart healthy since there was "abundant evidence that some of the isoflavones found in soy...demonstrate toxicity in estrogen sensitive tissues and in the thyroid."

Read the whole story

Comments

[truthisneeded]

08:03 PM on 12/14/2010

wow very true and very scary so the bottom line if I understand correctly is eat only

organic soy
or
fermented soy

[Edward Standley]

04:25 PM on 12/13/2010

I guess it's "Never eat anything and be really careful of the water too!"

[Ozark Homesteader]

10:21 PM on 12/12/2010

I grow my own http://ozarkhomesteader.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/eatem-up-edamame-selecting-soybean-seeds-for-the-home-garden/ and eat it fresh or fresh-frozen. It's mighty tasty and healthy that way, and I know it was never treated with pesticides or hexane.

[benwha]

10:25 PM on 12/12/2010

Do ya use a bra for your manboobs?

[Ozark Homesteader]

12:20 PM on 01/09/2011

I'm a woman. Last I heard, we don't get manboobs. Mr. Homesteader doesn't have manboobs either, though.

[santacruz]

09:15 PM on 12/12/2010

It's the nasty soy monster again. It'll give you cancer and turn boys into girls. I don't think that even trans-fats or MSG has been as vilified as the soybean. What would Mercola and the WAPF do if we all just stopped eating it? Stick to organic minimally processed soy and forget the anti-soy hysteria.

[yourmotherwasahamster]

04:08 PM on 12/11/2010

Many of us have known this for a long time (thank you Joseph Mercola, thank you Weston A. Price Foundation) but it's good to see this going mainstream. Of course, there will be those who have bought the corporate dogma and you will never convince them. If you are willing to gamble with your health by consuming a lot of something that is not and has never been a widely consumed food (exception being fermented soy in small amounts) for humans I wish you good luck. Personally, I would rather stick to a Paleolithic diet whenever possible.

[thecatwoman]

02:46 PM on 12/11/2010

This article is ridiculous. Here's one example:

"Consuming soy elevates estrogen levels, which is correlated with increased risk for breast cancer (and other estrogen-sensitive cancers as well), as 80 percent of U.S. breast cancers are associated with estrogen supplementation."
--where is the citation for this? I looked for it and found it nowhere. Instead, I found this at http://www.news-medical.net/health/Estrogen-in-Medicine.aspx:

"About 80% of breast cancers, once established, rely on supplies of the hormone estrogen to grow: they are known as hormone-sensitive or hormone-receptor-positive cancers."
--Perhaps this is the statistic the author is using. If so, she either doesn't understand it or is deliberately twisting the information. She should provide a citation.

Another example:

"In one study reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, women who already had breast tumors were given a soy drink for 14 days and their breast tumor growth increased significantly."
--I clicked on the link to this study and it did not involve human subjects. Soy protein isolates were fed to mice implanted with estrogen dependent tumors.

How can Huffington give coverage to an article whose author is either manipulating information to suit her purposes or is just parroting fallacies?

[1differentdrummer]

06:05 AM on 12/12/2010

Thanks for thinking and researching. I agree with you, attribution is pretty important.

[Dez3]

10:33 AM on 12/12/2010

Thank you for correcting the misinformation contained within this article. It is remarkable that someone would be so careless in writing an article that they would misstate the information that they referenced in these articles. In both cases the misstated information is made to appear severely worse than the referenced article. It is hard to believe that the author of the blog did not deliberately set out to mislead their readers. If the author of this story continues to misstate the results of research painstakingly done by scientists, then it will severely damage the credibility of the author and subsequently the blog that publishes the author's work.

[HazelPethigFan]

05:31 PM on 12/12/2010

Good post.

what you stated can be said of most articles about food or agriculture found on Hpost. It's a common theme.

They deliberately misstate things to push their agenda in many cases. Sometimes I don't think even HPost authors know what their even agenda is other than: "if food scientists, ag scientists or farmers state something HPost must take the opposite position no matter how absurd"

[Amy Brandlin]

11:12 AM on 12/11/2010

For me Soy Lecithin is not demonic. It contains choline and phosphatides which are very beneficial to nerve/brain health. With all the neuroleptics and mind medications people must take to cope with the modern culture--(with all the mind boggling conflicting studies and articles we read) I little boost for brain function is essential. How else can we sort through all the bull?

[ABXNOMORE]

09:22 AM on 12/11/2010

Good article but nothing new if you are one to do your research. I never touch the such, it's not much to my liking. Only GMO fermented soy eaten in small quantities as has been the tradition for thousands of years in Asia is the way to eat it. As usual, America has made a profitable industry off of soy pushing false health benefits on the public.

[jsarets]

06:25 AM on 12/11/2010

Few additional points on soy:

There are two distinct phenotypes of soy.

The traditional phenotype is alternatively called garden soy or vegetable soy. This type makes up less than 3% of the American crop, relatively low in fat, impractical to harvest mechanically, never GMO, used for edamame and some boutique brands of tempeh, tofu, and soy milk.

The industrial phenotype is alternatively called field soy or oil soy. This type makes up the vast majority of the American crop, high in fat, suitable for mechanical harvesting, predominantly GMO, used for animal feed, soybean oil, and most soy foods destined for human consumption.

Soy protein is essential amino acid complete but relatively difficult to digest in its unprocessed form. Fermentation and sprouting substantially improve digestibility. Acid hydrolysis (as practiced for soy baby formula and hydrolyzed soy protein flavor enhancers) is also effective but may leave behind carcinogenic chloropropanols formed by the process.

Isoflavones are a mixed bag. They appear to negatively affect male fertility, thyroid function, and age-related brain diseases while positively affecting many types of cancer. As a result, moderate soy intake may be beneficial, while use as a staple protein may be problematic.

In general, I prefer hempseed. The protein is more complete and substantially more digestible than soy, The fat is 80% essential fatty acids with an ideal 3:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3. The fiber is much lower in isoflavones while still containing a modest amount of these cancer-fighting antioxidants.

Although taste is subjective, I consider the rich slightly nutty flavor of hempseed to be incomparably superior to soy. I thought that hemp milk was just about the most delicious thing ever until I started making hemp yogurt, frozen hemp yogurt, and hemp cheese spread. Making hemp milk at home from shelled hempseed is really easy because it requires no cooking and leaves much less insoluble residue than soybeans. Just blend and strain.

Finally, hemp cultivation is more ecologically friendly than soy. Hemp requires less water, no herbicides or pesticides, and can thrive in a wider variety of soil conditions. And of course, in addition to the nutritious seeds, it produces an industrially useful stem fiber that can displace cotton and pulpwood in many applications.

[jozie]

09:14 PM on 12/10/2010

I have to agree with this. Soy gives me horrendous migraines. I don't think there is any food that should be consumed in the quantities that soy is used now to replace proteins in so many foods.

[redyns]

11:31 AM on 12/11/2010

It is the GMO soy that does this too you. Unless you have a complete intolerance to soybean. Of course soy should not be used as a filler, add in, flavor enhancer, etc as it is used in many "foods" these days. Only whole food soy products made from organic, non-gmo soy are wholesome and a good addition to any diet.

[Chauncey Love]

08:58 PM on 12/10/2010

Eat unprocessed food and don't eat too much of any one thing. I base the main part of my diet around dried beans, various potatoes (mostly Yukon Gold and Sweet), whole grains, and tomatoes.

As far as I'm concerned, this already well known information is only of concern to vegans. Being able to use dairy and eggs in even sparing amounts is why I'll never be vegan. I'll take whatever shellacking they want to hand out because I'd rather be able to use and consume them than be forced to eat Frankenfoods derived from soy and other industrial processes.

[eighthchord]

06:50 PM on 12/10/2010

"In this 35-year Hawaiian study of 8,900 Japanese men and 500 of their wives, tofu intake was the only factor that correlated with an increased occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease."
Yet their lifespans are longer than Americans' and they're not nearly as fat as we are.
I'll stick with soy, continue to have a face that does not resemble a pizza (cow milk does this to me) and get my protein intake for the day as well. I just don't eat the stuff that is made to resemble other foods (like veggie burgers) because its overly processed and you're pretty much asking for it.

[Roses]

06:43 PM on 12/10/2010

It's really a matter of priorities.
Everything that you ingest is 'bad' for you in some degree.
Even too much water results in screwing up metabolites and death.
What should really be asked is not if soy is 'bad' for some....but are the alternatives 'better' and for how many?
IMHO soy tastes great and since eating it and swearing off meat, I have never been healthier.

[amber15]

04:31 PM on 12/10/2010

the reason this issue keeps coming back is because companies trick us into thinking soy is a 'natural' food and good for you when its all really GMO food.

Quaker’s “Natural” Granola contains corn flakes and soy lecithin. Kellogg’s Kashi brand “All Natural” Frozen Chicken Florentine uses soy flour and canola oil. Surprise! These are derived from GM plants. The FTC should insist that these and other companies either remove their “Natural” claim, or better yet remove their GMOs altogether. Furthermore, no company should proclaim GMOs as “Green.”

sign the petition to stop the fake GMO ruse and label our food so we KNOW what we're getting.

http://action.responsibletechnology.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4874

[Joseph J Schuler]

03:00 PM on 12/10/2010

Yawn. Soy is good for you one week. Bad the next. It like eggs all over again.
good..bad..good..bad..good..bad..good..bad..good..bad..good..bad..good..bad..good..bad..good..bad..good..bad.. ad nauseum.