permaculture

[SArjuna@aol.com]

Not Soy Good For You
Information from Sally Fallon, Mary Enig and Susan Weed:
   
     -The justification for more soy is based on the spurious notion that 
we should reduce fat. Fats contain many nutrients that are vital for normal 
growth and development, and that contribute to the proper function of the 
brain and nervous system. (The right fats, of course.)
     -High levels of phytic acid in soy block the absorption of calcium, 
magnesium, copper, iron and and especially zinc and contributes to widespread 
mineral deficiencies.   (Soy is the legume with the most phytates.)
     - 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 block the action of enzymes needed for 
protein digestion and may cause pancreatic disorders. In test animals, soy   
trypsin inhibitors cause stunted growth. 
     - Soybeans contain hemagglutinin, which causes red blood cells to lump 
together.
     -Phytoestrogens in soy can inhibit normal development and can cause 
reproductive and fertility problems later in life. Recent research implicates 
these phytoestrogens in the development of Alzheimer's and dementia.   They 
are "brain aging" substances. 
     - Soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential 
to cause infertility and to promote breast cancer in adult women.   
     - Soy phytoestrogens are potent antithyroid agents that inhibit 
thyroid function, leading to fatigue and mental problem.   They cause 
hypothyroidism and may cause thyroid cancer. In infants, consumption of soy 
formula has 
been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease.   Soy isoflavones are the most 
potent thyroid inhibitor, followed by daidzein and genistein.
     - 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.   Vitamin D 
and B12-both essential for normal growth and development.
     - Modern soy products contain carcinogens and toxins formed during 
processing.   Fragile proteins are denatured during high temperature 
processing 
to make soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein. Processing of 
soy protein results in the formation of toxic lysinoalanine and highly 
carcinogenic nitrosamines. 
     -   Free glutamic acid or MSG, a potent neurotoxin, is formed during 
soy food processing and additional amounts are added to many soy foods. MSG 
causes neurological problems, including violent behavior.
     - Soy foods contain high levels of aluminum, which is toxic to the 
nervous system and the kidneys.
     - Soy foods do not provide complete protein, as thought by many.   
Like all legumes, soy beans are deficient in sulfur-containing amino acids 
methionine and cystine. In addition, modern processing denatures fragile 
lysine.
     - Fermented soy foods cannot provide vitamin B12 in vegetarian diets, 
as some believe. The compound that resembles vitamin B12 in soy cannot be 
used by the human body; in fact, soy foods cause the body to require more B12
     - In some people, consumption of soy foods will lower cholesterol, but 
there is no evidence that lowering cholesterol decreases the risk of having 
heart disease.
     - Children receiving soy formula as their only food take in over 10 
time the levels of isoflavones on a body weight basis than the amount shown 
to 
cause thyroid suppression in adults after three months and about eight 
times the levels of isoflavones on a body weight basis as the amount shown to 
cause hormonal changes in adults after just one month.
     - Babies on soy formula receive the estrogenic equivalent of at least 
5 birth control pills per day.   Pediatricians are noticing greater numbers 
of boys whose physical maturation is delayed, or does not occur at all, 
including lack of development of the sexual organs. Learning disabilities, 
especially in male children, have reached epidemic proportions. Soy infant 
feeding, which floods the bloodstream with female hormones that could inhibit 
the 
effects of male hormones, cannot be ignored as a possible cause for these 
tragic developments.
An alarming number of girls are entering puberty much earlier than normal, 
according to a recent study reported in the Journal of Pediatrics. One 
percent of girls now show signs of puberty, such as breast development or 
pubic 
hair, before the age of three; by age eight, 14.7 percent of white girls and 
a whopping 48.3 percent of African-American girls had one or both of these 
characteristics.   Use of soy formula in the WIC program, supplying free 
formula to welfare mothers, may explain the astronomical rates of early 
menarche 
in African-American girls.
     - Aluminum content of soy formula is 10 times greater than that of 
milk-based formula, and 100 times greater than in unprocessed milk.           
  
- Soy formulas lack cholesterol, another nutrient that is absolutely 
essential for the development of the brain and nervous system; they also lack 
lactose and galactose, which play an equally important role in the 
development 
of the nervous system.
     No other dietary staple has as many antinutrient drawbacks as soy.   
Nor so many public relation firms and lobbyists working for it.

     From Susan Weed: 
     Soybeans were one of the five sacred grains in the Orient. [Ancient] 
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.   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 [used] tofu as a 
source of protein for about a thousand years, this is not necessarily by 
choice nor 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....
     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....
     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.
     The soy industry has concentrated for 20 years on creating markets for 
the byproducts of soy oil manufacture: lecithin and soy protein, [which] 
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, coy 
cheese, soy hot dogs, and so on. 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 effects 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.
     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 require 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.

Shivani's own experience:
     I relied heavily on tofu for years until routine blood work showed 
thyroid insufficiency.   No wonder I was always chilly when others felt warm 
and comfortable.   I had to undertake thyroid hormone replacement in order to 
be functional, but looked for the reason for my problem in order to be able 
to remove it and get my thyroid working well again.   Soy consumption soon 
loomed as a likely culprit.   (Abetted, IMHO, by electrical pollution, which 
had considerably increased my stress load.)   I stopped eating all 
unfermented soy products in June of 2002.   My thyroid hormone dosage began 
at 25 
mcg. a day.   By October 2003 I was taking just 1.5 mcg. in the early 
evening, 
the time when I consistently had the most trouble.   A few months later, I 
was able to ease off altogether.
     As the change in diet was undertaken concurrently with reduction of 
electrical pollution in my home environment, it is not possible to say if my 
thyroid would have healed with just one change or the other.   However, those 
stressed by electrical pollution seem to “break” at their weakest link, so 
to speak.   So what had weakened my thyroid?   I believe it was regular 
consumption of tofu.
     Others have had similar experiences.   If your thyroid gland activity 
is down due to soy consumption, though, recovery is certainly possible, so 
go for it.    
     You can very effectively self-test for thyroid insufficiency by doing 
the Basal Metabolism Test.   This will accurately show problems that many 
blood tests do not.

     Shivani in WI










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