“Dark Side Of Soy Bean”
Posted: Monday, October 10, 2005
by The Arthritis Lady
http://www.yoursuccesslinks.com
Infants are most vulnerable to damage from soy phytoestrogens Soy has been promoted as a miracle food that can prevent heart disease, fight cancer, and build strong bodies. Sales were in the $4 BILLIONS in 2004.
Respected scientists warn that its benefits should be weighed against proven risks. Even researchers working for the soy industry admit that the “marketing is way ahead of the science."
The FDA ruling proved such a financial boon that sales increased 200% between 2000 and 2004. The truth is now starting to appear. Late July, The Israeli Health Ministry warned that children under 16 should eat soy foods no more that once per day and a maximum of 3 times a week, that babies never receive soy formula, and that adults exercise caution when consuming soy products...
The Ministry took its advice from a 23 member committee of nutritionists, oncologists, pediatricians who spent a year examining the evidence.
July of 2005 the Cornell University’s Program of breast Cancer and Environmental Risk factors warned that soy food consumption can increase breast cell multiplication, increasing risk for breast cancer.
In 2002, the British Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in food, Consumer Products and Environment" which found no merit in most of the health claims of soy. They identified infants on soy formula, vegetarians who use soy as a primary source of protein, and adults trying to prevent disease with soy foods and soy supplements as all being at risk for thyroid damage.
This can be confusing since Asian peoples have used soy for centuries and many people believe this keeps them free of most Western diseases. But while Asians show lower rates of breast, prostate and colon cancers, they suffer higher rates of thyroid, pancreatic, liver, stomach and esophageal cancers.
Asians also eat different soy foods from the ones now appearing on American tables…miso, natto, temped, tofu, tamari and shoyu…instead of energy bars, soy shakes, soymik, veggie burgers, TVP chili and other meat or dairy substitutes.
These quintessentially Western products are manufactured using high-tech industrialized processes that destroy protein quality, reduce vitamin levels, and leave toxic residues and carcinogens...
Making matters worse, much of today’s soybean crop is genetically modified. GM beans carry higher levels of anti-nutrients, toxins and allergens that regular soybeans and have caused vast damage to the environment.
Indeed, most of the Amazon Rain Forest has been lost to GM soybean farming than to beef grown for fast-food franchises.
Most dangerous of all, soybeans naturally contain high levels of phytoestrogens. Promotes as safe hormone replacement therapy, these plant estrogens can cause significant endocrine disruption, leading to weight gain, fatigue, brain fog and depression.
Soy foods also have a “contraceptive effect" a fact known to scientists since the 1940"s. For women, it alters menstrual cycles, causing hormonal changes indicative of infertility.
For men it lowers testosterone levels, quantity and quality of sperm and sex drive. Couples who desire to have children are wise to cut out soy. Because of their small size and stage of development, infants remain most vulnerable to damage from soy phytoestrogens. Soy formula now represents 25% of the bottle-fed market in America and yet it’s been linked to thyroid damage, premature puberty in girls, delayed or arrested puberty in boys, and other disorders, Soy formula also contains toxic levels of manganese…50 to 80 times the amount found in diary formula or breast milk.
The bottom line is the safety of soy has yet to be proven. Unanswered questions have let the Israeli Health Ministry, the Swiss Federal Health Service, the British Dietetic association and others to warn parents and pediatricians that soy infant formula should only be used as a last resort.
If this isn’t enough reason not to eat soy, I give up. We are putting so much toxic materials in our bodies and then wondering why we are so sick so soon and have so many diseases.
Best of Health, Margie – “The Arthritis Lady" arthritislady@yoursuccesslinks.com www.yoursuccesslinks.com
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Yes, because other articles submitted by Google, rave about Soy. Now, I am using a great deal of Soy products, and am going to switch to rice milk because I don't have enzymes for cows milk! Thanks
Just to clarify and reiterate, it's the over-processed, American soy products that are risky. It's the low-process stuff that you find in Asian grocery stores that are better. Straight-up tofu (straight from the batch, no additives, not pre-packaged) and the watery-like soy milk (not the thick creamy "Silk" stuff in supermarkets) are what I and most Asians grew up on. It all comes down to eating the way nature intended. Over-processed foods, unnatural preservatives, and highly processed sugars are causing obesity and coronary complications. Instead of a banana flavored milk shake, how about a banana and a glass of milk instead?
For the above article: The references missing. The article used out of date information.
Google, "Amazon deforestation surging due to oil, soy prices" (a news article) saying that Amazon deforestation is because of illegal farming of soy, and the soy is fed to the cattle. Cattle farming is the cause of illegal farming of soy and thus result in deforestation in Amazon.
Soy is NOT infant formula. Soy does not lower testosterone levels, quantity and quality of sperm and sex drive. Phytoestrogens level is not enough to affect males fertility. (Mitchell JH, Cawood E, Kinniburgh D, Provan A, Collins AR, Irvine DS (June 2001). "Effect of a phytoestrogen food supplement on reproductive health in normal males".)
Also, personally, I have been regularly visiting a Buddhist temple who have men eating soy on daily basis for decades. They have no problem as they have kids.
I agree with that American food in general are over-processed. And in fact, if you object GM soy alone, you should object GM food in general. GM corps are hard to avoid: Soybeans, corn, cotton, Alfalfa, Hawaiian papaya, tomatoes, rapeseed, sugar cane, squash, later in 2012 there will be GM rice. Beef are often fed with GM soy, injected growth hormone for milk.
In the UK, most pork, milk and dairy products are produced from animals that have been fed on genetically modified (GM) crops. These products are not labelled. indicates that small amounts of GM DNA end up in the animal tissues and milk of GM-fed pigs and other animals. Also, GM pork will eventually arrive.
In 2003, scientists at the University of Illinois were conducting an experiment that involved inserting cow genes into female pigs in order to increase their milk production. They also inserted a synthetic gene to make milk digestion easier for the piglets. The experimental pigs were supposed to be destroyed, as instructed by the FDA. However, 386 offspring of the experimental pigs were sold to livestock brokers, who sold them to slaughterhouses. They were processed and sent to grocery stores as pork chops, sausage, and bacon
Genetically Modified Foods: Are They a Risk to Human/Animal Health? Arpad Pusztai (An ActionBioscience original article) shows that some chicken are GM-fed.
Beef, pork, and chicken are GM fed. Soy is mostly GM-fed. Then, you have to wager which protein source is less harmful. Since consuming beef, pork, and chicken will put you up higher on the food chain than just consuming soy (they are fed GM crops anyway), soy would be a better choice.
A downside to eating high on the food chain By DP OPINION
"A recent United Nations report revealed that meat production contributes greatly to global warming – 18 percent of the total effects, more than from all cars everywhere. Eating high on the food chain takes five, 10, or 20 times the land, water and energy resources that plant foods take. The toll from soil erosion and groundwater depletion has stretched the environment to the breaking point.
There’s no way the entire world could eat the standard American meat-centered diet. We would do much better if we ate a more vegetarian diet, lower on the food chain."
So what is wrong by eating higher up on the food chain? Pyramid of poison.
Gale's Science of Everyday Things:Food Webs
""pyramid of poison" and the ecological pyramid, whereby energy, which is beneficial, passes between trophic levels. The higher the trophic level, the smaller the amounts of energy that the organism extracts from its food—but the higher the amount of toxic content. By the time the toxins have passed on to a few more levels in the food web, they might be appearing in concentrations as great as 10,000 times their original amount."
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