Why I'm Not a Soy Fan
by Dana Carpender
Whenever I mention that I prefer to minimize my consumption of soy products, or mention that there is negative information coming in about soy, I can expect at least a handful of emails asking me why. Soy is so hot currently, and the US government is pushing it so hard, (not to mention the marketing people) that suggesting that soy is not only not a panacea for all ills, but may actually be harmful, really startles people. Long time readers know my reasons for jumping off the soy bandwagon, but the folks who have joined us more recently -- and there are a lot of you!-- don't. So for the benefit of those of you who are puzzled by my reluctance to endorse soy, here goes:
* It has been established for *decades* that soy can cause thyroid dysfunction, especially goiter. There is some reason to believe that soy can actually cause thyroid failure. A malfunctioning thyroid gland is an unhappy thing, especially for those who are trying to lose weight.
* A research study coming out of Hawaii last year showed a straight-line correlation between the amount of tofu consumed in middle age, and the degree of brain function deterioration in old age. Researchers theorize that soy phytoestrogens bind to receptors in the brain meant for the estrogen a person's body creates, blocking proper estrogen use by the brain. If this is the case, all unfermented soy products would be a problem, not just tofu. This would include soy milk, soy protein powder, soy cheese, soy burgers, etc.
* A British study about six months ago turned up the fact that vegetarian mothers have five times the risk of non-vegetarian mothers of giving birth to boy babies with hypospadias, a genital defect where the urethra is not long enough, and exits the penis along the base, instead of at the tip. While the reason for this is unclear, the front-running theory is that the high estrogen levels in soy-based vegetarian diets are the cause.
* In 1999, Daniel Sheehan, director of the Estrogen Base Program, Division of Genetic and Reproductive Toxicology, in the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) National Center for Toxicological Research told the FDA's Office of Special Nutritionals that the Center for Toxicological Research disagreed with the FDA's proposal to allow health claims of reduced heart disease risk on soy products. Sheehan states that soy isoflavones, the heavily touted soy phytoestrogens, have been demonstrated to be toxic to the human thyroid, and also in "tissues that are sensitive to estrogen". Sheehan also stated that soy isoflavones can increase risk of abnormal brain and reproductive tract development if consumed during pregnancy.
* Also in 1999, the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition refused to grant GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status for soy protein. The petition for GRAS status was denied because adverse effects were not adequately reported by Archer Daniels Midland, the agribusiness corporation applying for GRAS status.
* There is some speculation -- and at this point, that is all it is -- that soy may raise the risk of some kinds of cancer. This, of course, is in contrast to the speculation that soy can *prevent* some kinds of cancer...
* There is no question that soy products interfere with mineral absorption. They are very high in chemicals called "phytates" which bind with minerals and prevent their absorption. Phytates are present in other plant foods as well, especially whole grains, and may be the reason why the bones and teeth of early farming peoples show that the beginning of grain and bean agriculture resulted in a drop in stature, and the thinning of bones and weakening of teeth. Soy phytates are different from some other phytates, however, in that even long cooking does not get rid of them.
* Most soy grown in the USA -- except for specifically labeled organic soy -- has been genetically modified. Perhaps the most ubiquitous genetic modification is the "Round-up Ready soy bean" -- this means that the soybean has been genetically modified to be immune to Round-up, Monsanto's top-selling herbicide. This has a couple of ramifications -- first of all, Round-up ready soybeans are regularly bathed in Round-up herbicide, which is incorporated into the plant -- and the bean -- itself. Monsanto claims it's safe, but it makes me pretty edgy. Also, Round-up Ready soy beans have a much higher estrogen level than unmodified soybeans. There is some speculation that these super-estrogen beans are part of the reason for ever-earlier puberty in American children.
I know what you're thinking -- "But Asian folks have been eating soy forever!" Not true, in a couple of ways. First of all, soy has only been part of the Asian diet for several hundred years, a far shorter time than most grains and beans -- and all grains and beans have to be considered newcomers to the human diet. Secondly, Glycine soja, the soybean originally cultivated by Asian folks, is a different species than the highly hybridized Glycine max, the soybean now in use. Among other things, Glycine max has been bred for higher protein concentration -- which sounds good, but if soy protein is a problem, then higher levels of it are a worse problem. Breeding is also suspected to have increased the levels of isoflavones, which the soy plant apparently produces as a protection against pests.
Also, Americans tend to overestimate the quantity of soy traditionally in Asian diets. An American who drinks soy milk, uses soy protein powder, and eats soy cheese, tofu, and veggie burgers is likely to be eating far more soy than Asian populations generally have. The problem can be even worse for children, because they're so small -- by some estimates, an infant drinking soy formula can ingest the estrogen equivalent of five birth control pills a day. Small children drinking soy milk instead of cow's milk can easily get enough soy to cause permanent autoimmune thyroid disease.
Finally, much of the soy consumed in Asian diets is in fermented forms -- miso, tempeh, natto, and of course soy sauce. The fermentation process destroys the phytoestrogens, which means that these products are safer: The Hawaiian study linking tofu to dementia showed no problems with miso consumption.
All of this is a real bummer for us low carbers, since soy products are very useful as substitutes for many of the higher carb products we've eliminated from our diets. I've been experimenting; I've found that rice protein powder is the best substitute for soy powder in non-sweet recipes -- I have Nutribiotics brand, which has about 1.5 grams of usable carb per tablespoon; I've heard that other brands are higher carb, so read the labels. In sweet recipes, I've long since switched from soy powder to vanilla whey protein powder. I do still use tofu every now and then; it's hard to make hot-and-sour soup without it. And Keto Crisp, a soy based product much like Rice Krispies, makes such good cookie bars it's hard to resist making them every now and then. But I try to keep my consumption of soy products (except soy sauce, which isn't a problem) to a minimum.
If you're concerned about soy, you will need to be careful about low carb specialty products, since so many of them use soy -- indeed, many of them boast about their soy content, and even their isoflavone content, on the label. Personally, I consider soy to be a negative, not a positive, and will only eat these products every so often, no matter how well I like them -- and I like some of them pretty well. I do always note soy content in product reviews, so you can all make your own decisions about whether a product is tempting enough to be worth risking a little soy.
Of course, this bad news about soy is most problematic for low carb vegetarians, and particularly low carb vegans -- there simply are not very many good low carb sources of complete vegan protein other than soy. My best recommendation for low carb vegans -- assuming that you're vegan because of ethical/philosophical/religious convictions, which I'm not about to argue with -- is that you eat primarily tempeh, natto, and miso, instead of tofu, soy cheese, soy meat analogues, TVP, soy milk, and other unfermented soy products. Seitan, made from wheat gluten, is often pretty low carb, although it's protein quality is not as good as that of soy, and many people are sensitive to gluten. Up your consumption of nuts and seeds -- almonds have the best protein quality of the nuts -- and eat a wide variety of them.
The same advice goes for low carb lacto-ovo vegetarians, but these folks will also, of course, want to eat eggs, cheese, and yogurt, and therefore have far fewer worries about getting ample protein on their low carb diets. Also a very good idea for the low carb lacto-ovo vegetarian is purchasing Diana Lee's _Baking Low Carb_, so you can eat high protein muffins and sweet breads and such; this won't work for vegans since Diana's recipes use eggs and whey protein. (Baking Low Carb: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0967998808/lowcarbohysoluti"]Amazon.com: Baking Low Carb (9780967998800): Diana Lee: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ShfsLvwyL.@@AMEPARAM@@51ShfsLvwyL[/ame]
) It's also good to know that the low carb specialty foods people are catching on; there is now a soy-free low carb bake mix. I haven't tried it yet, but I'll be reviewing it soon. In the meanwhile, if you'd like to try it, it's available from Low Carb Grocery: http://www.lowcarbgrocery.com .
So that's why I'm not a big soy fan. Hopefully that will settle the issue until I pick up another couple-thousand subscribers!
For more info:
http://www.healthcoalition.ca/release060799.html http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/
Additional article about soy and soy products:
http://mercola.com/2003/oct/11/deforestation_soy.htm
The link that the above article came from is www.marshallprotocal.com/forum2/2434.html
by Dana Carpender
Whenever I mention that I prefer to minimize my consumption of soy products, or mention that there is negative information coming in about soy, I can expect at least a handful of emails asking me why. Soy is so hot currently, and the US government is pushing it so hard, (not to mention the marketing people) that suggesting that soy is not only not a panacea for all ills, but may actually be harmful, really startles people. Long time readers know my reasons for jumping off the soy bandwagon, but the folks who have joined us more recently -- and there are a lot of you!-- don't. So for the benefit of those of you who are puzzled by my reluctance to endorse soy, here goes:
* It has been established for *decades* that soy can cause thyroid dysfunction, especially goiter. There is some reason to believe that soy can actually cause thyroid failure. A malfunctioning thyroid gland is an unhappy thing, especially for those who are trying to lose weight.
* A research study coming out of Hawaii last year showed a straight-line correlation between the amount of tofu consumed in middle age, and the degree of brain function deterioration in old age. Researchers theorize that soy phytoestrogens bind to receptors in the brain meant for the estrogen a person's body creates, blocking proper estrogen use by the brain. If this is the case, all unfermented soy products would be a problem, not just tofu. This would include soy milk, soy protein powder, soy cheese, soy burgers, etc.
* A British study about six months ago turned up the fact that vegetarian mothers have five times the risk of non-vegetarian mothers of giving birth to boy babies with hypospadias, a genital defect where the urethra is not long enough, and exits the penis along the base, instead of at the tip. While the reason for this is unclear, the front-running theory is that the high estrogen levels in soy-based vegetarian diets are the cause.
* In 1999, Daniel Sheehan, director of the Estrogen Base Program, Division of Genetic and Reproductive Toxicology, in the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) National Center for Toxicological Research told the FDA's Office of Special Nutritionals that the Center for Toxicological Research disagreed with the FDA's proposal to allow health claims of reduced heart disease risk on soy products. Sheehan states that soy isoflavones, the heavily touted soy phytoestrogens, have been demonstrated to be toxic to the human thyroid, and also in "tissues that are sensitive to estrogen". Sheehan also stated that soy isoflavones can increase risk of abnormal brain and reproductive tract development if consumed during pregnancy.
* Also in 1999, the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition refused to grant GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status for soy protein. The petition for GRAS status was denied because adverse effects were not adequately reported by Archer Daniels Midland, the agribusiness corporation applying for GRAS status.
* There is some speculation -- and at this point, that is all it is -- that soy may raise the risk of some kinds of cancer. This, of course, is in contrast to the speculation that soy can *prevent* some kinds of cancer...
* There is no question that soy products interfere with mineral absorption. They are very high in chemicals called "phytates" which bind with minerals and prevent their absorption. Phytates are present in other plant foods as well, especially whole grains, and may be the reason why the bones and teeth of early farming peoples show that the beginning of grain and bean agriculture resulted in a drop in stature, and the thinning of bones and weakening of teeth. Soy phytates are different from some other phytates, however, in that even long cooking does not get rid of them.
* Most soy grown in the USA -- except for specifically labeled organic soy -- has been genetically modified. Perhaps the most ubiquitous genetic modification is the "Round-up Ready soy bean" -- this means that the soybean has been genetically modified to be immune to Round-up, Monsanto's top-selling herbicide. This has a couple of ramifications -- first of all, Round-up ready soybeans are regularly bathed in Round-up herbicide, which is incorporated into the plant -- and the bean -- itself. Monsanto claims it's safe, but it makes me pretty edgy. Also, Round-up Ready soy beans have a much higher estrogen level than unmodified soybeans. There is some speculation that these super-estrogen beans are part of the reason for ever-earlier puberty in American children.
I know what you're thinking -- "But Asian folks have been eating soy forever!" Not true, in a couple of ways. First of all, soy has only been part of the Asian diet for several hundred years, a far shorter time than most grains and beans -- and all grains and beans have to be considered newcomers to the human diet. Secondly, Glycine soja, the soybean originally cultivated by Asian folks, is a different species than the highly hybridized Glycine max, the soybean now in use. Among other things, Glycine max has been bred for higher protein concentration -- which sounds good, but if soy protein is a problem, then higher levels of it are a worse problem. Breeding is also suspected to have increased the levels of isoflavones, which the soy plant apparently produces as a protection against pests.
Also, Americans tend to overestimate the quantity of soy traditionally in Asian diets. An American who drinks soy milk, uses soy protein powder, and eats soy cheese, tofu, and veggie burgers is likely to be eating far more soy than Asian populations generally have. The problem can be even worse for children, because they're so small -- by some estimates, an infant drinking soy formula can ingest the estrogen equivalent of five birth control pills a day. Small children drinking soy milk instead of cow's milk can easily get enough soy to cause permanent autoimmune thyroid disease.
Finally, much of the soy consumed in Asian diets is in fermented forms -- miso, tempeh, natto, and of course soy sauce. The fermentation process destroys the phytoestrogens, which means that these products are safer: The Hawaiian study linking tofu to dementia showed no problems with miso consumption.
All of this is a real bummer for us low carbers, since soy products are very useful as substitutes for many of the higher carb products we've eliminated from our diets. I've been experimenting; I've found that rice protein powder is the best substitute for soy powder in non-sweet recipes -- I have Nutribiotics brand, which has about 1.5 grams of usable carb per tablespoon; I've heard that other brands are higher carb, so read the labels. In sweet recipes, I've long since switched from soy powder to vanilla whey protein powder. I do still use tofu every now and then; it's hard to make hot-and-sour soup without it. And Keto Crisp, a soy based product much like Rice Krispies, makes such good cookie bars it's hard to resist making them every now and then. But I try to keep my consumption of soy products (except soy sauce, which isn't a problem) to a minimum.
If you're concerned about soy, you will need to be careful about low carb specialty products, since so many of them use soy -- indeed, many of them boast about their soy content, and even their isoflavone content, on the label. Personally, I consider soy to be a negative, not a positive, and will only eat these products every so often, no matter how well I like them -- and I like some of them pretty well. I do always note soy content in product reviews, so you can all make your own decisions about whether a product is tempting enough to be worth risking a little soy.
Of course, this bad news about soy is most problematic for low carb vegetarians, and particularly low carb vegans -- there simply are not very many good low carb sources of complete vegan protein other than soy. My best recommendation for low carb vegans -- assuming that you're vegan because of ethical/philosophical/religious convictions, which I'm not about to argue with -- is that you eat primarily tempeh, natto, and miso, instead of tofu, soy cheese, soy meat analogues, TVP, soy milk, and other unfermented soy products. Seitan, made from wheat gluten, is often pretty low carb, although it's protein quality is not as good as that of soy, and many people are sensitive to gluten. Up your consumption of nuts and seeds -- almonds have the best protein quality of the nuts -- and eat a wide variety of them.
The same advice goes for low carb lacto-ovo vegetarians, but these folks will also, of course, want to eat eggs, cheese, and yogurt, and therefore have far fewer worries about getting ample protein on their low carb diets. Also a very good idea for the low carb lacto-ovo vegetarian is purchasing Diana Lee's _Baking Low Carb_, so you can eat high protein muffins and sweet breads and such; this won't work for vegans since Diana's recipes use eggs and whey protein. (Baking Low Carb: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0967998808/lowcarbohysoluti"]Amazon.com: Baking Low Carb (9780967998800): Diana Lee: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ShfsLvwyL.@@AMEPARAM@@51ShfsLvwyL[/ame]
) It's also good to know that the low carb specialty foods people are catching on; there is now a soy-free low carb bake mix. I haven't tried it yet, but I'll be reviewing it soon. In the meanwhile, if you'd like to try it, it's available from Low Carb Grocery: http://www.lowcarbgrocery.com .
So that's why I'm not a big soy fan. Hopefully that will settle the issue until I pick up another couple-thousand subscribers!
For more info:
http://www.healthcoalition.ca/release060799.html http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/
Additional article about soy and soy products:
http://mercola.com/2003/oct/11/deforestation_soy.htm
The link that the above article came from is www.marshallprotocal.com/forum2/2434.html