12 Reasons to Avoid Soy
1) Soy contains several enzyme inhibitors that black the action of trypsin and other enzymes needed to digest proteins. There are not de-activated by cooking only by fermentation. In test animals it causes enlargement and other conditions of the pancreas, including cancer.
2) Soy also contains hemagglutinin, a clot promoting substance that causes red blood cells to clump together.
3) Soy beans are high in phytic acid and phytates. This is an organic acid that blocks the uptake of essential minerals( calcium, magensium, iron, and zinc). Many scientists are in agreement that grain and legume based diets high in phytates contribute to widespread mineral deficiencies in third world countries. Again, fermentation (like soy sauce and tempeh) will reduce the phyrtate contents of the beans, but extraction (like tofu, TVP, and soy milk) does not.
4) Soy also contains goitrogens, subatsnces that depress thyroid function.
5) 99% of the soy on the market today is genetically modified. It also contains the highest percentage contamination by pesticides of any of our foods. Soy beans are also very high in aluminum and cadmium, dangerous metals implicated in Alzheimer's and heart disease.
6) While soy beans are relatively rich in omega-3 oils, these go rancid when subjected to the high temperature and pressure required to extract them from the beans. Rancid oils are dangerous carcinogens. The only other way to extract the oils from the soy beans is through the use of solvents such as hexane and acetone. Traces of these carcinogens remian in the soy oils available at the supermarkets.
7) Even fermented soy (like tempeh, miso, and soy sauce) cannot be relied on for a complete meat substitue. In the Orient, tempeh is served with rice to complete the protein. But at least most of the phytates have been inactivated in fermented soy products.
8) Soy supplements have been taunted as helping menopause symptoms. This has not been verified in recent studies. In fact, most of the previous studies claiming that soy supplemetns have helped menopause were sponsored by the soy industry, an oder to "reseasrch" (i.e. advertise) soy products. (Total of $80 million per year).
9)The history of soybean in the Orient has been much abused ( and possible rewritten for the benefit of the soy manufacturers.) Soy was much revered as a crop rotation grain (used to fix nitrogen in the soil). It became food in China onloy after they learned to ferment it sometime around 200BC. The Japanese have been eating small amounts of tofu only with mineral rich fish broth, followed by a serving of meat or fish.
10) Soy Particulate Isolates (SPI) such as TVP, are highly processed soy beans that is full of aluminum, nitrates, MSG, as well as the trypsin inhibitors and phytates. Test animals fed SPI reportedly developed enlarged pancreas and thyroid glands as well as increased deposits of fatty acids in the livers.
11) Soy milk based infant formulas are dangerous. In the 1930's, it was reported that hot soy milk was a drink for the old people in China. It was never used for infants. Infants brought up on soy milk formulas have lower IQ's and are smaller. They also have higher incidences of diabetes. Behavioural problems from the pesticides (dioxins, DDT residues, cadmium, aluminum, flouride, and other toxins) are rampant. The depressed thyroid glands due to these toxins and the phytoestrogens in soy are suspected to be responsible for mental retardation, stunned growth, deaf mutism.
12) The final point on soy products in the isflavones, phytoestrogens much-taunted by the press and by advertisement as the product that will save all women from hot- flashes, etc. In fact, it looks like these phytoestrogen compete with natural estrogen for estrogen receptors in the brain. This interferes with hormones involved in reproduction and growth. Studies have shown that women consuming soy protein isolated have increased incidences of "epithelial hyperplasia", a condition that often precedes cancers. The isoflavones also depress the thyroid gland causing hypothyrodims. One of the isoflavones, genistein has been shown to inhibit tyrosine kinase in the hippocampus, thus blocking the mechanism for memory formation.
-Gisela Hoffman
