The Truth About Soy

I use Silk a lot so I wrote the company to ask about an email on your site. I got this back from the company and if it is something you can use, you might put it on the site.

----------------------------

Thank you for your recent e-mail to Silk®. We appreciate your interest in our products.

Until recently the terms Genetically Modified Organism (GMO), GMO-Free and Non-GMO were used to help identify foods that contained genetically altered ingredients. These terms are no longer recognized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and therefore cannot be used on food packaging.

According to the National Organic Standards, products that are certified organic by definition cannot contain genetically modified ingredients. At Silk, we use only Non-GMO soybeans. Look for the biotechnology statement on our packaging, under Nobody makes soymilk like we do: "We take extra care to select only the best beans, grown without genetic engineering right here in North America."

Thanks again for contacting the Consumer Affairs Department.

Sincerely,
________
Consumer Response Representative

Some brands of tofu products was not properly processed and sugar should not be added to get the benefits. There was a documentary on how to live to 101 which mentions that scientist found why 100 year old Japanese was different from the rest of their Japanese ancestors living in Hawaii. The reason was that their long lived Japan were eating tofu and carries a tradition of eating only half of the food they considered to be full. It should be noted that I also try to regularly consume tofu, because it just gives me more energy.

Ted

Soy protein powder made my temples go bald in two months!! And I had the fullest head of hair and zero family history. It was insane. I'm trashing the rest of it.

1)What I find interesting about Ted's soy claims is that the 'research' he points to is not 'full- proof', though he offers the links and info as though it is God's word. In fact,much of the debate about soy is that the research has been skewed in favor of soy,by major medical research teams. Ted did not address this, that I was able to see/read.

2)Second major point: The amounts of soy being consumed by many Americans far exceeds those of Asian cultures. Fermented or not,Americans have tended toward excess consumption of anything they are told is 'good for them'. Cow milk=case in point! As well,one cannot take one food in isolation without looking at a complete diet,on a culture by culture basis. I do not see Asians consuming gallons of soy milk per day,along with tons of dairy and huge steaks.

3)In asian medicine,it is well known that soy is 'damp',in energetic quality-people with excess mucous or any form of deficiency are often depleted,spleen deficiency,as a result of eating too much soy.This particular affects digestion and can be particularly true in women.

4)Extremely important: the soy quality being consumed is of utmost importance here. GMO's,pesticides and the like make a HUGE difference. Asian countries are only recently beginning to reap the 'not so great' benefits of high pesticide rates,high smoking/tobbaco use,high refined oil and trans fat consumption,etc. Watch as their cancer,diabetes and degenerative diseases rise.

This at a time when Americans are beginning to become informed about their dangers. Give it another decade,and you will suddenly find back to the land and organic/non refined movements throughout asia.

There is no point in debating-but I hardly think milk sales are down enough to be the 'cause' of senseless soy bashing. Especially when many of these refutes of soy's benefits,are submitted by citizens and consumer groups,not large dairy corporations. Please consider the sources of funding for research on either side. And consider the types of evidence-ie,'medical research' claims vs. evidence based approaches. Statistics can be manipulated.

If anything,milk companies would be trying to refute claims that 'organic' milk is better-as organic requires more space and money to produce. And certainly organic milk sales are on the rise. Besides,most of the major milk companies I know of are now producing SOY MILK,as well as COW MILK-so they make a buck either way.

NOONE needs to consume gallons or even quarts of any kind of milk in a daily basis. Everything in moderation should take care of the situation. And I myself do not digest soy products well,so I do not eat them.

I will also say that 'TRUE FERMENTATION' is very different than what passes as fermented on most American store shelves. Tofu and Tempeh are produced en masse with chemicals,hardly the traditional asian way-and hardly a stretch to think that this method might produce less than positive health effects.

I'm all for considering both sides-I just look for logic and reason in thinking things through.

Irm,

you may or maybe right about soy, but my own personal experience with it is that it is not for me. I am 45 and last year I decided to use soy instead of milk. I used only organic non-sweetened soy and shortly thereafter began to have hot flashes. I did not put 2 + 2 together and used soy for many months. Stopped using soy and flashes went, used it again recently and within 10 minutes had a hot flash. I was also buying supplements with soy in them to counteract peri or menopause, so there I was consuming more and more soy to help the flashes. Too much estrogen (soy) which is a hormone or it was at least mimicking it in my body.

Peace
thanks for this great site!

Is soy toxic? Simple. I read through medical literature, or you can go through pubmed. Do a search and read every literature on soy. It is quite positive. The only negative thing about soy is it can't be used in infant formula, the same is also true for cow's milk. I only read first hand information, most information on soy toxin as claimed are positive. Asians is the world's largest consumer of soy. We Asians have been consuming soy for centuries. We also use soy protein to accelerate plant growth. China also consume soy and have very low incidence in cancer, they also recently begun a switchover to cow's milk and now the cancer rate is starting to rise. In fact, try a chemical analysis of the cow's milk you are drinking, it is high in vaccines, antibiotics, and growth hormone. Remember I am speaking from a country that is already one of the world's largest consumer of soy for centuries.It has only been in recent years (about 10 years) that the switchover is to cow's milk, with devastating consequences, such as obesity (cow's milk is high in hormones that forces the body to increase fat). You can find this information yourself, but the government are afraid to admit this fact. People who are allergic to something can be allergic from soy to cow's milk. I went to check on soy toxin, nothing much. You can debate me on it! I have more than enough ammunitions to back up my claims.

Dear Victor: Yes, soy is high in oxalates. Many high protein diets are high in oxalates such as meats, dairy products, vegetables, milk, nuts, beans, seafood products are also high in oxalates. But vegetables, such as spinach, green peas, broccolli, and many others are also high in oxalates. If you think what you drink is safe, well consider chocolates, cocoa, and tea are also high in oxalates. My guess is if you avoid rich oxalate food, you are depriving yourself or a lot of nutrients.

People who get cancer, infections, viruses, fungus infection or lowered immune system have LOW oxalates. It is also true that people with high oxalate may get kidney stones. Few people also know that certain foods and supplements will rid or dissolve your body of oxalates.

The real secret is not avoiding oxalates, or eating foods high in oxalates, or even finding the middle ground as to how much oxalates you are eating by getting those RDA (Recommended Daily Allowances) of oxalates. They don't exist.

So where do we get the answers? Do we need more high tech knowledge to find such an answer? Look no further then a gorilla raised in the wild. They don't get kidney stones! Gorilla raised in the zoo do! So I guess a Gorilla does not have to get a Ph.D. to know the RDA for oxalates! People get kidney stones for a very simple reasons. If the body's bicarbonates or buffer is insufficient in the intestines, the oxalic acid rich foods, goes right through your intestines and directly into the blood. The oxalic acid will then react with the body's calcium usually in the bloodstream to form calcium oxalates. This is then slowly accumulates in your kidney to form calcium oxalate stones. Calcium oxalate stones is relatively insoluble, whenever your kidney's pH remains at a level below 6. It is more soluble at a more alkaline pH such as 7.

Assuming on the otherhand that your has sufficient levels of bicarbonate or buffer. What happens is this: the body's bicarbonates reacts directly with the oxalic acid in the intestines to neutralized the acid to form sodium oxalate, which prevents any further reaction from becoming calcium oxalate and safe.

You can do this experiment at your own home to prove to you why a urinary pH acid causes calcium oxalate, which is one of the common components of the kidney stones. This is a small experiment I devised sometime ago in the beginning of this year (2006) to resolve the oxalic rich food paradox. I will be first to admit, this is not an exact science, but with the resources that I have quite limited!

Prepare a fresh urine sample in a cup. Get 1/4 teaspoon of oxalic acid and dissolve. The urine will become instantly cloudy. Precipitates will form. There you have it, instant kidney stones!

Now perform another experiment, get 1 teaspoon of baking soda and put it in ANOTHER, fresh urine sample cup. Now add 1/4 teaspoon of oxalic acid. The baking soda will react with oxalic acid to form sodium oxalate, instead of reacting with the calcium in your urine. The ending urine sample will be clearer then the one without the baking soda. So a person with plenty of bicarbonates is unlikely to get kidney stones!

So the cure for kidney stones, or the nemesis of oxalic is simple: baking soda. No need to avoid oxalate, or determine the RDA for oxalate diet and you now have a way of preventing kidney stones! Of course many other supplement will also dissolve kidney stones: citric acid, vitamin B6, and vitamin C. So the reason to avoid the soy on oxalates is unfounded. as you can easily get them from other foods too. The secret is something that covers so many illness is baking soda.

I read carefully the first entry on the page -"Ted's Defense of Soy" and clicked on the link for pubmed.org which he stated would support the case for soy not affecting testosterone. I found this link

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21353476

which clearly demonstrates in this particular case that discontinuing a soy-based vegan diet restored a male's normal testosterone levels after a year.

I'm going to limit soy from now on.

In defence of soy - I have been having some really atrocious hot flushes as I enter menopause. For the last 12 months I have simply endured them, thinking they will just go away eventually.

In desperation last week, I bought a bulk pack of soy beans (non GMO)and have been making my own soy milk. The taste is absolutely terrible of course(no sweeteners or flavouring added), but frankly, I'd drink battery acid if I thought it would help.

Well, it has - no, not the battery acid! I got my first full night's sleep in over 12 months last night and the hot flushes have not recurred since the first 24 hours of drinking my home made soymilk.

I have to add however, that I am on the bicarbonate soda/ACV mix as well, and tried oil-pulling with sesame oil for the first time two days ago. The bicarb/ACV drink did help in terms of severity of the flushes, but adding the soymilk to the whole protocol really did the trick, as far as I'm concerned. The difference is amazing and I can't believe how much more energised I feel. I feel as if some heavy horror has been lifted and my outlook on life is now really positive. I find it hard to believe how much the whole menopause thing had affected my vitality and enjoyment of life. I now have my rather immature and much enjoyed sense of mischief back!

I'll keep up the soymilk along with the bicarb/ACV. Despite the taste!

Its not just anti-soy propaganda. I nearly ruined my health and destroyed my thyroid gland by eating soy foods. Not everyone can eat soy, just as not everyone can eat wheat, or eggs, or milk etc. And even though soy is helping you now, watch out for signs of "soy toxicity" in the months to come. Soy also contains a powerful enzyme inhibitor that inhibits the action of trypsin, a pancreatic enzyme that digests protein, making soy very hard on the pancreas, again, especially in some people. The bottom line is: know your body, listen to what it is saying to you, and don't let ideaology rule you. In matters of health, biology trumps ideaology every time.

what about lecithin, are there health benefits from it?

Soy sauce is not created equal most have only a very small percentage of fermented soy and the rest is soy (usually GMO soy), wheat, colours and salt. It is very rare that the salt is the good sea salt. Traditional soy sauce is called Tamari (or at least in Australia it is) and it contains only soy beans, water and sea salt and is naturally fermented. As you are using it every day it would be worth getting the organic tamari. It would also pay to make sure you are getting enough iodine.