Say it isn’t Soy.

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Sorry I haven’t written lately. Life (son, work, documentary, training-in that order) has gotten in the way.

I got an e-mail from a friend of mine saying that, though she wasn’t a vegetarian, her partner was. She said she wanted to include some sort of protein in the meals she cooked (it’s good to have all the macronutrients represented on your plate) and was wondering what my thoughts on soy were.

Well, I used to think soy was the bomb! After all, the health claims surrounding soy were ubiquitous. You literally couldn’t take a step without stepping in a claim–which, if you can pick up on my not-so-subtle analogy, you’ll see what I now think of those advertisements. And that’s what they were, ads to convince people that soy was good for you. Now, have you ever seen a commercial for breathing? Breathing is good for you. So they don’t need to do ads for it (though as our air gets worse, I’m sure those commercials are coming). Deprived of oxygen for 3-4mins, a person will die. Everyone knows this. But what everyone should realize is that the more strongly something is marketed as being healthy for you, the worse it probably is for you.

But a billion Chinese and Japanese folks can’t be wrong, can they? While it’s true that the soybean first appeared during the Chou Dynasty (1134-246 BC), it did not become part of the Chinese menu for some time. Instead it was used in the process of crop rotation, fixing levels of nitrogen in the soil so that the Chinese could grow grains more suitable for human consumption like rice and millet. Indeed, it wasn’t until the Chinese discovered fermentation did soy, in the form of miso, tempeh, natto, and soy sauce, become widely consumed.

See, the Chinese knew that unfermented soybeans contain many different substances which make it unsuitable for human consumption. Foremost among these is phytic acid. Phytates block the absorption of calcium, iron, magnesium, and zinc. So even if your diet is rich in these nutrients, the consumption of soy can very easily lead to a deficiency in any one of them. And they are all essential for health. Vegetarians who shun animal products like meat and diary and who opt for soy to “replace” this staple in the diet are, therefore, at a greater risk for a deficiency in any one of these nutrients.

Secondly, a large amount of trypsin and other enzyme inhibitors are present in soy blocking the absorption of these enzymes which are necessary for protein digestion. In tests, rats fed a diet of soy failed to grow normally. And everyone hates to see a malnourished rat…

Consuming soy that has been fermented lowers the levels of these “anti-nutrients” and makes items like miso, natto, and tempeh o.k. to eat. Tofu, on the other hand, has these anti-nutrients concentrated in the liquid and still present in the curd–thus its consumption is wrought with the same risks as soy in general.

So how do the Chinese and Japanese stay so healthy on a diet so rich in soy? Well, maybe they don’t eat as much as you thought.   8 grams/day in Japan and 9 grams/day in China–that’s less than 2 teaspoons. And while the Japanese do suffer less from some forms of cancer than here in America, cancer of the esophagus, liver, and stomach are much higher among the Japanese population than people in the U.S.

Healthy? That’s what the United Soybean Program, which spends 80 million dollars a year to “strengthen the position of soybeans in the marketplace and maintain and expand domestic and foreign markets for uses for soybeans and soybean products” would like you to believe. 72 million acres of U.S. farmland is now devoted to soy, and it’s one of the most highly pesticide ridden crops (and now genetically modified) grown today. Brazil, the second largest exporter of soy in the world next to the U.S., sacrifices millions of acres of rain forest to meet the demands of a growing number of people duped into eating isolated soy protein and textured vegetable protein for the reported health benefits. Cholesterol lowering is one of these wonders. But the “benefits” were only seen in individuals whose serum cholesterol levels were 250mg/dl or higher!

Soy is also high in isoflavones, a class of organic compounds and biomolecules related to flavonoids which act as phytoestrogens in mammals. These phytoestrogens, specifically genistein, are potent endocrine disruptors, causing infertility, reproductive problems, thyroid disease, and liver disease in test animals. But that’s for animals in experiments which were fed an extreme amount of soy, right?? From an article by Sally Fallon:

“Twenty-five grams of soy protein isolate, the minimum amount PTI claimed to have cholesterol-lowering effects, contains from 50 to 70 mg of isoflavones. It took only 45 mg of isoflavones in premenopausal women to exert significant biological effects, including a reduction in hormones needed for adequate thyroid function. These effects lingered for three months after soy consumption was discontinued.

One hundred grams of soy protein - the maximum suggested cholesterol-lowering dose, and the amount recommended by Protein Technologies International - can contain almost 600 mg of isoflavones, an amount that is undeniably toxic. In 1992, the Swiss health service estimated that 100 grams of soy protein provided the estrogenic equivalent of the Pill.”

In fact, male children fed soy formula had reduced testicle size while female children experienced an earlier onset of puberty. Alarming statistics like this prompted the New Zealand government in 1998 to issue a health warning about soy in infant formula.  While animals on soy based feed need supplementation with lysine for normal growth, the presence of soy in school lunch programs goes widely unnoticed (except by the wallets of the soy producers) and, therefore, a growing number of our children may be at risk of the health consequences mentioned here and in countless other scientific publications and resources.

So what was my reply to my friend regarding preparing meals for her vegetarian partner?  Get her to eat fish or meat or something…just say it isn’t soy!

http://myaspartameexperiment.com/

A copy of this article can be found at:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16418439?dopt=Abstract

Soy protein, isoflavones, and cardiovascular health: an American Heart Association Science Advisory for professionals from the Nutrition Committee.

Sacks FM, Lichtenstein A, Van Horn L, Harris W, Kris-Etherton P, Winston M; American Heart Association Nutrition Committee.

Soy protein and isoflavones (phytoestrogens) have gained considerable attention for their potential role in improving risk factors for cardiovascular disease. This scientific advisory assesses the more recent work published on soy protein and its component isoflavones. In the majority of 22 randomized trials, isolated soy protein with isoflavones, as compared with milk or other proteins, decreased LDL cholesterol concentrations; the average effect was approximately 3%. This reduction is very small relative to the large amount of soy protein tested in these studies, averaging 50 g, about half the usual total daily protein intake. No significant effects on HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, lipoprotein(a), or blood pressure were evident. Among 19 studies of soy isoflavones, the average effect on LDL cholesterol and other lipid risk factors was nil. Soy protein and isoflavones have not been shown to lessen vasomotor symptoms of menopause, and results are mixed with regard to soy’s ability to slow postmenopausal bone loss. The efficacy and safety of soy isoflavones for preventing or treating cancer of the breast, endometrium, and prostate are not established; evidence from clinical trials is meager and cautionary with regard to a possible adverse effect. For this reason, use of isoflavone supplements in food or pills is not recommended. Thus, earlier research indicating that soy protein has clinically important favorable effects as compared with other proteins has not been confirmed. In contrast, many soy products should be beneficial to cardiovascular and overall health because of their high content of polyunsaturated fats, fiber, vitamins, and minerals and low content of saturated fat.

As if we didn’t have enough worries about the quality of our drinking water, we now find that antibiotics, growth hormones and many prescription drugs are being detected in our public and private water systems.It’s not a very pleasant thought, but on the average… about 10% of the water we drink has been used before.

The same amount of water that exists on this planet today… existed millions of years ago… to the drop! There is no such thing as new water. Our planet continuously recycles and re-uses this finite supply of water. Only recently have we learned how fragile and finite our water resources really are. We are finding traces of compounds in our water that no one ever thought to look for before. We have finally realized that any chemical used in our society will eventually wind up in our drinking water

While the current focus by the media on tap water problems has raised long overdue concerns, it is not a new issue. In 1999, a 17-year-old West Virginia high school student, Ashley Mulroy, read a report in a science magazine describing how European scientists had recently discovered that “drugs of all kinds, including antibiotics, were flowing in rivers, streams, ground water and even in tap water” and decided to embark on a science project of her own. Over a ten-week period Ashley and her mother drove for miles along the Ohio River taking samples of the water from different sites. She then returned to her hometown and had the samples tested for three common antibiotics: penicillin, tetracycline and vancomycin… to her surprise she found traces of all three in each of the samples she had taken. Ashley then sampled tap water in three near by towns. All three, including water from the drinking fountain at her school, were contaminated with the antibiotics in question. Ashley was awarded several science project awards and more importantly opened the eyes of many U.S. scientists.

Researchers from the U.S. EPA and the National Geological Survey have now found traces of antibiotics, birth control drugs, anti-depressants and even caffeine in many water samples taken across the country. Large animal farming operations and wastewater treatment plants release billions of gallons of contaminated wastewater into our environment every day. A large percentage of the drugs that are given to humans and animals pass through the body and wind up in this recycled wastewater and then in our drinking water.

As early as 2000, USA Today, in a news release, stated that “experts fear that even low levels of antibiotics fouling the nations water supply may help create super-bugs: micro organisms that have evolved to survive an antibiotic’s lethal assault.” And that these super-bugs may be causing ‘tens of thousands’ of deaths each year in the U.S.A., according to Abigail Salyers, an expert on antibiotic resistance at the University of Illinois.

Christian Daughton, a Chief of Environmental Chemistry for the E.P.A., warns that “Water pollution by drugs is a newly emerging issue.” The reality is that there is little information on the long term effects of consuming low levels of antibiotics and growth hormanes, but everyone agrees that they will not be good.

Our public water treatment plants are not designed to remove drugs and other synthetic chemicals from our water. Without waiting for the final verdict on the actual effects of drinking a mixture of drugs and other chemicals… we can assume that they will be negative. The only question is… how negative and why wait?

Most all prescription drugs and pharmaceuticals are synthetic organic chemicals (SOCs) and volitile organic chemicals (VOCs) and can be filtered out with quality home water filtration. Look for systems that are certified for the reduction of VOCs and THMs to address this issue.

The only way to get truly healthful drinking water is to make it yourself with point of use water filtration–just buy a filter!

Aquasana makes healthy water affordable and convenient.

Bottled Water Production & Use In The U.S.:

Uses 17 million barrels of oil per year to manufacture the plastic bottles. Causes the release of over 2.5 million TONs of CO2 gases from manufacturing the plastic. Uses over 10 million barrels of oil annually to transport or deliver bottles of water. It takes 3 times as much water to produce the bottle than it does to fill it. Causes over 60,000,000 plastic bottles a day to go into U.S. landfills! All plastic bottles leach chemicals into the water at some level. Plastic was invented 144 years ago and over 98% of all plastic ever produced still exists today. It is estimated that it takes 300- 500 years for plastic to biodegrade. With the current growth in the use and disposal of plastic, it is only a matter of time until we choke our planet with a layer of plastic.