The Truth About Soy

A worrying trend that has gripped the western world over the last decade is the number of people, especially women, that have started drinking Soy Milk as a “healthy” alternative to Cow’s milk, adding it to teas, coffee and smoothies daily.

(I also see people turning to Soy Protein Isolate, as an alternative to Whey protein after their gym sessions, which is also just as worrying as it contains a large amount of MSG, but that is for another time.)

I ought to know what negative effects drinking Soy milk can have because back when I was in university, I was one of those people who thought I was making the healthy choice by swapping my cow’s milk for soy milk.

I soon found out just how wrong I was when my skin and gut issues got considerably worse.

The fact is, unfermented Soy is NOT a health food.

Soy, Tofu, Edamame, TVP (texturized vegetable protein), Soy Protein Isolate, Soy pills, Soy cheese & Soybean oil, should all be avoided.

The reason for this is that Soy may damage your health in both the short and the long term, and it may do this for a number of reasons.

One of those reasons is that Soy is high in isoflavones, a phytoestrogen resembling human estrogen which disrupts endocrine function & may promote breast cancer in women.

This is backed by the Swiss Health Service who estimate that 100 grams of Soy Protein provides the estrogenic equivalent of the birth control pill!

Add to this the fact that most Soy is genetically modified (GM), loaded with toxic pesticides, and is shown to cause infertility evidenced by Russian research …

… this is unsurprising as Buddhist monks originally started eating tofu to reduce their sex drive.

Another problem is that Soy foods contain anti-nutritional factors or ‘anti-nutrients’, which interfere with the enzymes you need to digest protein, which means it is incredibly hard to digest and can be very damaging to the digestive tract.

One look into the Ancient writings from China and Ayurvedic principles from India, and you’ll see this notion is backed up as both cultures considered the soybean unfit for human consumption.

According to Ayurveda, soy is a very hard protein to digest and was not a traditional part of the ayurvedic diet.

In fact, some ayurvedic doctors are strongly against soy and do not consider it a digestible food because of its anti-nutrient content alone.

Energetically, it was considered heavy and dulling for the mind too.

Also, the common myth that Asians consume large amounts of soy foods isn’t true.

The average consumption of soy foods in Japan and China is 10 grams (about 2 teaspoons) per day, so Asians consume soy foods in small amounts as a condiment, and not as a replacement for animal foods like people do in the west.

Another issue is that Soybeans are also loaded with the heavy metal aluminium – which is toxic to the nervous system and the kidneys – as they are highly processed (by acid washing) in Aluminium tanks. These tanks then leach toxic levels of the heavy metal into the final product.

So, as you can see I am not a fan of unfermented Soy, or heavily processed Soy products, or oils.

If you want further evidence of the dangers of unfermented Soy then Dr. Kaayla Daniel, author of The Whole Soy Story, points out thousands of studies linking soy to malnutrition, digestive distress, immune-system breakdown, thyroid dysfunction, cognitive decline, reproductive disorders, and infertility – even cancer and heart disease.

I will also list these out below.

The Power of Fermentation

However, having said all of the above …

Soy can be incredibly healthy,

but ONLY if it is Organic and properly fermented.

While unfermented soy should definitely be avoided …

… the fermentation process frees soy from the toxic anti-nutrients and, moreover, actually releases some amazing health benefits.

During the Ming Dynasty, the fermented soy food Natto actually found its way into Chinese Medicine’s Materia Medica as a nutritional remedy for many health conditions.

For this reason, Soy is classified as a medicine (in its fermented state) in some cultures, rather than a food, with Tempeh, Natto & Miso all being healthy fermented Soy products.

However, I must stress that fermentation is the only way to neutralise the dangerous anti-nutrients in soy – which is an extremely important fact you should not forget!

Therefore you can enjoy traditionally fermented Soy products such as Miso, Tempeh, Natto, and traditionally brewed Soy sauce …

BUT … you should also make sure these products are Organic and non-GMO.

If you want long-lasting health though, Soy should NOT be your main source of protein and you should avoid Tofu, Soy pills, Soy milk, Soy cheese, and all other processed Soy foods and oils I mentioned above.

(If you love soy sauce, choose coconut aminos instead.)

While I certainly sympathise with those who choose to abstain from meat for ethical reasons, there isn’t a single meat-substitute on the market that I would recommend …

… and that includes Soy protein, which may even be worse than Quorn.

(I will be doing an article on this in due course.)

In Summary

To sum up the dangers of consuming unfermented Soy I have compiled a list of bullet points below…

• High levels of phytic acid in soy reduce assimilation of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc. Phytic acid in soy is not neutralised by ordinary preparation methods such as soaking, sprouting, and long, slow cooking, but only with long fermentation. High-phytate diets have caused growth problems in children.
• Trypsin inhibitors in soy interfere with protein digestion and may cause pancreatic disorders. In tested animals, soy containing trypsin inhibitors caused stunted growth.
• Soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential to cause infertility and to promote breast cancer in adult women.
• Soy phytoestrogens are potent anti-thyroid agents that cause hypothyroidism and may cause thyroid cancer. In infants, the consumption of soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease.
• Vitamin B12 analogues in soy are not absorbed and actually increase the body’s requirement for B12.
• Soy foods increase the body’s requirement for Vitamin D. Toxic synthetic Vitamin D2 is added to soy milk.
• Fragile proteins are over-denatured during high-temperature processing to make soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein.
• Processing of soy protein results in the formation of toxic lysinoalanine and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines.
• Free glutamic acid or MSG, a potent neurotoxin, is formed during soy food processing and additional amounts are added to many soy foods to mask soy’s unpleasant taste.
• Soy foods contain high levels of aluminium, which is toxic to the nervous system and the kidneys.

Unfortunately, as you can see from the information above, many of us in the Western world who are committed to healthy lifestyles have been mislead and grossly manipulated into believing that unfermented and processed Soy products like Soy milk, Soy cheese, Soy burgers, Tofu, Edamame, and Soy ice cream are health foods …

… And, this is simply not the case.

Health & Happiness

Ryan

P.S. If you have been struggling with your own health issues and would like to see if or how we could help you then click the link here, fill out the form and Ryan or one of the team will be in touch as soon as possible.