Dr. Mercola July 17 2008 27,380 views
Are you caught up in the deceptive hype from the soy industry? If so, you have likely been convinced that soy is a health food. This belief is an unfortunate side effect of not having done your homework, relying instead on the brainwashing propaganda of the soy industry, which in many ways is not much different than that of the drug companies.
They have cleverly targeted health conscious consumers with a well thought out; well-financed campaign to convince you that soy is healthy. They were clearly effective, as "healthy soy" is one of the biggest health myths in the health food industry.
I recently had the opportunity to interview Dr. Kaayla Daniel for our Inner Circle Experts Series. I had never spoken with her before and was really amazed at the depth of her knowledge on this important topic.
The Truth About Soy
Let me assure you that if you carefully review the thousands of studies published on soy you will reach the following conclusion:
Any possible benefits of consuming soy are FAR outweighed by the well-proven risks of soy.
The problem with many of these studies is that the conclusion is NOT supported by the study, or is only partially true, with serious omissions that are conveniently excluded from the conclusion. For example, they might say that soy reduces your risk of colon cancer but neglect to state that they found it increases your risk of ten other cancers.
You could delve into these studies yourself and form your conclusion, or rely on Dr. Daniel to do this for you. She did her Ph.D. research on this topic, which eventually resulted in this book: The Whole Soy Story.
The soy industry has been so effective in their manipulation techniques that they‘ve even been able to hoodwink the FDA to allow soy to carry the health claim of reducing heart disease and cholesterol. They recently tried to snag the claim of reducing the risk of cancer, but Dr. Daniel was able to effectively prevent that claim from being approved. Had it been approved, soy consumption would likely have doubled to more than $8 billion in annual U.S. sales.
Soy Consumption and Thyroid Problems
You might be aware that thyroid problems are pandemic in the U.S., especially in women. Well, one of the major reasons for this is because of the isoflavones in soy that is being widely consumed. Soy isoflavones can damage thyroid function, and for this reason alone should be avoided.
The Dangers of Soy Infant Formula
This is perhaps the most tragic use of soy as a food. Many well intentioned parents put their infants on soy formula, either because they believe it is "healthier" or because they are allergic to traditional infant formula.
Either way, it‘s a prescription for disaster. Soy formula causes harm to your baby in two primary ways.
First, most soy formula has 80 times the amount of manganese as breast milk and can directly cause brain dysfunction. Additionally, there is the hormonal equivalent of 4-5 birth control pills in a daily dose of soy formula, which can cause significantly premature puberty and other sexual abnormalities, and an increased risk of cancer.
In my mind this product should be banned. In fact there was a recent movement in California to have that done but it failed to get passed.
Additionally, there are a number of foreign governments like Israel, England, and France that have taken very strong anti-soy positions.
The Whole Soy Story is an ABSOLUTE must read if someone you know or love is convinced soy is a health food.
I find it so ridiculous that "health food" energy bars and meal replacements are loaded with soy. It is very frustrating to try to find a product like this that does not have soy. Why don't health and fitness experts know this?
The only good bars and shakes I've ever found are the ones sold here by Dr. Mercola. It is nice to know that I can trust his info because he walks the talk.
Not to mention, and I don't want to sound too Conspiracy Theorist, that the majority of the NON-ORGANIC soy that is circulating the US is GMO from Monsanto. From a Sci-Fi point of view we could have a field day with GMO, but that aside, Monsanto's crop(s) have hidden their dangers through lobbyists and a modern form of thuggery.
I was surprised that Dr. M didn't mention the other adverse hormonal affects of Soy, namely phytoestrogens or isoflavones.57-59 and the imbalance they cause, but reading all the different posts on soy and its negatives, I think it might been to save us from a very long article.
Actually, disciple4Jesus, if you do do some research on the statement that "Asians have been eating lots of soy foods for centuries" you will find that Asians have been eating fermented soy (Tofu, Tempeh, Miso) which are safe (the only safe way to eat soy is when it's been fermented). Soy milk and other soy products being promoted by the modern soy industry are non-fermented and and are what cause all the health problems.
I have seen a study that has shown that in Japan, thyroid and other cancers from soy have increased since they have started drinking soy milk and other non fermented soy products that were never in thier diet until the past 20 or 30 years.
I have found this comment to be true. I was a competitive long distance runner. I was conscious of eating well before it become common knowledge. Along the way I began consuming unfermented soy; and after about 3 months I had a visibly swollen thyroid. I coundn't believe it. It didn't make sense. Convention physicians were utterly useless; in fact their suggestions were frightening. I stumbled across information about the negative results of soy and promptly stopped it. In less than two weeks the potential goiter was gone, period. It never returned. To be sure, soy was the only change in my diet at that time; so there was no confusion about what happened.
Even the traditional soy milk we drink here are not made direct from soy but from tofu. Only in the past 20 to 30 years that we now start drinking soy milk made direct from soy... And the soy business even had the cheek to say that cooking oil from soy is good and everything else (like palm oil and coconut oil) is bad... and now it's so hard to find coconut oil for cooking anymore, or traditional soy milk from tofu... sigh... we lose to American marketing 'geniuses' all the time...
Predator - I agree and disagree with you. Just because there are other harmful things out there, doesn't mean that you shouldn't worry about what you eat, drink, breath. It is like saying that there are big guns out there that are dangerous, and this is a smaller gun so don't worry. (In reality - I think soy is a huge problem)
I have personally found that chlorine and fluoride are dangerous to my well being. They are dangerous to many, especially those with thyroid disease. I now drink distilled water and have a shower filter. I loved black tea and green tea but found that they are both have huge amounts of fluoride in them so now I drink herbal teas (I personally love Bengal Spice from Celestial Seasonings and its one of the few CS teas that are soy free too). I occasionally have a good cup of coffee. I can't avoid everything but I think I do a darn good job (my body was toxic and I no longer can use scented items but I have found plenty of unscented items and have saved money to boot).
I also have fibromyalgia/CFIDS so I really need to be careful. I lost my only sibling to auto-immune disease (lupus).
I am working on living a better life.
For those of you that are young - I wish I had the information available now when I was younger. I sure would have not gotten as bad as I did. I love life and I think if there are things we can do to make our life better, we should.
jbpurifs - when I started on my soy products, I felt fine. It took a couple years for my thyroid to cease. When my endocrinologist asked me about my consumption of soy, I was shocked. What bothers me is they do not put warnings on these products. And they should!!! My thyroid meds cost me 60.00 a month for the rest of my life (and I have insurance). They have their own side effects but until I can get on Armour (bio-identical thyroid) I have to live with what I am given. After the 2 years of high soy consumption, I started to put on weight. 30 lbs. a year for 2 years.
Ever gotten sick on soy? I have, and it feels like poison in the body. So much so, that every time I eat something with soy (hidden in the ingredients), I get sick again. I'm not alone in this. Please be careful with soy....at least, don't overdo, the way I did...eating Soyyogurt every day. Not a good thing. I have never fully recovered from this, gastrointestinal-wise.
I keep hearing about how good fermented foods are.Well,not if you have fibromyalgia,migraines,or arthritis.Miso has tons of salt in it.And health bars are processed.Everyone that is using flavored vinegar,and Braggs,might want to check on the type of salt being used.I have yet to see any processed food that uses real unprocessed salt with all of the minerals.There is a lot of difference in the different sea salts out there.It sure sounds like a lot of folks think that if its organic and processed that its good for you.look at the labels on those processed foods,usually lots of salt,and a lot of times,they use stuff like sodium bonzoate,VERY DANGEROUS!If its in a can its still not good for you.
I agree with you. I don't use it all that much, though. Just in recipes that call for Braggs or Soy Sauce. The Ume Plum Vinegar is just 3 ingredients: Ume Plum, Shiso leaf and Sea Salt. Naturally fermented.
I don't know about all vinegars but I just looked at my braggs bottle and it has no (o) sodium content listed on the nutritional facts. The ingredients listed are raw apple cider vinegar and purified water. So I don't know what you are talking about when you say to check the type of salt being used. There is none! I agree with the rest of your comments.