Soy health claims--Disinformation?

My grandfather was born in 1906. He was a self-educated man who operated a modest dairy farm on a property that had formerly been in his wife’s (my grandmother’s) family.
He was VERY smart. As time goes by, I will write more about his environmentalism and conservation, which ran contrary to the “progressive” farming culture of his time.
In 1959, a plant in Chicago was the first to synthesize soy isolate protein, which, it was hoped, would be an important source of protein supplementation in animal feeds. By 1960, Ralston Purina has jumped onto the soy protein production bandwagon.
During the 1970’s, soy was making its first appearances as a cash crop in the United States. Grandad didn’t grow cash crops, but he read about all different sectors of agriculture, and this development puzzled him. He showed me a picture of a soy bean.
“What does that look like?” he asked me. I told him it looked like a little ball of plastic. A soy bean doesn’t have nearly the visual character of say a pinto bean or a lima bean. Every soybean looks pretty much like every other soybean.
“Exactly. ” He said. He went on to explain that soy contains little useable nutrition, and that soy crops absorb more pesticides and heavy metals than any of the more common (at the time) crops grown in the US.
He was also concerned at the growing use of soy as a filler for animal feeds.
The more I am reading about nutrition, the more what my grandfather said all those years ago rings true to me. I am amazed.

• Soy is second only to peanuts as a food allergen.
• When ingested with other nutrients, soy binds to some (particularly some trace minerals like zinc), making fewer available for absorption and use by animals (including humans). This property makes soy an”anti-nutrient.”
• Relatively low soy consumption (equivalent to half a portion per day) seems to relate to decreased fertility, especially in men, and increased cancer risk, especially in women.
• The appearance of soy in processed foods in the US diet parallels the increasing incidence of obesity and the decrease in fertility.

Sure, soy is present as a part of some diets in Asia. Because of other factors, soy can be considered a healthy part (a small part) of a long established eating pattern.
But in the US, we have an entirely different eating pattern. We are eating massive quantities of foods. Think of the average quantity of milk a growing teenager consumes. Now imagine substituting soy for that. THAT is not a healthy amount of soy! Remember, the Harvard study found that HALF a portion (equivalent to 4 ounces of fluid soy milk) increases risk of infertility and cancer.
In addition, some authorities insist that only fermented soy is healthy for the average woman.
So, please think twice about intentionally consuming soy. If you buy processed foods, learn to read labels. Don’t chug soy milk like you might have chugged milk when you were a kid.
If you enjoy the taste of soy, consider Harvard’s recommedation that you limit yourself to 2-4 servings per week, and choose fermented soy products when you have a choice.


© [BBrezvan] and [Thoughts for food], [2009]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to [BBrezvan] and [Thoughts for food] with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.