The main part of intellectual education is not the acquisition of facts…
But learning how…
To make facts live.
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, JR.
While researching information for an article on the health promoting benefits of bison meat I discovered some disturbing information about soy products. When friend, Anna Olson, founder and editor of The Aquarian did a book review on The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN
NewTrends Publishing, Inc., 2005
Hardcover, 440 pages, $41.95
I suggested that she post on my Blog. I have a column in the Aquarian and write articles under the Perspectives on Healthy Living there as well as here. I have received permission to include previously published articles from the Aquarian on blog-spot. As my editor I have great respect for Anna’s commitment to providing a wide variety of healthy, balanced living concepts. In our shared views health conscious individuals need to be aware of the “The Whole Soy Story” so they will be able to make informed choices. I appreciate Anna Olson’s contribution to my site.
A Book Review
The soy industry says soy is a health food; critics say soy has many anti-nutrients and phytoestrogens that hurt our health. Who's right?
Kaayla Daniel, author of The Whole Soy Story, is definitely on the side of the critics. She took five years to detail the history, myths and what she sees as the truth about the West's ill-advised mega appetite for tofu, miso, soy milk, fake meats and the "invisible" soy oil and modified soy products in processed foods.
It was the increased use of soy oil in processed food after World War II that pushed food scientists to develop ways to use the mountains of soymeal left after the oil was extracted. Using heat, pressure and chemicals, they learned to create soy protein isolate, textured vegetable protein and hydrolysed vegetable protein from the de-fatted mass. They also isolated isoflavones and other micronutrients to use as drugs.
Daniel starts with the myth that soy has been eaten in large amounts for a long time in Asia so it must be safe for us to eat lots too. False, she says: soy was grown mainly as a green manure and eaten in small amounts more as a condiment than a staple – especially in China. Japan became a larger consumer of soy products after World War II due to the influence of Western processing methods.
Another myth is that soy is great as a protein substitute for meat, chicken and fish. Vegans and vegetarians have fuelled the growth of "Tofurky," "Chicken Nuggets," fake salami, soyburger, tofu and soymilk – thinking they were helping their health, the environment and saving animal lives. They may be saving animals and the environment, but Daniel cites reams of data to argue there are many ways that immoderate soy consumption could be hurting the veggie idealist's health.
While soy is called a complete protein because it has all eight amino acids, methionine is in short supply. (All beans and grains have at least one amino acid in short supply. This is why traditionally, grains and beans have been eaten together to provide a complete protein.) Animals being fed soy-based diets usually have them spiked with methionine to create a more balanced feed.
Another problem with soy, according to Daniel, is that it contains "allergens, protease inhibitors, phytates and goitrogens, as well as the hormonally active isoflavones." She deals with each one in detail, showing how these antinutrients may be contributing to symptoms of "dry skin, lustreless hair, balding, poor muscle-tone, weight gain, fatigue, brain fog, digestive distress, allergies, immune breakdown, thyroid disfunction, and reproductive disorders."
In an effort to de-activate these antinutrients; improve flavour, texture; and to create concentrated protein products – food processors treat soy with “heat, oxidizing agents (such as hydrogen peroxide), organic solvents (such as hexane), alkalis and acids...” Daniel says these treatments result in lower amino acid bioavailability and protein quality.
In a section called "No rest for the weary pancreas," Daniel describes how the trypsin inhibitors in soy force the pancreas to make more trypsin (an enzyme required to digest protein in the small intestine). "When this occurs only occasionally," Daniel writes, "the pancreas responds to the crisis, rests and recovers." However when soy is eaten daily, the number and size of pancreatic cells increase in response. In animal studies, rapidly growing pancreatic cells are seen to be more vulnerable to becoming cancerous, she says.
Although Daniel is cautious about blaming soy for the rising pancreatic cancer rate, she says, "...the concurrent increase in pancreatic cancer cases alongside pertinent animal studies is suggestive – and sobering."
Plant-based estrogens abundant in soy (called phytoestrogens) are both criticized and praised for their impact on humans, depending on which side of the soy fence you're sitting.
An example of opposite interpretations of the same data is a 1994 study in which six women of childbearing age were given 60 grams of textured vegetable protein (containing 45 mg total isoflavones) per day for 30 days. The women's menstrual cycles lengthened by an average of two and a half days. As well, says Daniel, there were changes to the levels of various hormones which "...are not necessary for life, but are essential for reproduction."
Daniel's conclusion: "These findings clearly show that soyfood consumption can disrupt a woman's cycle and jeopardize her fertility."
The authors of the study, headed by Aedin Cassidy and published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, concluded that "...the longer menstrual cycles experienced by the soy-fed women could result in lower lifetime levels of estrogen." They suggested that "...reduction in lifetime estrogen levels is the key to reducing breast cancer risk" – even though, as Daniel points out, this concept is unproven. The media reported that this study showed that soy might prevent breast cancer.
The Whole Soy Story opened my eyes to the extent of the soy controversy. I recommend this book to anyone concerned about the possible negative effects of soy on themselves or their children. Daniel deals extensively with the problems she maintains are caused by infant soy formula and the impact of soy on growing children.
Kaayla Daniel says that if you want some soy in your diet – stick with the less processed forms like tofu, miso, tempeh and edamame. The latter are young soybeans harvested while still green and soft. They contain "lower levels of antinutrients and plant estrogens than adult beans."
If you have health problems and are consuming soy products regularly, consider the possibility that soy may be part of the problem. Read The Whole Soy Story or try abstaining from soy for a couple of weeks to see if that makes a difference.
On a side note, critics of Daniel’s book point out that she is on the board of the Weston A. Price Foundation which promotes a return to the traditional North American diet of meat, chicken, fish, and dairy along with fruit and vegetables.
Anna Olson is editor of The Aquarian, a holistic health quarterly newsmagazine published in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
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