Dark Side of the Soybean
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Dark Side of the Soybean
by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN
Over the past decade soy has been promoted as a miracle food that can prevent heart disease, fight cancer, fan away hot flashes and build strong bodies. Sales of soy foods reached a whopping $4 billion in 2004, with most segments of the industry reporting double-digit growth.
The marketing of soy as a health food has been so successful that few people realize its dangers. Respected scientists warn that its benefits should be weighed against proven risks. Even researchers working for the soy industry admit that the "marketing is way ahead of the science." Yet the FDA approved a health claim for soy and heart disease in 1999.
The FDA bills itself as "America’s foremost consumer protection agency" but approved this health claim based on research funded by the soy-industry. It disregarded warnings from independent and government scientists and ignored hundreds of peer-reviewed studies linking soy to malnutrition, digestive distress, thyroid disorders, allergies, ADD/ADHD, reproductive problems, infertility, cognitive decline, cancer, and heart disease. The FDA’s health claim proved such a boon to the soy industry that sales increased 200 percent between 2000 and 2004.
Fortunately, the truth about soy is starting to emerge. Late July, the Israeli Health Ministry warned that children under 18 years of age should eat soy foods no more than once per day and a maximum of three times per week, that babies never receive soy formula, and that adults exercise caution when consuming soy products. The Ministry took its advice from a 23-member committee of nutritionists, oncologists, pediatricians and other experts who spent a year examining the evidence. Also this past July, researchers at Cornell University’s Program of Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors warned that excessive soy food consumption can increase breast cell multiplication, increasing risk for breast cancer.
These and other warnings follow a lengthy report issued in 2002 by the British Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment, which found no merit to most of the health claims made for soy. The Committee identified infants on soy formula, vegetarians who use soy as a primary source of protein, and adults trying to prevent disease with soy foods and soy supplements as all being at risk for thyroid damage.
For consumers such news can be confusing. After all, Asians have used soy in their diets for centuries, and many people believe this keeps them free of most Western diseases. But while it’s true that Asians show lower rates of breast, prostate and colon cancers, they suffer higher rates of thyroid, pancreatic, liver, stomach and esophageal cancers. Asians also eat different soy foods from the ones now appearing on American tables—miso, natto, tempeh, tofu, tamari and shoyu—instead of energy bars, soy shakes, soymilk, veggie burgers, TVP chili and other meat or dairy substitutes. These quintessentially Western products are manufactured using high-tech, industrialized processes that destroy protein quality, reduce vitamin levels, and leave toxic residues and carcinogens.
Making matters worse, much of today’s soybean crop is genetically modified. GM beans carry higher levels of anti-nutrients, toxins and allergens than regular soybeans and have caused vast damage to the environment. Indeed, more of the Amazon Rainforest has been lost to GM soybean farming than to beef grown for fast-food franchises.
Yet the health problems caused by soy are not completely solved by eating whole bean products and buying organic. All soybeans naturally contain anti-nutrients, toxins and plant hormones. The best known of these are protease inhibitors (which interfere with protein digestion), phytates (which block mineral absorption), lectins and saponins (linked to "leaky gut" and other gastrointestinal and immune problems), oxalates (which can promote kidney stones), and vulvodynia and oligosaccharides (which cause gas).
Most dangerous of all, soybeans naturally contain high levels of phytoestrogens. Promoted as safe hormone replacement therapy, these plant estrogens can cause significant endocrine disruption, leading to weight gain, fatigue, brain fog and depression. Soy foods also have a "contraceptive effect"—a fact known to scientists since the 1940s. For women, it alters menstrual cycles, causing hormonal changes indicative of infertility. For men it lowers testosterone levels, quantity and quality of sperm, and sex drive. Couples who desire to become pregnant are wise to cut out soy.
Because of their small size and stage of development, infants remain most vulnerable to damage from soy phytoestrogens. Soy formula now represents 25 percent of the bottle-fed market in America and yet it’s been linked to thyroid damage, premature puberty in girls, delayed or arrested puberty in boys, and other disorders. Soy formula also contains toxic levels of manganese—50 to 80 times the amount found in dairy formula or breast milk.
The bottom line is the safety of soy has yet to be proven. Unanswered questions have led the Israeli Health Ministry, the Swiss Federal Health Service, the British Dietetic Association and others to warn parents and pediatricians that soy infant formula should only be used as a last resort.
Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, authored The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, available in bookstores and on Amazon. For more info: wholesoystory.com.
