SOY – PHYTATES, HORMONES, the THYROID, the FACTS.
Is Soy a super food or poison? Eating soy products is said to prevent the absorption of essential vitamins and minerals, cause blood clotting, shrink you brain, cause anaemia, promote cancer, disrupt your hormones? What are the facts? Read on and find out.
In the last few years soybeans and soy products have been getting a lot of bad press, both in the general media and particularly the natural medicine press. Claims such as soy binds essential nutrients, causes blood agglutination (clotting), contains growth inhibitory substances. Does soy shrink the brain? Leave you anaemic? Promote cancer? Interfere with you thyroid hormones? Is soy toxic? Etc. What are the facts in the case?
Firstly we have had soy come to the front as a food item in the western world, Soy was virtually unknown to us in earlier years. Soy has been part of the Chinese and Japanese diet for most of their thousands of years of history. This should raise a few questions immediately. Why don’t the traditional Chinese and Japanese have the above mentioned health problems? If soy is as dangerous as it has been made out to be why have they survived their history so well? Bill Sardi (1) reports that although Fallon & Enig acknowledge the incidence of breast, prostate and colon cancer among Japanese and Asians is lower that other countries. They ignore the fact that Japanese eat pro-cancer foods such as pickled, smoked and salted meats, in addition to raw sushi, which contains parasites (another cancer factor). Also the frying of meats can promote the development of carcinogens. Sardi also added that the effects of these pro-cancer foods can be counteracted by the inclusion of soy in the ground meat prior to frying (2)
Some of the observations made by Sardi:-
1. The American diet (common to the entire western world) is almost totally lacking in phytoestrogens which can result in hormone imbalances which may be helped by the addition of plant estrogens.
2. Some people are allergic to soy, but no one seems to be warning people that other common allergenic foods include cow’s milk, eggs, wheat, corn and fish, and telling them to stay away from them. The soy allergies may be due to the pesticides etc in the soy, not the soy itself.
3. Modified soy baby formulas have been shown to improve bone mineral content just as well as cow’s milk.
4. IP6-phytic acid in soy has been found to reduce the risk of colon cancer in an animal study via its ability to chelate iron (3) [Note inorganic iron caused the proliferation of the harmful organisms. Organic iron would not be chelated]
5. A great difference exists between Human and animal studies. [I would like to add that if I wanted to prove that arsenic was safe I could design an experiment using sheep and prove it. Sheep are not affected by arsenic like humans. Arsenic pentoxide was the favourite dip and drench used in my father’s time and it didn’t kill the sheep] It is true that soybean cereal has been shown to interfere with the growth of young rodents [I’m not a rodent, are you?]. There was however no difference noted in infants in weight gain or pancreatic enzyme production when fed soy or whey protein formula. (4)
6. A significant reduction in LDL (bad) cholesterol was observed in a study of 31 patients with high cholesterol. (5)
SOME THING SAID ABOUT SOY:
Soy and the Thyroid
It has been said that Soy may interfere with iodine in those suffering from hypothyroidism. Also that it caused enlarged thyroid glands. However more recent evidence points to the zenoestrogens (estrogen like substances produced outside the body) are the cause. Soy beans are usually grown using pesticides. Goitre (enlarged thyroid) is caused by iodine deficiency. It so happens that this essential mineral is deficient in the soils in many areas of
Soy and Zinc deficiency
Many foods including Cow’s milk are not good sources of zinc. Does this mean that Cow’s milk causes zinc deficiency? Using the reasoning of those who claim the soy causes zinc deficiency, you would have to say yes. Many things cause mineral deficiencies, but soy per say does not if other zinc rich foods are included in the diet.
Soy and rickets
Rickets is a vitamin D deficiency which causes a failure to utilize calcium and phosphorus from the diet. This vitamin is gained from sunlight or UV light. The fact is that soy beans contain 454 mg of calcium per cup.
Soy and protein digestion
It is said that soy beans contain enzyme inhibitors which block trypsin and other enzymes needed for protein digestion. Any RAW legume contains protein inhibitors. Cooking and sprouting both de-nature the protein inhibitor. All legumes should be soaked for several hours or overnight, the water changed and simmered for 2 hours, or pressure cooked. They can also be put in a crock pot (ceramic slow cooker) after the soaking. This cooks them to perfection.
Soy and aluminium
Soy baby formula has been reported to have 10 times the aluminium content of milk formulas and 100 time that of unprocessed milk. Fact: Nearly all herbs contain high levels of aluminium, in organic form. Do not confuse this with the inorganic form you get from aluminium saucepans. Organic aluminium doesn’t have the harmful effects of the inorganic form.
Soy and amino acid deficiencies
I don’t know how anyone could make this claim but it has been said! Soy contains all the essential amino acids and is a complete protein in itself!
Soy Isolates are dangerous
This is one report that is absolutely correct! Production includes grinding, extremely high temperatures, and extraction with dangerous solvents to remove oil. It is then mixed with sugars, precipitated with an acid wash and spray dried. Dangerous additives are present due to the high temperature drying process including cancer forming nitrosamines.
BENEFITS OF SOY:
Anticancer; Improves & protects kidney function; arresting osteoporosis; stimulates bone formation; reducing cardiovascular disease, reduces menopausal conditions lowers cholesterol; weight loss by increasing thyroid hormone levels to burn up fat.
- Ipriflavone, and anabolic (builds muscle and bone) isoflavone in soybeans, unlike other isoflavones in soy, has no hormonal activity. It has been found to be vastly safer that anabolic steroids and has no side effects. Tests have shown that that Ipriflavone moves nutrients out of fat into muscle and bone. It also has shown to improve endurance in experiments with rats. Finally Ipriflavone decreases cholesterol, lowering the bad LDL and increasing the good HDL cholesterol.
Phytoestrogens
Soy contains two ostrogenic substances Diadzein and Genistein, both are cancer preventatives. Both are anti-Oestrogenic. Sound like a contradiction? They are actually oestrogen normalizers, if it’s high, they will reduce them, if low they raise them. By occupying hormone receptor sites they prevent xenoestrogens from filling the sites. Xenoestrogens can have 1000x the effect of intrinsic oestrogen, whereas Diadzein and Genistein have much less effect than intrinsic oestrogen. They are weakly estrogenic. Hormone disruption comes from pesticides (xenoestrogens) used in the growing of the crops, not from soy.
Phytic Acid:-
Phytic acid, also called phytate, is known as Inositol Hexaphosphate (IP6) and has been claimed to bind minerals and prevent their proper absorption. This assumption has been shown to be incorrect. It does bind minerals in order to transport them and release them in the body when needed. It is the truck that transports the goods. Inositol is a B group vitamin, IP6 is inositol with 6 phosphates attached to it. It is a naturally occurring substance in grains, especially corn, and in legumes. Wheat has the highest amount of phytic acid, higher than soy. If soy is dangerous because of phytates, why is nothing said about grains and other legumes?
Benefits of Phytic Acid:-
- The most dramatic effect is it’s anti-cancer properties. It is instantly absorbed by cancer cells and causes them to revert back to normal cells. It is thought to be the substance in fibre which prevent colon cancer. Under it’s influence tumours shrink and disappear, and there is not the toxic overload the body produced in other cancer treatments where debris from dieing cells flood the system. IP6, Phytic acid, or phytate boosts the immune system, especial Natural Killer Cells which attack cancer cells. It increases the activity of the tumour suppressor gene P53 by 17 times. The P53 gene inhibits the pathway which allows normal cells to become cancerous.
- Phytate is strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.
- Phytic acid inhibits platelet aggregation (stickiness), which causes blood clots, contrary to popular press claims that soy does the opposite.
Inositol Hexaphosphate, IP6 Phytic acid, or Phytate is non-toxic, and its use is not associated with any significant side–effects. Previous concerns that it would bind minerals and cause mineral deficiencies have been show to be unfounded and an incorrect interpretation of the facts, as shown in the above discussion .
Phospholipids:-
Hans Neeper refers to soy phospholipids as vitamin M. These are the only substances that can transport nutrients into the cell when normal transport mechanisms don’t work.
High in Arginine - lowers Cholesterol.
Antifungal – Current research has found fungal infections to be the common factor in nearly all diseases of modern times.
Ian Ridgeway ND
(1) Bill Sardi. Health Reporter. Knowledge of Health, Inc, May 2000
(2) Basic Life Science 52: 105-18,1990
(3) Proceedings Society Experimental Biology & Medicine 221:80-86, 1999
(4) Scandinavian Journal Gastroenterology 32: 273-77, 1997
(5) Metabolism 49: 537-43
More on soy in this article by a friend of mine:-
SOY - FRIEND OR FOE?The war against soy beans and soy products has been raging for many years. Thousands of scientific papers have been published on soy and its constituents. In many instances it has been heralded as a wonder food containing more first-class protein than meat and it is endowed with large amounts of calcium, iron and other important minerals as well as vitamins B and E.
PHYTIC ACID — (Inositol Hexaphosphate — IP6) IP6 is recognized as the most potent anti-cancer drug and it is the safest having no harmful side effects. Much misinformation about Phytic Acid is provided by critics which is clearly biased or inaccurate. It is said that soy beans contain large amounts of phytic acid and that "Phytic acid impairs absorption of all minerals, including calcium." If this is true then we are in big trouble if we eat wheat which has been referred to as the "Staff of Life." Durham
wheat contains 8 times more phytates than soymilk! All wholegrains and fibrous parts of plants contain phytic acid — are there any health professionals who would recommend a diet consisting solely of refined foods in order to avoid phytic acid! In recent years (1992) phytic acid has been recognised as an antioxidant and cancer-preventive compound.
Phytic Acid is present in the bean to prevent it from sprouting and growing unless it is planted in the ground.
Roger French states that although phytate, which is a phyto-chemical (plant chemical), was thought to be an anti-nutrient, it is now recognized to have strong antioxidant properties and anti-cancer effects. Adding soy to the diet may also reduce the risk of heart disease. However, raw soy bean is said to inhibit growth, whereas soy milk, tofu and fermented soy products such as tempeh, miso and natto are superior in nutritional value. ISOFLAVONES - Most of the criticism of soy is in regard to the isoflavonic phytoestrogens (plant hormone). Many plants contain these, including whole grains, peas and beans. It is nonsense to suggest that a plant hormone has the same biological activity as the synthetic hormones such as the Pill. It has in fact been shown that dietary oestrogens may be protective against breast cancer.
Many chemical pollutants mimic human hormones. They accumulate in the body and contribute to hormone related cancers. Women with breast cancer have a much higher level of these chemicals in their breast fat cells than women without cancer. Breast and prostate cancer are hormonally related. The 'friendly oestrogens' in soy isoflavones prevent and treat hormonally related cancers. Premarin (HRT) and similar oestrogens have been shown to increase the incidence of some cancers but phytoestrogens (from plants) have an anticancer effect.
HEALTH BENEFITS - The therapeutic value of soy beans is scientifically proven. Soya beans are just one of many plants that contain hormonal compounds that help to balance the hormones in the human body. Soy helps alleviate some menstrual and menopausal symptoms, lowers cholesterol & triglycerides and makes your arteries more elastic and helps improve intestinal health. There is also good evidence that soy beans may help prevent osteoporosis, cancer and a number of Western diseases.
It is true that soy milk made from the 'isolates' of soy instead of from the whole soy bean, may in time cause health problems just like any other refined food such as white flour, white sugar and refined salt.
ALLERGIES - Allergies to soy is another accusation made but let's remember that many people have allergies to cow's milk, eggs, wheat, corn, fish etc - but who is warning them to stay away from these? There are thousands of natural and synthetic compounds in most of our foods any of which may cause an allergic reaction in some people. It is often very hard to trace the exact cause.
CANCER - What about cancer? It is a known fact that the incident of breast, prostate and colon cancer is lower among the Japanese and Asians but it has been suggested that soy is to blame for the higher rates of other kind of cancers, such as oesophageal, stomach, thyroid, pancreas and liver cancer. They ignore the fact that Japanese eat pickled, smoked and salted meats, as well as raw sushi, which may contain parasites. In addition, the frying of meat is said to promote the development of carcinogens. One researcher, Bill Sardi, suggests that "the cancer-promotion agents in these foods can actually be countered by the inclusion of soy protein with ground meat prior to frying." The humble soybean has, in fact, been implicated in curing cancer, improving kidney function, improving thyroid function, weight control, arresting osteoporosis, reducing cardiovascular diseases, reducing menopausal symptoms, reducing diabetes and lowering cholesterol - just to name some of the main features!
The idea that soybeans are potentially dangerous as a food item should be taken with a grain of salt, especially when it is claimed that soy beans cause "chronic deficiencies in amino acids". The fact is that the soy bean contains all of the essential amino acids and is in itself a complete protein.
While many of the claims against soy isolates have much merit, to denounce the use of soy completely is unwarranted, with much of the research used to support this concept having a suspicious one-sidedness and may be based on incomplete scientific data. Properly cooked and prepared, the soybean is an excellent food that provides a good source of complete protein, many vitamins and minerals and phyto-chemicals that improve many aspects of a person's overall health.
INFANT FORMULAS - Much of the criticism of soy has been directed at soy infant formulas. Of course, breast milk is best, but what if a mother cannot breastfeed and her baby is allergic to cow's milk? Some of the soy infant formulas have been nutritionally inadequate in the past but this has been the case with all formulas. In a group of nearly 300 infants and children, a soy formula significantly reduced the following symptoms after one month; abdominal cramps, bloating or gas, colic, diarrhoea, fussiness, rashes or eczema, crying at night, wheezing and vomiting. While receiving soy formula, infants and children continued to thrive normally and the formula was well tolerated.
OSTEOPOROSIS - Studies have shown less calcium excretion from soy consumption compared to milk and meat consumption.
Many people who have eaten soy products for long periods of time enjoy better than average health. Of course they may also have better than average diets and may be less generous with `treats'!
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