Soy

RedCurls

I don't usually eat soy, but my mom, who is a complete health nut, told me yesterday that soy is bad for you. I haven't ever heard this before. She said it is especially bad for young boys. (I have a one year old boy) Has anyone else ever heard this?

RedCurls

I don't usually eat soy, but my mom, who is a complete health nut, told me yesterday that soy is bad for you. I haven't ever heard this before. She said it is especially bad for young boys. (I have a one year old boy) Has anyone else ever heard this?

nightangelstars

I have, I believe it has to do with the phyto-estrogens of the soy plant. It can mimick real estrogen and do bad things especially to developing boys if you have too much of it too regularly. I think it used to be used as a form of BC back in the olden days actually . . . don't quote me on that one though. That's the only thing I can think of, I don't eat soy myself.

Nich0le

Soy is not consumed in asian countries in the quantity that western countries assume. WEstern media grabs ahold of a little tid bit on possible healthy foods and westerners go nuts for it. What they don't advertise in the media or by soy companies is that soy in large part is consumed as a condiment or additive to most foods and in small quantities can be ok for you. Tofu is not eaten as a main course in most asian foods, rather as an added food, like chicken in a pasta dish.

Soy has raised questions like the link between increased soy consumption and breast cancer
Soy may affect the brain function of men
Soy is linked to hidden developmental abnormalities in infants and abnormal mood swings in adolescent children.
There is also a question whether soy is the reason for an increase in male breast growth, because soy is in foods we may not know about, like taco bell beef, we can only truly control how much we consume by preparing all of our own meals

Soybeans are not suitable for human consumption as is. Soybeans have to be fermented for some time or put through chemical extractions at high temperatures to make the soy digestable. So, not as natural as people think.

Soybeans contain an ANTI NUTRIENT called phytic acid. All beans have phytic acid but soy has a much higher level than other legumes. Phytic acids block the absorbtion of minerals..like magnesium and calcium (Hello ladies!), iron and zinc. Studies of countries where soy is consumed in large amounts have an abnormal amount of people low in these essential minerals. This is a particular concern for babies being fed a soy based formula.

Soy was originally used to cleanse the earth in crops that may have had poor growth. It was not consumed until the fermentation process was discovered and even then the only foods made of soy were condiments like soy sauce, consumed in small quantities.

Soybeans also contain potent enzyme inhibitors like trypsin and other enzymes the body needs for protein digestion, normal cooking will not deactivate these inhibitors. Because of this soy consumption is linked to stomach and gastric distress adn can lead to chronic deficiencies in amino acid uptake.

Growth depressents can not be removed by any other process than fermentation, which tofu does not go through. If you are going to eat soy limit it to miso or tempeh.

soy is also being linked to early onset of puberty.

Over 90% of soy is genetically modified and also has one of the highest percentages of contamination by pesticides of any food consumed in the western world.

The largest consumed product in America that is soy based is infant formulas and soy milk. It has been determined that an infant fed only soy milk recieves teh estrogen equivalent of up to 5 birth control pills per day. Compared to dairy based formula or human milk which contain almost no pytoestrogens.

All that said, my daughter was one of those babies that after weaning her it was discovered she had allergies to milk, eggs and anything from a cow. She did use soy milk formula from 1 year old until 21/2 years old, the only health effect that was noticeable was the soy formula contains more sugar than traditional formula so she had a lot of cavities (bottle mouth) and after we got her to quit the bottle she refused to drink soy milk so we had to add calcium to juices (there were not calcium added products at the time). I think that soy is like most foods marketed as "healthy" and they are either not very healthy or should be consumed in very small amounts.

Everything in moderation.

carak2000

I agree with the last post - everything in moderation.

I believe there was something about soy and estrogen and possible fears of causing young boys who eat too much soy to become homosexual. I don't know what came of this study.

There is this book called Superfoods Rx and soy is one of these groups of food. It actually provides a great list of good-for-you foods, if you're interested.

Anyway, bottom line - I don't think there's anything wrong with soy.

Keep googling it!