is soy bad for you?

Question

i read an article that said soy products are bad for you. it also said that even if you dont eat tofu like most vegetarians, soy is used as a filler in a lot of products, including jars of meat spaghetti sauces. so the whole population is at risk. what do you think?

just to add details, the article said it coukld cause alzheimers because they cook the soy in aluminum bins. and it is supposed to have isoflavones which contain estrogen. this can cause men to have hormonal problems, like breasts. and also it could create a problem in their brain, so it says. also, it can ruin the thyroid. a lot of people have experienced thyroid problems from soy. are these reports valid?

Answer 1

It's strictly dairy and meat industry propaganda you're reading!!!

First off aluminum has been *cleared* as a causative agent in Alzheimer's disease!! Victims of Alzheimer's naturally collect aluminum as a *symptom* of their disease. There might be someone in a commercial environment somewhere using aluminum to cook with but that would be surprising since the metal of choice in ANY food plant is stainless steel! Aluminum wouldn't survive the rigors of production for long and most industrial sanitizing regimens would rapidly *destroy* aluminum! The person making this claim is a total idiot!!!!

Soy does NOT contain estrogen or any other animal hormone! It *does* contain chemicals called phyto-sterols which are similar to hormones like estrogen but don't react like hormones in the human body. Animal products like milk or meat DO have REAL animal estrogen and hormones! If you do a little research on steroids and hormones you will learn that all these chemicals have a 'steroid base' of four carbon rings (3 six carbon and one 5 carbon ring). VERY minor changes in what and where other atoms attach to this steroid base have VERY different bio-chemical results! If this was a real issue all men would have big breasts from drinking animal milk and eating animal flesh which do have *real* estrogen! I'm still amazed that none of the mega-farms have boomeranged this claim on the dairy/meat industries!! Whats worse? Plant almost hormones or animal real hormones?

You didn't mention lectins but there are NO lectins in soy! This is a false claim that some started spreading last summer so I'll go ahead and nuke it now just in case.

Phytates are another false claim made against soy! *RAW FRESH* soybeans do contain them but these compounds are *very* sensitive to heat and rapidly disintegrate at temps over 135F. When you start talking about processed soy like 'milk' or meat alternatives their phytates were destroyed long before processing was completed. Kidney beans are another common 'source' of phytates and you don't hear screaming about them!

A *VERY* tiny percentage of humans have predisposition to thyroid problems and these few people should avoid soy along with lots of other products! There is NO independent peer reviewed science showing that soy can cause problems in folks that are 'normal' and there is just as much weak research showing that soy is not a problem for people with thyroid predisposition. If you are a person with a 'bum' thyroid avoid soy along with all that other stuff on the list of no-no's!

Same thing with allergies! Lactose (milk), gluten (wheat), peanuts and strawberries all rank higher than soy as an allergen. IF you are allergic avoid it, otherwise it's not a problem!!

Look at sales of meat and dairy and you'll see why this garbage is being spread! Dairy sales have gone from being flat to dropping and soy and other dairy alternatives have skyrocketed. The meat industry is also freaking over the rapid gain analogs (fake meat) is making on their sales. They are the 'back source' for all the anti-soy rumors! Look at the sources of the soy is bad research and you find the same researchers and institutions coming up. Almost half of it tracks back to the University of Wisconsin and U. Michigan both of which are heavily dairy funded (cheese heads?).

Farmstar, I *REALLY* wish there was albumin in soy!!! I've got a cooking problem that albumin would solve but there isn't any source of vegetable albumin! Real processed soy is at least as digestible as fermented soy! Go back to your journal and look through the footnotes on your article.

Answer 2

I don't know where you read such nonsense, but throw that magazine in the trash where it belongs. The article was either written by an ignorant person who got paid well to write it, or the beef producers.
Soy is very healthy. It can be used as a filler, but its a healthy filler. If soy is cooked in aluminum pans, so is the rest of the food. Why would anyone change pans? If they are using aluminum for one thing, they use it for another.
Soy is a legume, a bean. It doesn't contain estrogen. It is recommended for women who are experiencing symptoms (of) menopause, as it helps CONTROL the imbalance of fluctuating hormones.
Many babies are allergic to cows milk, (cows milk is for calves), and so drink a milk substitute made with soy milk.
Aluminum has been suspected as a contributing factor in Alzheimer's, but is not, at this time proven. Either way, it has zero to do with soy products.
Don't believe everything you read at first glance.
Good luck.

Answer 3

Have you been reading "Dr." Mercola? He's a quack.

The "big problems" with soy are unfounded. Most of the issues brought up are directly related to highly processed soy products such as Boca Burgers and soy "cheese." Not to soy beans, tofu or soy milk. Genetically engineered soy is also problematic.

To Tapestry - if you're eating a diet that is 90% of any one item you're going to get sick. What were you thinking?

To Muchado - my story is the opposite. When I was just a teen, my doc said I had fibroids and would probably need a hysterectomy before my 30th birthday. I went veg in my 20s and the fibroids disappeared.

Answer 4

Soy contains (large) albumin protein that when unfermented are generally difficult for EVERYONE to digest. Its like a meat protein: more work to digest than energy granted. Fermented soy is lower in methanol and acetaldhyde. Unfermented soy has about ten times the levels.

There is no bit I've ever seen from China or Japan describing them historically eating unfermented soy.

Vegan for seven years. And the only soy I use is miso.

Answer 5

Probably this article was written by someone promoting products for the flour, potato or other carb industry.
No I don't think soy is bad for you, unless you are a male, then perhaps you should eat it only in moderation. The reason for this is the high estrogen content in soy products. They would not be selling soy milk products for babies, if soy was bad for you.

Answer 6

If in fact there are trace minerals from the cooking pots of soy, it's so miniscule that it's hardly worth mentioning, unless you work for the meat industry and are trying to debunk soy. (I don't mean you personally.)

If you get a scale and put all the bad stuff in soy on one side, and all the bad stuff in meat on the other, guess which side will sink like a brick? You guessed it, the meat side.

Unless you're allergic, soy is perfectly healthy for you. Eat and enjoy.

Answer 7

Lemme guess: the author was Sally Fallon or quoted her? Here is a good article to refute all that (waaay too long to just post). It is a great middle of the road article.

To sum it up, though, if you don't want to read it all, it is not bad for you at all. A couple of researchers took a couple of concerns and blew them waaay out of proportion. If all you eat is soy, then no, it's not good for you. But you can even die of too much water, so you should be conservative of all you eat or drink. My opinion is that even if it's not good for you (which it is!), it is still better than red meat or regular milk.

http://www.foodrevolution.org/what_about_soy.htm

Answer 8

Actually one of the big allergies in Japan is from soybeans. I found I had a soy allergy when I was on a diet that was like 90% soy. I broke out with a rash on my legs and when I stopped eating the stuff it went away. So its bad for me for sure!!

Answer 9

That article must be bogus. Soy products are very healthy. For example soy milk is much heslthier than 2% Reduced Fat Milk, which is pretty much the most bought milk. One serving of soy milk has 100 calories while one serving of 2% milk has 130 calories. Soy milk has no cholestorol while 2% milk has 20 mg of cholestorol. Soy milk: 8g of total Carbohydrate 2% milk: 12g total carbohydrate.
Soy milk:1g dietary fiber 2% milk: 0g dietary fiber.
Soy milk: 6g sugar 2% milk: 12g sugar
Soy Milk: 7g sugar 2% milk: 8g sugar
Soy milk: 0.5g saturated fat 2% milk: 3g saturated fat
Soy milk: 10% vitamin A 2% milk:10% Vitamin A
Soy milk: 0% vitamin C 2% milk :4% vitamin A
Soy milk: 30% calcium 2% milk: 30% calcium
Soy milk: 30% vitamin D 2% milk: 25% vitamin D
Soy milk: 6% iron 2% milk: 0% iron
Soy milk: 120mg sodium 2% milk: 130mg sodium

As you can see, soy milk is better for you than regular milk. This is similar for other soy products. Oh, and I compared Silk Plain Soy Milk and Great Value 2% Reduced Fat Milk. Hope this helps.

Answer 10

I'm going to have to be a naysayer on the whole soy thing. I had started consuming soy after I found out I was allerigic to the casein in milk. After a couple of years I started having very painful, difficult periods to the point that I couldn't even leave my house a couple of days each month. I ended up having surgery to remove myriad fibroids from my uterus. My doctor was shocked by how many fibroids my poor uterus contained! I didn't have a clue as to what could cause me to grow any fibroids in my uterus, let alone wall to wall fiibroids, so I started researching and kept coming back to information on soy causing them. I stopped using soy three years ago and have never had a problem with fibroids since.

This, of course, is anecdotal evidence, but I know I'll keep soy at arms length the rest of my life.