If you think eating tofu and drinking Soy Moo is going to give you the protein you need to build your body and stay healthy

SOY FACTS

If you think eating tofu and drinking Soy Moo is going to give you the protein you need to build your body and stay healthy, I have news for you: I was a fat-free, soy-gobbling, non-meat-eater for about 15 years. I can't even begin to list all the health problems I had. I know for a fact that nothing else I did to my body in the 70's and 80's could have caused the kind of permanent damage that feasting on soy foods did.

This is another case of people thinking that since the FDA says it's good for you, it's really good for you. Since the FDA invented dietary hanky-panky years ago, I choose not to follow their advice. These are the same guys who tell you that a natural, historical, nutrient-dense diet consisting mostly of animal foods and natural, unprocessed vegetable dishes is dangerous.

They are also the same guys who insist that the very nutrient that protects you from cardiovascular disease--cholesterol--is going to kill you (after uncounted thousands of years of history to the contrary). These are the very folks who built the SAD (Standard American Diet) Pyramid, with 65% bread and pasta as the mainstay of the American, formerly-the-envy-of-the-world- because-of-its-protein diet. They are also the folks who brought you pasteurized, homogenized cow's milk, hydrogenated vegetable oils, high-fructose corn syrup, Aspartame and MSG, along with the rest of the the witch's brews of chemical softeners, conditioners, emulsifiers, bleaches, flavors, colors, and preservatives that you will find in just about any packaged food on the shelf of your friendly neighborhood QuikShopMartStop. I wouldn't trust any of them with my worst enemy.

The information below is so shocking and so educational that I wanted to put it on my website to show people just how vile, putrid, and skanky the U.S. diet can be when it is loaded with the ersatz "protein" of the soybean. If you are eating more than a teaspoonful of soy food a day, you'd better read this.

I used to have a friend who was a long-time vegan (well, as long as they live, anyway, which isn't very long). The poor man died of malnutrition because the saturated-fat-free, SOY diet stripped him of nutrients on the one hand, and deprived his body of all the vital and essential nutrients it needs to repair itself and to fight off disease, on the other. He was scrawny, severely underweight, and his skin was grayish, flaky, and dry. He looked like the pictures of concentration-camp victims, and was sick all the time. His hormones and neurotransmitters eventually all shut down. He had no strength, no energy, no vitality. The only fats he got were the ultra- polyunsaturated, Omega-6-heavy plant oils. He had to take testosterone supplements because he had all but killed his testes. His hair fell out in handfuls. But he refused to eat animal foods, even though he has read all the information that he found. He even admitted his diet was destructive, but he just simply could not bring himself to eat animal-based foods of any kind.

Be warned: SOYBEANS ARE NOT OUR FRIENDS. (Even if your family grows them for a living. Grow them all you want. Just DON'T EAT THEM.)

(The information which follows is taken from the "SOY ALERT!" page on the Weston A. Price website. )

High levels of phytic acid in soy reduce assimilation of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc. Phytic acid in soy is not neutralized by ordinary preparation methods such as soaking, sprouting and long, slow cooking. High phytate diets have caused growth problems in children.

Trypsin inhibitors in soy interfere with protein digestion and may cause pancreatic disorders. In test animals soy containing trypsin inhibitors caused stunted growth.

Soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential to cause infertility and to promote breast cancer in adult women.

Soy phytoestrogens are potent anti-thyroid agents that cause hypothyroidism and may cause thyroid cancer. In infants, consumption of soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease.

Vitamin B₁₂ analogs in soy are not absorbed and actually increase the body’s requirement for B₁₂.

Soy foods increase the body’s requirement for vitamin D.

Fragile proteins are denatured during high temperature processing to make soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein.

Processing of soy protein results in the formation of toxic lysinoalanine and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines.

Free glutamic acid or MSG, a potent neurotoxin, is formed during soy food processing and additional amounts are added to many soy foods.

Soy foods contain high levels of aluminum which is toxic to the nervous system and the kidneys.

A study from Cornell University, published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 1986, which found that children who develop diabetes mellitus were twice as likely to have been fed soy.
A November 1994 warning published in Pediatrics in which the Nutrition Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics advised against the use of soy formulas due to the diabetes risk. These warnings have been neglected ever since it was reported that the AAP accepted a multi-million-dollar donation from the Infant Formula Council for their new headquarters building outside Chicago.
A 1994 article by Lonnerdal published in Acta Paediatr summarizing the reduced bioavailability of trace minerals due to high phytic acid content in soy infant formula; and high levels of manganese in soy formula compared to cows milk formula and breast milk. Excessive intake of manganese is linked to problems with the central nervous system.
A 1996 report published in the German magazine Klin Padiatr describing the development of hypocalcemic tetany* in an infant fed soy formula.
Two 1997 studies published in Nutrition and Cancer. One found that phytoestrogens at levels close to probable levels in humans stimulate cellular changes leading to breast cancer; the other found that dietary soy suppressed enzymes protective of breast cancer in mice.
A 1998 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition further confirming that soy-protein supplementation stimulates cell proliferation in human breast tissue.
A 1998 study published in Cancer Research which found that dietary genistein enhances the growth of mammary gland tumors in mice.
A 1998 study by Nagata and others published in the Journal of Nutrition which gives daily consumption of tofu in Japan’s Gifu prefecture as less than 1 gram per day.
A 1998 study published in Toxicology and Industrial Health indicating the phytoestrogens are potential endocrine disrupters in males.
A March 12, 1999 Daily Express article with the headline “Soy Allergy/Adverse Effect Rates Skyrocket - Monsanto’s Roundup-Ready Soy Blamed”
A 1999 study at the Clinical Research Center at MIT, published in the Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society which found that estrogens in soy had no effect on menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats.
May 1999 and June 2000 studies published in Brain Research indicating that phytoestrogens have adverse affects on brain chemistry.
An April 2000 study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science which found that flavonoids, especially genistein, can cross the placenta and induce cell changes that lead to infant leukemia.
An article published in Nutrition and Cancer 2000 which found lower testosterone levels and higher estrogen levels in Japanese men who consumed higher levels of soy foods.
Publication in the British Journal of Urology, January 2000, of the study showing a five-time greater risk of delivering a boy with hypospadias, a birth defect of the penis, in mothers who ate a vegetarian diet during pregnancy. The researchers attributed high rates of the birth defect to phytoestrogens in soy products.
An April 2000 study published in Carcinogenesis found that soy feeding stimulated the growth of rat thyroid with iodine deficiency, partly through a pituitary-dependent pathway.
A June 2000 article in American Journal of Cardiology which found that soy had no impact on lipid levels in healthy postmenopausal women
Evidence that disturbing results were omitted from a 1994 study presented to the FDA during the approval process for "Roundup Ready" Soybeans. Researchers found that raw "Roundup Ready" meal contained 27 percent more trypsin inhibitor and toasted "Roundup Ready" meal contained 18 percent more trypsin inhibitor compared to non-genetically manipulated controls.

* I've HAD hypocalcemic tetany. It is not anything to be fooled with or ignored.

For more information on SOY in the human diet, go to the Weston A. Price website (link above) and get educated. A few more tidbits with interesting details in them:

...[Dr.] Klein says that medical literature provides “no evidence of endocrine effects...and no changes in timing of puberty.” But she makes no mention of the Puerto Rican study which found that consumption of soy formula correlated strongly with early maturation in girls. Why would Dr. Klein leave out any reference to the Puerto Rican study in her review? Is it because DuPont, owner of Protein Technologies International, is the leading manufacturer of soy protein isolate?
Or is it because her review was sponsored by the Infant Formula Council? Or because Nutrition Reviews, which published her whitewash, is funded by industry giants, including Pillsbury, Hershey Foods, Kellogg, Roche, General Mills, Kraft, Campbell Soup, Monsanto, Coca-Cola, Cargill, Heinz, Nabisco, Proctor and Gamble and Pepsi-Cola?

Phytic acid in soy has been consistently described in the literature as an antinutrient—until recently when suddenly we heard that an over-the-counter phytic acid compound was an antioxidant. Besides, says Sardi, we need phytic acid in our food to prevent us from overmineralizing. Just how a substance full of mineral-blocking phytic acid is going to help us prevent osteoporosis is one of those annoying inconsistencies that pervade the pro-soy literature.

Soy is a known goitrogen, says Sardi and adults who are on thyroid hormone replacement would “be wise to review their consumption of soy with their physician.” Millions of Americans suffer from low thyroid but where are the warning labels on the soy product packages? Where are the warning labels on the little booklets sold in the supermarket, targeting older women with promises that “Super Soy!” will protect them against bone loss, heart disease, cancer, menopause (!) and heart disease. “Soy is one of nature’s miracles,” say the booklets, “and it’s good for you!” The hype is everywhere and it targets all age groups—infants, teenagers, young adults, women worried about getting old and men worried about prostate cancer. Meanwhile, Synthroid is America’s number-one selling drug.

In feeding experiments, use of SPI [soy protein isolates] increased requirements for vitamins E, K, D and B12 and created deficiency symptoms of calcium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, copper, iron and zinc.²⁶ Phytic acid remaining in these soy products greatly inhibits zinc and iron absorption; test animals fed SPI develop enlarged organs, particularly the pancreas and thyroid gland, and increased deposition of fatty acids in the liver.²⁷ Yet soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein are used extensively in school lunch programs, commercial baked goods, diet beverages and fast food products. They are heavily promoted in Third World countries and form the basis of many food giveaway programs.

Twenty-five grams of soy protein isolate, the minimum amount PTI claimed to have cholesterol-lowering effects, contains at least 50 mg of isoflavones. It took only 45 mg daily of isoflavones in premenopausal women to exert significant biological effects including reduction in hormones needed for adequate thyroid function. These effects lingered for three months after soy consumption was discontinued.⁵¹
One hundred grams of soy protein, the maximum suggested cholesterol-lowering dose (and the amount recommended by Protein Technologies International), can contain almost 600 mg of isoflavones,⁵² an amount that is undeniably toxic. In 1992, the Swiss health service estimated that 100 grams of soy protein provided the estrogenic equivalent of the pill.⁵³

The males of tropical bird species carry he drab plumage of the female at birth and “colors up” at maturity, somewhere between nine and 24 months. In 1991, Richard and Valerie James, bird breeders in Whangerai, New Zealand, purchased a new kind of feed for their birds, one based largely on soy protein.⁴⁷ When soy-based feed was used, their birds “colored up” after just a few months. In fact, one bird food manufacturer claimed that this early development was an advantage imparted by the feed. A 1992 ad for Roudybush feed formula showed a picture of the male crimson rosella, an Australian parrot that acquires beautiful red plumage at 18 to 24 months, already brightly colored at 11 weeks old.
Unfortunately, in the ensuing years, there was decreased fertility in the birds with precocious maturation, deformed, stunted and still-born babies, and premature deaths, especially among females, with the result that the total population in the aviaries went into steady decline. The birds suffered beak and bone deformities, goitre, immune system disorders and pathological aggressive behavior. Autopsy revealed digestive organs in a state of disintegration. The list of problems corresponded with many of the problems the Jameses had encountered in their two children, who had been fed soy-based infant formula.
Startled, aghast, angry. . . the Jameses hired toxicologist Mike Fitzpatrick to investigate further. Dr. Fitzpatrick’s literature review uncovered evidence that soy consumption has been linked to numerous disorders, including infertility, increased cancer and infantile leukemia; and, in studies dating back to the 1950s⁴⁸, that genistein in soy causes endocrine disruption in animals. Dr. Fitzpatrick also analyzed the bird feed and found that it contained high levels of phytoestrogens, especially genistein. When the Jameses discontinued using soy-based feed, the flock gradually returned to normal breeding habits and behavior.
The Jameses embarked on a private crusade to warn the public and government officials about toxins in soy foods, particularly the endocrine-disrupting isoflavones (genistein and diadzen.) Protein Technologies International received their material in 1994.

But it was the isoflavones in infant formula that gave the Jameses the most cause for concern. In 1998, investigators reported that the daily exposure of infants to isoflavones in soy infant formula is 6 to 11 times higher on a body weight basis than the dose that has hormonal effects in adults consuming soy foods. Circulating concentrations of isoflavones in infants fed soy-based formula were 13,000 to 22,000 times higher than plasma estradiol concentrations in infants on cows milk formula.^57(!!!!!)

Approximately 25 percent of bottle-fed children in the US receive soy-based formula--a much higher percentage than in other parts of the Western world. Fitzpatrick estimated that an infant exclusively fed soy formula receives the estrogenic equivalent (based on body weight) of at least five birth control pills per day.⁵⁸ By contrast, almost no phytoestrogens have been detected in dairy-based infant formula or in human milk, even when the mother consumes soy products.

Parents who have contacted the Jameses recount other problems associated with children of both sexes who were fed soy-based formula including extreme emotional behavior, asthma, immune system problems, pituitary insufficiency, thyroid disorders and irritable bowel syndrome—the same endocrine and digestive havoc that afflicted the Jameses’ parrots.

A study of babies born to vegetarian mothers, published in January 2000, indicated just what those changes in baby’s development might be. Mothers who ate a vegetarian diet during pregnancy had a fivefold greater risk of delivering a boy with hypospadias, a birth defect of the penis.⁷⁰ The authors of the study suggested that the cause was greater exposure to phytoestrogens in soy foods popular with vegetarians. Problems with female offspring of vegetarian mothers are more likely to show up later in life.