According to most mainstream and “alternative living” media, soy beans are the most versatile, natural, heart-friendly, health-improving, fat-preventing, growth-promoting and generally “all-around good for you” foods ever grown on God’s green earth. With food aisles brimming with hundreds of soy products, including soy protein, soy breakfast bars, soy burgers, soy ice cream, and an endless array of soy beverages, is soy beer soon to follow?
Actually, it’s already here! Doctors, athletes, nutritionists, farmers, government officials, and respected companies all make a point of telling us how safe and wonderful soy is for us and about soy’s myriad of health benefits. They tell us that it is so excellent and so safe that it doesn’t even need to be listed as an ingredient in many processed foods. But we don’t mind, do we? I mean, everyone knows it’s safe, right?
Along with being the new health food, soy has also become the latest cash cow for companies like Monsanto. Across the globe, billions of acres are earmarked for soybean cultivation, thus providing a secure cash crop for millions of farmers who gladly disburse a “tariff” to Monsanto, the developers of their genetically modified soybeans. What is the modern gospel of food production? “Soy is Good For You.”
Or is it? Sadly, for several decades, corporations have been aware of (and suppressed) the evidence that ingestion of soy causes cancer, destroys bones, and creates havoc with our hormonal systems. The truth behind the blatantly commercial integration of soybeans into our diet is a distressing tale of fraud, greed, propaganda, suppression, corporate irresponsibility, corruption, bad science, and political opportunism.
Have you ever seen the “soy cows” that soy milk comes from? Not sure if you’re aware of this, but you can’t milk a soy bean! According to Elaine Hollingsworth in her book Soy—The Abominable Bean:
In order to obtain that pure-looking, inviting stream of white liquid pictured so appealingly in the ads, many processes are needed. It is necessary to grind the beans at high temperature, and then extract the remaining oils with dangerous solvents, some of which remain in the meal. Then the meal is mixed with an alkaline solution and sugars, in a separation process designed to remove fiber. Then it is precipitated and separated, using an acid wash. At each stage of processing a tiny amount of poison remains within the soy.
… regulators say it’s so small an amount that it doesn’t count. I wonder who told them that? And why don’t they take notice of the scientists who say it does count, due to its accumulation in the body over long periods of soy ingestion? Are you really happy to accept the manufacturer’s assurance that it’s safe to eat a tiny amount of poison each day, perhaps several times a day, until you have a serious health problem?
One of the many marketing ploys for soy is that it contains isoflavones (estrogen-like substances). Despite the fact that he/she has no idea what an isoflavone is, your typical soy milk drinker will repeat the mantra they hear on the nightly news about isoflavones. What you won’t hear on the news is that scientists have known for years that isoflavones in soy products can depress thyroid function, causing autoimmune thyroid disease and even cancer of the thyroid. Scientists have known for over half a century that soy negatively impacts the thyroid gland. Research in Japan concluded that daily consumption of only one ounce of soybeans over the course of ninety days caused enlargement of the thyroid and suppressed thyroid function. Some subjects even developed goiter. The subjects returned to normal when they quit eating soy. (Y. Ishisuki et al, “The effects of the thyroid gland of soybeans administered experimentally in healthy subjects”, Nippon Nibunpi Gawk Zasshi, 1991). As a matter of fact, the isoflavone genistein inhibits thyroid function more effectively than prescription drugs developed to control hyperthyroidism!
As far back as the 1950’s, phytoestrogens (estrogen-like substances derived from plants) were being linked to increased cases of cancer, infertility, and leukemia. According to Dr. William Wong, “Soy is poison, period!” In his article entitled “Soy: The Poison Seed,” Dr. Wong describes several reasons why soy is poison. Two of the isoflavones (genistein and daidzein) which soy contains are basically built in insecticides for the soybean. He asks, “If they kill bugs, are they good for humans?”
As if we need more damning evidence, soy also contains phytic acid. The presence of phytic acid in soy totally destroys the credibility of the manufacturers’ claims that soy is a good source of calcium and helps prevent osteoporosis. Here’s why: phytic acid impairs the absorption of all minerals, especially calcium! And since soy contains more phytic acid than any other grain, soy actually strips your body of calcium and other essential minerals. That’s right. Soy literally sucks the nutrients right out of your body!
Soy is not a complete protein, as it lacks the essential amino acids methionine and cystine. And soy protein is difficult to digest because it contains substantial amounts of trypsin inhibitors. Remember, trypsin is essential in protein digestion, and cancer cells are protected by a protein coating which makes them “invisible” to the immune system. Soy also contains hemagglutinin, a clot-promoting substance that causes red blood cells to clump together. These clustered blood cells are unable to properly absorb oxygen for distribution to the body’s tissues, which can damage the heart and lead to cancer.
According to Dr. Tim O’Shea:
Yet another toxin found in some processed soy products is aluminum, which is said to be 10 times higher in infant soy formulas than in milk-based formula—and 100 times higher than in unprocessed milk. Levels are even higher when soy products are hydrogenated. Aluminum, a cause of Alzheimer’s, can also damage the newly forming kidneys of an infant who drinks soy formula. Worse yet, aluminum can directly damage the infant brain because the blood-brain barrier has not formed yet. Processed soy can also contain a known carcinogen called lysinoalanine. It is a by-product of a processing step called alkaline soaking, which is done to attempt to eliminate enzyme inhibitors. Even though the beans are thoroughly rinsed, the lysinoalanine by-product can remain from the interaction of the soybeans with the alkaline solution.
And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, a recent study of Japanese men (living in Hawaii) found that consuming 2 or more weekly servings of tofu was linked to the development of dementia! (L.R. White, et al, “Brain aging and midlife tofu consumption,” Journal of American College of Nutrition, April 2000). But don’t the Chinese and Japanese eat lots of soy? The answer is “no, they don’t.” And the majority of the soy products which they do eat are fermented (tempeh, tamari, natto, and miso). Long ago, they discovered that fermentation caused the protein to be more easily digested, and the phytic acid, toxins, and “anti-nutrients” to be destroyed. This being so, fermented soy products are acceptable, but only in small amounts.
But that’s not all!! According to GMO Compass, an online mecca of genetically modified (“GMO”) industry information, 91% of soybeans grown in the USA are GMO. Conscious of the public’s growing awareness of the dangers of GMO and displaying the kind of “creative duplicity” which even Prince Machiavelli would applaud; Monsanto Corporation has almost 50 million acres of GMO soybeans growing in the USA. Here’s the catch: American law permits these crops to be mixed with a small amount of organic soybeans, and the resultant combination may then be labeled “organic”! And you still think the government wouldn’t let them lie to you? This deadly “food” belongs in the toxic waste dump, but the multinational corporations like Monsanto are disposing of it in you, your family, and in baby formulas! For those who ask if organic soy is safe, I say, “Would you eat organic anthrax?”
Stay away from soy! According to Dr. Wong:
Any opinions to contradict the facts noted above have been paid for by the agribusiness giants Monsanto and Archer Daniels Midland. Once public knowledge of their manipulation of public opinion and of the FDA becomes widely known, expect monster class action lawsuits against these folks. They’ll deserve it in spades!
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