Natural Health Articles

For years now, we have been told that soy is good for us. Soybeans are used in soy milk for the lactose intolerant; it is used in vegetarian products as a substitute for meat; and used in a thousand other products as a source of protein. Go into any health food store and you will find aisles upon aisles of soy products. But is it really good for us? Recent studies seem to disagree.

Not too long ago, several centuries, soy was not considered as a food source, and it is amazing how modern propaganda could push this product into the spotlight. It wasn’t until the 2nd Century in China’s Chou Dynasty that the fermentation of soy made it a viable option for human consumption. Up until that point it had been mainly used in crop rotation to moderate the nitrogen levels in the soil. The unfermented soybeans were never eaten, as they contained large levels of natural toxins that blocked digestion. Many of these toxins cannot be gotten rid of even through cooking. Soy has been shown to produce serious gastric distress and reduce the proteins needed for proper digestion, and, can also cause cancer.

According to some sources, 99% of soy is genetically altered and contain more pesticides than any food produced in the world today. Studies have shown that vegetarians who consume soy products such as tofu as a substitute for meat run the risk of severe deficiencies in calcium, magnesium and iron.

Producers of soy are still trying to figure out how to get these “anti nutrients” out of soy and make it more “user friendly”. One process involves mixing the soy with an alkaline solution to remove the fiber. The process takes place in large aluminum tanks where the aluminum has a chance to seep into the soy as well. After this process, the curds are spray-dried under high temperatures to produce textured vegetable protein (TVP).

Soy is not the miracle food that the industry would like you to believe. Tests conducted on animals that have been fed soy have turned up with unfavorable results. Despite poor testing, the soy industry has not relented in their push to increase sales. Soy is so deeply entrenched in our society today that school lunches, commercial baked goods and fast food all have soy in them and are consumed in large quantities every day. In 1913 the United States Department of Agriculture published a report that said soy was an industrial product and not a food. Of course all of this information, while not exactly having been hidden from the public, has been downplayed considerably. Soy has become the next “miracle food”, the one food that the soy industry claims can cure what ails you and keep you healthy, and the public is falling for it.