Draino used in Processing Soybeans - How Soybeans are Processed

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* Health and Healing *

Tuesday, April 23, 2002 8:49 AM

Draino used in Processing Soybeans - How Soybeans

are Processed

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Soybeans are processed into oil, protein isolate, and protein concentrate.

Extreme methods are employed because of the necessity for trying to get rid of

the phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors. Unfortunately, all the enzymes, minerals,

fiber, vitamins, and nutrients are also lost along the way. At each step towards

the end products of soybean oil or soy protein, more of these natural nutrients

are lost. The end products - commercial soybean oil and soy protein isolate -

are totally artificial, devitalized commercial foods.

 

An excellent chart of the steps involved in oil processing is found on p.94 of

Fats That Heal. The following few paragraphs summarize those steps.

 

Cooking

 

The first of these methods is high temperature cooking. The purpose is to try

and get rid of some of the phytic acid. As we know, high temperatures above

118°F denature the natural enzymes of the bean. (Howell) Soybeans are first

heated to temperatures up to 248° F! (Erasmus, p 95) Without enzymes, any plant

becomes a devitalized food, very difficult to digest in the human tract. In

addition to interfering with breakdown of the food, enzyme depletion also

interferes with mineral absorption as well as vitamin activity.

 

Remember that enzymes, vitamins, and minerals are three legs of the tripod of

metabolic activity. That means cell and tissue function. Take away any one and

the other two are stumped. Mineral activity was already a problem with soy,

because of the phytic acid. Superheating and enzyme loss compound this

deficiency.

 

In addition, a constant problem with oil processing is rancidity, which means

oxidizing when exposed to air and light. Oxidation produces the dread

trans-fatty acids and a boatload of free radicals.

 

There are two chemical terms: cis and trans, used to describe the shape of a

fatty acid. Humans require natural fatty acids, which are in the cis form.

Processing changes the cis forms to the unnatural trans configuration.

 

Trans fatty acids are manmade - something nature would never have dreamed up.

Trans fatty acids cannot be broken down by human fat enzymes. They cool down to

hard fat, just like bacon grease in that unwashed skillet left in the sink

overnight. Imagine the implications in the arteries and in the intestines, to be

eating foods that can't be broken down. Erasmus explains how superheated oils

are 100x more reactive to oxygen (p. 95), thus becoming a potent vehicle for

free radical introduction into the consumer's body. We have seen how free

radicals are the direct cause of aging, heart disease, and cancer. That's why

products containing trans fatty acids are actually illegal in Holland.

 

After the cooking, one of two paths is chosen for removing oil: pressing or

solvent extraction.

 

Pressing

 

After cooking, the beans may be extruded through a press for maximum oil

extraction. Shallow conventional wisdom says that as long as the oil is

cold-pressed, everything is fine. This idea is false, as we shall see.

 

Erasmus explains why the term cold-pressed is meaningless. People think that

cold-pressed insures that the nutrients will remain in the oil because heat

wasn't involved in the processing. The first problem is that what they don't

tell you is that the beans were already cooked at these superhigh temperatures

before being put into the press. As long as no heat is added in the actual

press, they can call it cold-pressed.

 

Huge oxidation already took place at the cooking step. Much worse than the heat,

the main problem however is the free radical production from exposure to light

and air during the pressing process. This is where rancidity and trans fatty

acids come in. To have a true unrefined wholesome food-grade oil, it is critical

that air and light be meticulously excluded throughout the pressing step. The

oil must then be put immediately into amber bottles. A very small percentage of

soybean oil is processed in this way.

 

Unrefined oils of any kind must come in amber or opaque bottles.

 

Solvent extraction

 

Besides pressing, an easier but more toxic method of oil extraction is the use

of solvents. Several are used in the soybean oil processing.

 

The first solvent used on soybeans is an alkaline solution which will attempt to

get rid of the trypsin inhibitors. (Fallon, p 3) Even though the solution is

thoroughly rinsed out of the beans, a carcinogenic by-product results from the

interaction of the soybeans with the alkaline soak: lysinealine, as we saw

above.

 

Next, for oil to be extracted, an organic solvent - hexane is the standard

chemical employed. (1997 Soy Stats) Like gasoline, hexane is a petroleum

distillate! (Dorland's, p322) Temperatures of up to 149°F are applied. In the

rinsing process, traces of this carcinogenic solvent are left behind in the

finished products, both in the oil and in the protein isolate.

 

Degumming

 

The next step in the refining process is the removal of residual fiber, or gum,

from the oil. Water, phosphoric acid, and heat (up to 140°F) are used. This is

the same step in which lecithin is separated from the oil. The problem is that

valuable trace minerals like calcium, copper, magnesium, and iron, as well as

chlorophyll are all removed at this step. (Erasmus p96)

 

Lecithin is a common ingredient in foods and supplements. The majority of it is

derived from soybeans during this step. Note all the preceding steps - some

health supplement.

 

Drano

 

This one I didn't believe, but it's true. The next step is that the refined oil

is mixed with sodium hydroxide - NaOH - which most of us know as Drano, at a

temperature of 167° F. That's right - the exact same corrosive lye you pour down

your drain when it's clogged. (Erasmus, p 96) The purpose of adding this

corrosive is to remove any free fatty acids which may be 'contaminating' the

'pure' refined oil. Anyone for a Dranoburger?

 

Bleaching

 

By this stage the oil still retains some pigments, giving it a reddish brown

appearance. Since that's not the desired 'pure' look that customers have been

trained to expect, clay is added, heated to 230° F, then filtered out. This high

heat again causes the formation of the toxic free radicals, called peroxides. In

the presence of air or light, their formation is increased geometrically.

 

Deodorizing

 

Next the oil is steam-distilled at 518°F for 30 minutes, to destroy any natural

aromatics from the dead, refined oil. Note the incredibly high temperature. At

302°F trans fatty acids begin forming. These weird, manmade molecules are

mutagenic to human DNA - they can alter human DNA. Trans fatty acids exist

nowhere else in nature - man has created them. As the temperature is raised

higher, trans fatty acid production increases geometrically.

 

After deodorizing, the oil is absolutely tasteless, and cannot be distinguished

from any other processed seed oil. The oil is now devoid of any vitamin,

mineral, enzyme or nutrient content whatsoever. And even though it has undergone

extreme high temperatures at several steps, as long as no external heat was

added during the pressing step, the oil can still be sold as " cold-pressed " !

 

Sometimes mixtures of pressed oil and solvent-extracted oil are sold as

" unrefined " oil. These types of labels are simply unregulated. (Erasmus)

 

Reviewing this summary of processing steps, it is a wonder that processed

soybean oil is allowed to be sold at all or to be made into margarine and

cooking oil, let alone for claims to be made about its nutritional superiority.

But this is still not the worst of it. The real bad news is

 

HYDROGENATION

 

As if no further biological indignity could be levied against the already

lifeless processed oil, way back in the 1930s, the boys at Dupont figured out a

way to harden the oil into a perfectly engineered non-food: margarine. Their

only two criteria: spreadability and shelflife.

 

At least 80% of margarine made in the US comes from refined soybean oil.

(Erasmus). Scientists found out that if they subjected the refined oil to yet

another round of infernal temperatures - up to 410°F- and forced hydrogen gas in

the presence of a metallic catalyst through the oil for five or six hours, the

result was a substance possessing the desired spreadability, as well as a

shelflife that can be described as 'From Now On.'

 

That's what hydrogenated means.

 

Margarine is another quantum level removed from anything resembling human food,

and actually is closer to the category of plastics. Since all the Essential

Fatty Acids (usable fats) have been destroyed, and all the enzymes are long

gone, there is nothing left to 'go bad' - it can't spoil.

 

Guess what their favorite metal catalyst contains. Right - it's usually 50%

aluminum. Neurological disorders, Alzheimer's, cancer . . .

 

There are two types of hydrogenation:

 

Partial

 

Complete

 

With partial hydrogenation, weird unpredictable 'intermediate compounds' are

formed from the surviving fatty acids. These include the mutagenic

(gene-altering) trans fatty acids. But scientists themselves don't even know

what kinds of molecules are being created by the hydrogenation of fatty acids.

They vary completely from batch to batch, and with different temperatures and

catalysts. These molecules should be thought of as random toxic additives.

 

The only reason hydrogenation is legal is that it has been around for so long.

When it was invented, the effects weren't well understood. Now decades later,

with billions in lobbying money in place, a few details like cancer and

Alzheimers aren't going to get in the way. Who controls which 'scientists' get

published?

 

The commercial value of partial hydrogenation is that the density of the desired

final product can be precisely controlled: semi-liquid, margarine, shortening,

hard (for chocolate), or anything in between.

 

Here's a good way to think of hydrogenation. In the old days of potato chips, if

you left the bag open all night, next day the chips would be limp and soggy.

Today we have potato chips that are crispy to perfection. You can leave them out

on the counter for days and they'll still be perfectly crisp. Sealed potato

chips in those round, perfectly stacked tubes will last a year or more! This

phenomenon has nothing to do with food or nutrition. It is a masterful feat of

plastics engineering. The potato chip has been completely soaked in hydrogenated

oil, protected from the external environment - kind of like dry mounting a

photograph, or polymerizing a marlin you're going to hang over the fireplace.

Once inside the stomach, the chips continue to do what they were designed to do:

resist breakdown. The food value for humans is in the negative.

 

Hydrogenated foods then are toxic because they contain

 

· free radicals

 

· no enzymes

 

· no vitamins

 

· no minerals

 

· no nutrients

 

· no ability to be broken down or assimilated

 

In the body, hydrogenated foods contribute to

 

- aging

 

- cancer

 

- tissue breakdown

 

- digestive disease

 

- clogged arteries

 

- arthritis

 

- Alzheimer's

 

- neurological diseases

 

MOLECULAR STABILITY - FOREVER IS A LONG TIME

 

The fiction that hydrogenated margarine is superior to butter can be seen for

what it is: marketing hype - Madison Avenue on Ecstasy. And the reason is what -

no cholesterol? Please! Of course margarine contains no cholesterol - it's

closer to a plastic than to a food. That's why soybean oil is also used as a

base for paint, varnish, and linoleum, as well as printer's ink! (Bernard)

 

Without artificial flavoring additives, margarine would taste like a formica

desktop.

 

Humans don't need foods to be that stable. Our digestive systems have about 12

hours to metabolize what we eat. If breakdown doesn't happen during that time,

very likely we'll be wearing the stable residues for a long, long time.

 

Start looking at labels. You'll see why they're printed in micro-fonts. When you

see the word 'hydrogenated' think plastic. When you see the words

" partially-hydrogenated " think plastic and free radicals.

 

It's not only margarine, salad oil, and cooking oil. Hydrogenated oil is a mega

industry. What is the #1 oil in the food industry? Soy bean oil! Soybeans

account for 82 percent of the edible consumption of fats and oils in the United

States. (Soybeans Stats Reference Guide) And 60% of all foods on the shelves of

America's supermarkets contain soy in some form or other. (Wolfson)

 

More at <http://www.thedoctorwithin.com/index24.html>

--

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Neil Jensen: neil

The WWW VL: Sumeria http://www.sumeria.net/

" The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants. "

-- Albert Camus

 

 

 

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