Lawsuit - SOY CONSUMPTION AGGRAVATING THE DISEASES IT'S SAID TO PREVENT

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http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2004-08-19/news_story3.php

 

SOY CONSUMPTION MAY BE AGGRAVATING THE DISEASES

IT'S SAID TO PREVENT

BY ADRIA VASIL

 

 

From the joys of soy to the soy of cooking,

by now you've probably heard every cute soy cliché there is. Thanks to

study after study linking the Asian wonder bean to the relief of

menopausal symptoms, lower cholesterol levels, the prevention of cancer

and bone disease – you name it, the hippie food once relegated to

health food stores has secured a prominent place on supermarkets

shelves and North American dinner tables. However, more recently, a

number of media reports have taken a bite out of the hype. New research

indicates that skyrocketing "not dog," Gardenburger and soyaccino

consumption may actually be doing squat to combat all of the above. But

more than that, a shocking study recently suggested that the type of

soy most favoured by North Americans, the highly processed soy protein

in everything from soy milk to soy power bars, even some tofu, may

actually stimulate growth of breast tumours. And that's not the only

condition the so-called miracle food may be aggravating.

So the question is, should you ditch soy? The answer is complicated.

***

The "yellow jewel's" centuries-old history in Asian cuisine is by

now common knowledge. Low rates of hot flashes, prostate and breast

cancer among Asian populations have been seen as an indication of just

how healthy soy must be. But even that supposition is being

reconsidered. Yes, Asians do eat soy, but not nearly as much as, say, a

typical North American vegetarian or vegan. Not to mention those

ingesting the soy oils lurking in 60 per cent of all processed foods,

hidden under vague labels like "vegetable oil" or "hydrolyzed vegetable

protein.Soy is full of natural toxins (such as protease inhibitors)

and estrogen-like compounds, and if it's not eaten the way it is in an

Asian diet, which is in small amounts as a fermented food (like tempeh

and miso), but instead in the way (the soy industry) wants us to eat it

here, it's very risky," says Sally Fallon, president of the

Washington-based Weston A. Price Foundation. (Tofu sold in grocery

stores, by the way, is not usually fermented. Fermented tofu is often

sold in jars in Chinatown.)

As North Americans started using soy oil as a cheap and purportedly

healthier replacement for saturated-fat-laden butter and animal

shortening, the amassing quantities of leftover soy protein were

processed and fed to animals, and soon to humans.

Refining processes have improved over the years, admits Kaayla T.

Daniel, author of the soon-to-be-released The Whole Soy Story. "But

there are still a whole lot of toxic by-products that come through, and

they're still using petroleum solvents." Above all, whether fermented

or processed, soy products still contain hormone-mimicking

phytoestrogens.

You're not mistaken if you think phytoestogens have been billed as a

good thing, especially when it comes to menopause. The

hormone-balancing effect of soy to help ease hot flashes and night

sweats was trumpeted throughout the 90s. But since then, many

scientists have admitted that much of the research has failed to uphold

those claims.

Patents have sat unused as companies dropped efforts to market pills

filled with soy isoflavone (a type of phytoestrogen). The North

American Menopause Society carefully retracted its support of soy's

therapeutic treatment for hot flashes earlier this year, stating that

the clinical evidence neither supports nor refutes it. And menopause

gurus like neuro-gynocologist Larrian Gillespie, author of The

Menopause Diet, started warning women of the dangers and side effects

of self-medicating with soy.

"If you've got thyroid problems, you don't want to use soy, because

the isoflavones interfere with thyroid function and increase

hypothyroidism." Gillespie tells NOW that she went into full-blown

hypothyroidism, goitre and all, within 72 hours of taking just 40 mg of

isoflavones in a capsule.

The British Committee on Toxicology, which did the most

comprehensive literature review to date on phytoestrogens, agreed in

its report issued last year, "Consumption of phytoestrogen supplements

or a soy-rich diet may provide sufficient concentrations of

phytoestrogens to interfere with thyroxine replacement therapy."

But perhaps more disturbing to all the women religiously consuming

soy in the belief that soy might help prevent breast cancer (as some

studies have indicated), the report also acknowledged evidence that

phytoestrogens may actually stimulate progression in breast cancers.

Dozens of rodent studies have demonstrated just that, including the

groundbreaking one released in May that said super-processed soy

products and supplements containing purified isoflavones are associated

with tumour growth in post-menopausal women.

"If you're consuming soy food as part of a healthy diet as it's

consumed in Asia, then you're probably fine at any time. But if you

have an estrogen-responsive cancer and you're consuming a diet high in

isoflavones from soy protein isolates or supplements, that's a whole

different area," says William Helferich, professor of food science and

human nutrition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "The

animal data tends to support that these compounds can make an

estrogen-responsive tumour grow." He adds that in one of his previous

studies, isoflavones actually negated the effect of mainstream breast

cancer drugs.

Helferich is concerned that on top of soy supplements and protein

found in foods like soy milk, a new source of isoflavones has recently

been creeping into our diets – through low-carb foods. "A lot of the

time, they're replacing the carbohydrates in breads or whatever with

soy protein isolates."

Of course, it all becomes more complicated when you consider that

isoflavones vary wildly from one product to another. (Soy ice cream and

burgers contain very little and soy milks and powders generally contain

more.) Plus, strangely, the same hormones in less processed foods like

soy flour did not trigger any tumour growth.

Still, Helferich is among the many observers who are unsettled by

the fact that the soy industry in the U.S. is now petitioning the Food

and Drug Administration for the right to put cancer-fighting claims on

soy products. The industry already secured a heart disease health claim

a few years ago (as the Canadian soy industry is currently lobbying to

do here). That claim pushed two of the FDA's own toxicologists to break

ranks and speak out against the dangers of soy, calling it "a large,

uncontrolled and basically unmonitored human experiment."

When it comes to explaining soy's rise to the top of the food chain,

the Price Foundation and others point to massive public relations and

lobbying efforts on the part of the big guns at the top of the soy biz.

Farming oligopoly giant Archer Daniels Midland patented the term

Textured Vegetable Protein (sorry, TVP lovers). Chemical behemoth

Dupont is part owner of Solae, the company that makes much of the soy

protein in your fave foods made by Yves, So Good and Gardenburger.

Solae's protein is used in 60 per cent of experiments done on soy.

Solae also happens to be the company pressing for the FDA claims. And,

according to critics, the industry funds much of the soy research out

there.

The Price Foundation even links research attacking red meat and

saturated fats over the last couple of decades to the soy lobby.

However, it's important to note that the foundation is outspoken

against veganism, is in part funded by farmers and supports a return to

beef and animal fats, albeit grass-fed. And if you look at the

foundation's board of directors, nearly every well-known soy detractor,

including author Daniel, is on the list.

The foundation is now searching for plaintiffs for a class-action

lawsuit against the soy industry. "We get one or two really sad stories

a day," says Fallon. "The saddest ones are about babies on soy formula

(whose parents) realize their babies will never have a normal sex life.

The little boys are very feminized, (have) very small sexual organs and

real strange behaviour problems. And we're hearing quite often (about)

two-year-old (girls) with breast buds and body odour. It's shocking."

But Anthony Otley, a pediatric gastroenterologist on the nutrition

committee of the Canadian Paediatric Society, says such statements

implicating soy formula scare parents unnecessarily. "A lot of very

reactionary groups have said that (infants on soy formula get too much

estrogen) and don't look further into it."

Otley admits that when animals are given large doses of

phytoestrogens, they experience changes in sexual maturation and organ

development. But he cautions that it's important to remember that

babies aren't being injected with the hormone as lab animals are.

Rather, they ingest it, and by processing it in their gut, a

"significant majority of the hormone is inactivated." Besides, adds

Otley, breast buds in infants as young as one or two years are

relatively common and may not be a result of soy consumption.

Still, he admits there was no reason for 20 per cent of Canadian

babies in the mid-90s to be fed soy formula. That's when the Paediatric

Society and Health Canada decided to recommend that soy formula only be

fed to infants by doctor's orders (i.e., if the baby is allergic to

cow's milk formula) or if the parents are vegan. Cow's milk, they say,

is just closer to human milk.

"Certainly, if we did discover that there's a risk to consumers,

we'd take immediate action," says Health Canada's Margot Geduld. "But

at this moment, based on the evidence we have, we feel soy is a good

source of protein as part of a healthy and balanced diet."

But some say a balanced diet is exactly what many vegetarians don't

have, consuming large amounts of soy at nearly every meal. Even

Soyfoods Canada isn't sure how safe that is. "Overconsumption of soy,

does it have any negative effects? I don't know if anybody has any

conclusive evidence on that," says the group's VP, Carla Bertoia. "We

at Soyfoods Canada just want people to incorporate it into their diets.

We don't want people to actually live (only) on soy."

Yet soy researchers like U of T's David Jenkins stand by the health

food. "I'd like to flip the question and ask, 'What protein source do

you want to put in its place?'" asks Jenkins. If there are to be

warnings for soy, he says there should be warnings for beef, chicken

and mercury-laden fish. "Singling out one food is not reasonable in the

face of all our other problems."

Bottom line, say researchers on all sides, is that more work is

needed before conclusions can be drawn.

 

 

NOW | AUG 19 - 25, 2004 | VOL. 23 NO.

51

 

 

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