Soy consumption may be aggravating the diseases it's said to prevent

[Guest guest]

A little tofu is fine, say experts, but you're taking chances if you eat it

at every meal.

 

NOW | AUG 19 - 25, 2004 | VOL. 23 NO. 51

SAY IT AIN'T SOY

SOY CONSUMPTION MAY BE AGGRAVATING THE DISEASES IT'S SAID TO PREVENT

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

 

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.