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http://www.mercola.com/2000/apr/9/soy_research_update.htm

 

 

Newest Research On Why You Should Avoid Soy

by Sally Fallon & Mary G. Enig, PhD

About the Authors:

Sally Fallon is the author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook

that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet

Dictocrats (1999, 2nd edition, New Trends Publishing, tel +1 877 707

1776 or +1 219 268 2601) and President of the Weston A. Price

Foundation, Washington, DC (www.WestonAPrice.org).

Each year, research on the health effects of soy and soybean

components seems to increase exponentially. Furthermore, research is

not just expanding in the primary areas under investigation, such as

cancer, heart disease and osteoporosis; new findings suggest that

soy has potential benefits that may be more extensive than

previously thought.

So writes Mark Messina, PhD, General Chairperson of the Third

International Soy Symposium, held in Washington, DC, in November

1999.1 For four days, well-funded scientists gathered in Washington

made presentations to an admiring press and to their sponsors -

United Soybean Board, American Soybean Association, Monsanto,

Protein Technologies International, Central Soya, Cargill Foods,

Personal Products Company, SoyLife, Whitehall-Robins Healthcare and

the soybean councils of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan,

Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio and South Dakota.

The symposium marked the apogee of a decade-long marketing campaign

to gain consumer acceptance of tofu, soy milk, soy ice cream, soy

cheese, soy sausage and soy derivatives, particularly soy

isoflavones like genistein and diadzen, the oestrogen-like compounds

found in soybeans. It coincided with a US Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) decision, announced on October 25, 1999, to

allow a health claim for products " low in saturated fat and

cholesterol " that contain 6.25 grams of soy protein per serving.

Breakfast cereals, baked goods, convenience food, smoothie mixes and

meat substitutes could now be sold with labels touting benefits to

cardiovascular health, as long as these products contained one

heaping teaspoon of soy protein per 100-gram serving.

Marketing The Perfect Food

" Just imagine you could grow the perfect food. This food not only

would provide affordable nutrition, but also would be delicious and

easy to prepare in a variety of ways. It would be a healthful food,

with no saturated fat. In fact, you would be growing a virtual

fountain of youth on your back forty. " The author is Dean Houghton,

writing for The Furrow,2 a magazine published in 12 languages by

John Deere. " This ideal food would help prevent, and perhaps

reverse, some of the world's most dreaded diseases. You could grow

this miracle crop in a variety of soils and climates. Its

cultivation would build up, not deplete, the land...this miracle

food already exists... It's called soy. "

Just imagine. Farmers have been imagining - and planting more soy.

What was once a minor crop, listed in the 1913 US Department of

Agriculture (USDA) handbook not as a food but as an industrial

product, now covers 72 million acres of American farmland. Much of

this harvest will be used to feed chickens, turkeys, pigs, cows and

salmon. Another large fraction will be squeezed to produce oil for

margarine, shortenings and salad dressings.

Advances in technology make it possible to produce isolated soy

protein from what was once considered a waste product - the

defatted, high-protein soy chips - and then transform something that

looks and smells terrible into products that can be consumed by

human beings. Flavorings, preservatives, sweeteners, emulsifiers and

synthetic nutrients have turned soy protein isolate, the food

processors' ugly duckling, into a New Age Cinderella.

The new fairy-tale food has been marketed not so much for her beauty

but for her virtues. Early on, products based on soy protein isolate

were sold as extenders and meat substitutes - a strategy that failed

to produce the requisite consumer demand. The industry changed its

approach. " The quickest way to gain product acceptability in the

less affluent society, " said an industry spokesman, " is to have the

product consumed on its own merit in a more affluent society. " 3 So

soy is now sold to the upscale consumer, not as a cheap, poverty

food but as a miracle substance that will prevent heart disease and

cancer, whisk away hot flushes, build strong bones and keep us

forever young. The competition - meat, milk, cheese, butter and

eggs - has been duly demonised by the appropriate government bodies.

Soy serves as meat and milk for a new generation of virtuous

vegetarians.

 

Marketing costs money, especially when it needs to be bolstered

with " research " , but there's plenty of funds available. All soybean

producers pay a mandatory assessment of one-half to one per cent of

the net market price of soybeans. The total - something like US$80

million annually4 - supports United Soybean's program to " strengthen

the position of soybeans in the marketplace and maintain and expand

domestic and foreign markets for uses for soybeans and soybean

products " . State soybean councils from Maryland, Nebraska, Delaware,

Arkansas, Virginia, North Dakota and Michigan provide another $2.5

million for " research " .5 Private companies like Archer Daniels

Midland also contribute their share. ADM spent $4.7 million for

advertising on Meet the Press and $4.3 million on Face the Nation

during the course of a year.6 Public relations firms help convert

research projects into newspaper articles and advertising copy, and

law firms lobby for favorable government regulations. IMF money

funds soy processing plants in foreign countries, and free trade

policies keep soybean abundance flowing to overseas destinations.

The push for more soy has been relentless and global in its reach.

Soy protein is now found in most supermarket breads. It is being

used to transform " the humble tortilla, Mexico's corn-based staple

food, into a protein-fortified 'super-tortilla' that would give a

nutritional boost to the nearly 20 million Mexicans who live in

extreme poverty " .7 Advertising for a new soy-enriched loaf from

Allied Bakeries in Britain targets menopausal women seeking relief

from hot flushes. Sales are running at a quarter of a million loaves

per week.8

The soy industry hired Norman Robert Associates, a public relations

firm, to " get more soy products onto school menus " .9 The USDA

responded with a proposal to scrap the 30 per cent limit for soy in

school lunches. The NuMenu program would allow unlimited use of soy

in student meals. With soy added to hamburgers, tacos and lasagna,

dieticians can get the total fat content below 30 per cent of

calories, thereby conforming to government dictates. " With the soy-

enhanced food items, students are receiving better servings of

nutrients and less cholesterol and fat. "

Soy milk has posted the biggest gains, soaring from $2 million in

1980 to $300 million in the US last year.10 Recent advances in

processing have transformed the gray, thin, bitter, beany-tasting

Asian beverage into a product that Western consumers will accept -

one that tastes like a milkshake, but without the guilt.

Processing miracles, good packaging, massive advertising and a

marketing strategy that stresses the products' possible health

benefits account for increasing sales to all age groups. For

example, reports that soy helps prevent prostate cancer have made

soy milk acceptable to middle-aged men. " You don't have to twist the

arm of a 55- to 60-year-old guy to get him to try soy milk, " says

Mark Messina. Michael Milken, former junk bond financier, has helped

the industry shed its hippie image with well-publicized efforts to

consume 40 grams of soy protein daily.

America today, tomorrow the world. Soy milk sales are rising in

Canada, even though soy milk there costs twice as much as cow's

milk. Soybean milk processing plants are sprouting up in places like

Kenya.11 Even China, where soy really is a poverty food and whose

people want more meat, not tofu, has opted to build Western-style

soy factories rather than develop western grasslands for grazing

animals.12

Cinderella's Dark Side

The propaganda that has created the soy sales miracle is all the

more remarkable because, only a few decades ago, the soybean was

considered unfit to eat - even in Asia. During the Chou Dynasty

(1134-246 BC) the soybean was designated one of the five sacred

grains, along with barley, wheat, millet and rice. However, the

pictograph for the soybean, which dates from earlier times,

indicates that it was not first used as a food; for whereas the

pictographs for the other four grains show the seed and stem

structure of the plant, the pictograph for the soybean emphasizes

the root structure. Agricultural literature of the period speaks

frequently of the soybean and its use in crop rotation. Apparently

the soy plant was initially used as a method of fixing nitrogen.13

The soybean did not serve as a food until the discovery of

fermentation techniques, some time during the Chou Dynasty. The

first soy foods were fermented products like tempeh, natto, miso and

soy sauce. At a later date, possibly in the 2nd century BC, Chinese

scientists discovered that a purée of cooked soybeans could be

precipitated with calcium sulfate or magnesium sulfate (plaster of

Paris or Epsom salts) to make a smooth, pale curd - tofu or bean

curd. The use of fermented and precipitated soy products soon spread

to other parts of the Orient, notably Japan and Indonesia.

The Chinese did not eat unfermented soybeans as they did other

legumes such as lentils because the soybean contains large

quantities of natural toxins or " antinutrients " . First among them

are potent enzyme inhibitors that block the action of trypsin and

other enzymes needed for protein digestion. These inhibitors are

large, tightly folded proteins that are not completely deactivated

during ordinary cooking. They can produce serious gastric distress,

reduced protein digestion and chronic deficiencies in amino acid

uptake. In test animals, diets high in trypsin inhibitors cause

enlargement and pathological conditions of the pancreas, including

cancer.14

Soybeans also contain haemagglutinin, a clot-promoting substance

that causes red blood cells to clump together.

Trypsin inhibitors and haemagglutinin are growth inhibitors.

Weanling rats fed soy containing these antinutrients fail to grow

normally. Growth-depressant compounds are deactivated during the

process of fermentation, so once the Chinese discovered how to

ferment the soybean, they began to incorporate soy foods into their

diets. In precipitated products, enzyme inhibitors concentrate in

the soaking liquid rather than in the curd. Thus, in tofu and bean

curd, growth depressants are reduced in quantity but not completely

eliminated.

Soy also contains goitrogens - substances that depress thyroid

function.

Soybeans are high in phytic acid, present in the bran or hulls of

all seeds. It's a substance that can block the uptake of essential

minerals - calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc - in

the intestinal tract. Although not a household word, phytic acid has

been extensively studied; there are literally hundreds of articles

on the effects of phytic acid in the current scientific literature.

Scientists are in general agreement that grain- and legume-based

diets high in phytates contribute to widespread mineral deficiencies

in third world countries.15 Analysis shows that calcium, magnesium,

iron and zinc are present in the plant foods eaten in these areas,

but the high phytate content of soy- and grain-based diets prevents

their absorption.

The soybean has one of the highest phytate levels of any grain or

legume that has been studied,16 and the phytates in soy are highly

resistant to normal phytate-reducing techniques such as long, slow

cooking.17 Only a long period of fermentation will significantly

reduce the phytate content of soybeans. When precipitated soy

products like tofu are consumed with meat, the mineral-blocking

effects of the phytates are reduced.18 The Japanese traditionally

eat a small amount of tofu or miso as part of a mineral-rich fish

broth, followed by a serving of meat or fish.

Vegetarians who consume tofu and bean curd as a substitute for meat

and dairy products risk severe mineral deficiencies. The results of

calcium, magnesium and iron deficiency are well known; those of zinc

are less so.

Zinc is called the intelligence mineral because it is needed for

optimal development and functioning of the brain and nervous system.

It plays a role in protein synthesis and collagen formation; it is

involved in the blood-sugar control mechanism and thus protects

against diabetes; it is needed for a healthy reproductive system.

Zinc is a key component in numerous vital enzymes and plays a role

in the immune system. Phytates found in soy products interfere with

zinc absorption more completely than with other minerals.19 Zinc

deficiency can cause a " spacey " feeling that some vegetarians may

mistake for the " high " of spiritual enlightenment.

Milk drinking is given as the reason why second-generation Japanese

in America grow taller than their native ancestors. Some

investigators postulate that the reduced phytate content of the

American diet - whatever may be its other deficiencies - is the true

explanation, pointing out that both Asian and Western children who

do not get enough meat and fish products to counteract the effects

of a high phytate diet, frequently suffer rickets, stunting and

other growth problems.20

Soy Protein Isolate: Not So Friendly

Soy processors have worked hard to get these antinutrients out of

the finished product, particularly soy protein isolate (SPI) which

is the key ingredient in most soy foods that imitate meat and dairy

products, including baby formulas and some brands of soy milk.

SPI is not something you can make in your own kitchen. Production

takes place in industrial factories where a slurry of soy beans is

first mixed with an alkaline solution to remove fiber, then

precipitated and separated using an acid wash and, finally,

neutralized in an alkaline solution. Acid washing in aluminum tanks

leaches high levels of aluminum into the final product. The

resultant curds are spray- dried at high temperatures to produce a

high-protein powder. A final indignity to the original soybean is

high-temperature, high-pressure extrusion processing of soy protein

isolate to produce textured vegetable protein (TVP).

Much of the trypsin inhibitor content can be removed through high-

temperature processing, but not all. Trypsin inhibitor content of

soy protein isolate can vary as much as fivefold.21 (In rats, even

low-level trypsin inhibitor SPI feeding results in reduced weight

gain compared to controls.22) But high-temperature processing has

the unfortunate side-effect of so denaturing the other proteins in

soy that they are rendered largely ineffective.23 That's why animals

on soy feed need lysine supplements for normal growth.

Nitrites, which are potent carcinogens, are formed during spray-

drying, and a toxin called lysinoalanine is formed during alkaline

processing.24 Numerous artificial flavorings, particularly MSG, are

added to soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein products

to mask their strong " beany " taste and to impart the flavor of

meat.25

In feeding experiments, the use of SPI increased requirements for

vitamins E, K, D and B12 and created deficiency symptoms of calcium,

magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, copper, iron and zinc.26 Phytic

acid remaining in these soy products greatly inhibits zinc and iron

absorption; test animals fed SPI develop enlarged organs,

particularly the pancreas and thyroid gland, and increased

deposition of fatty acids in the liver.27

Yet soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein are used

extensively in school lunch programs, commercial baked goods, diet

beverages and fast food products. They are heavily promoted in third

world countries and form the basis of many food giveaway programs.

In spite of poor results in animal feeding trials, the soy industry

has sponsored a number of studies designed to show that soy protein

products can be used in human diets as a replacement for traditional

foods. An example is " Nutritional Quality of Soy Bean Protein

Isolates: Studies in Children of Preschool Age " , sponsored by the

Ralston Purina Company.28 A group of Central American children

suffering from malnutrition was first stabilized and brought into

better health by feeding them native foods, including meat and dairy

products. Then, for a two-week period, these traditional foods were

replaced by a drink made of soy protein isolate and sugar. All

nitrogen taken in and all nitrogen excreted was measured in truly

Orwellian fashion: the children were weighed naked every morning,

and all excrement and vomit gathered up for analysis. The

researchers found that the children retained nitrogen and that their

growth was " adequate " , so the experiment was declared a success.

Whether the children were actually healthy on such a diet, or could

remain so over a long period, is another matter. The researchers

noted that the children vomited " occasionally " , usually after

finishing a meal; that over half suffered from periods of moderate

diarrhea; that some had upper respiratory infections; and that

others suffered from rash and fever.

It should be noted that the researchers did not dare to use soy

products to help the children recover from malnutrition, and were

obliged to supplement the soy-sugar mixture with nutrients largely

absent in soy products - notably, vitamins A, D and B12, iron,

iodine and zinc.

FDA Health Claim Challenged

The best marketing strategy for a product that is inherently

unhealthy is, of course, a health claim.

" The road to FDA approval, " writes a soy apologist, " was long and

demanding, consisting of a detailed review of human clinical data

collected from more than 40 scientific studies conducted over the

last 20 years. Soy protein was found to be one of the rare foods

that had sufficient scientific evidence not only to qualify for an

FDA health claim proposal but to ultimately pass the rigorous

approval process. " 29

The " long and demanding " road to FDA approval actually took a few

unexpected turns. The original petition, submitted by Protein

Technology International, requested a health claim for isoflavones,

the estrogen-like compounds found plentifully in soybeans, based on

assertions that " only soy protein that has been processed in a

manner in which isoflavones are retained will result in cholesterol

lowering " . In 1998, the FDA made the unprecedented move of rewriting

PTI's petition, removing any reference to the phyto-estrogens and

substituting a claim for soy protein - a move that was in direct

contradiction to the agency's regulations. The FDA is authorized to

make rulings only on substances presented by petition.

The abrupt change in direction was no doubt due to the fact that a

number of researchers, including scientists employed by the US

Government, submitted documents indicating that isoflavones are

toxic.

The FDA had also received, early in 1998, the final British

Government report on phytoestrogens, which failed to find much

evidence of benefit and warned against potential adverse effects.30

Even with the change to soy protein isolate, FDA bureaucrats engaged

in the " rigorous approval process " were forced to deal nimbly with

concerns about mineral blocking effects, enzyme inhibitors,

goitrogenicity, endocrine disruption, reproductive problems and

increased allergic reactions from consumption of soy products.31

One of the strongest letters of protest came from Dr Dan Sheehan and

Dr Daniel Doerge, government researchers at the National Center for

Toxicological Research.32 Their pleas for warning labels were

dismissed as unwarranted.

" Sufficient scientific evidence " of soy's cholesterol-lowering

properties is drawn largely from a 1995 meta-analysis by Dr James

Anderson, sponsored by Protein Technologies International and

published in the New England Journal of Medicine.33

A meta-analysis is a review and summary of the results of many

clinical studies on the same subject. Use of meta-analyses to draw

general conclusions has come under sharp criticism by members of the

scientific community. " Researchers substituting meta-analysis for

more rigorous trials risk making faulty assumptions and indulging in

creative accounting, " says Sir John Scott, President of the Royal

Society of New Zealand. " Like is not being lumped with like. Little

lumps and big lumps of data are being gathered together by various

groups. " 34

There is the added temptation for researchers, particularly

researchers funded by a company like Protein Technologies

International, to leave out studies that would prevent the desired

conclusions. Dr Anderson discarded eight studies for various

reasons, leaving a remainder of twenty-nine. The published report

suggested that individuals with cholesterol levels over 250 mg/dl

would experience a " significant " reduction of 7 to 20 per cent in

levels of serum cholesterol if they substituted soy protein for

animal protein. Cholesterol reduction was insignificant for

individuals whose cholesterol was lower than 250 mg/dl.

In other words, for most of us, giving up steak and eating

vegieburgers instead will not bring down blood cholesterol levels.

The health claim that the FDA approved " after detailed review of

human clinical data " fails to inform the consumer about these

important details.

Research that ties soy to positive effects on cholesterol levels

is " incredibly immature " , said Ronald M. Krauss, MD, head of the

Molecular Medical Research Program and Lawrence Berkeley National

Laboratory.35 He might have added that studies in which cholesterol

levels were lowered through either diet or drugs have consistently

resulted in a greater number of deaths in the treatment groups than

in controls - deaths from stroke, cancer, intestinal disorders,

accident and suicide.36 Cholesterol-lowering measures in the US have

fuelled a $60 billion per year cholesterol-lowering industry, but

have not saved us from the ravages of heart disease.

Soy And Cancer

The new FDA ruling does not allow any claims about cancer prevention

on food packages, but that has not restrained the industry and its

marketers from making them in their promotional literature.

" In addition to protecting the heart, " says a vitamin company

brochure, " soy has demonstrated powerful anticancer benefits...the

Japanese, who eat 30 times as much soy as North Americans, have a

lower incidence of cancers of the breast, uterus and prostate. " 37

Indeed they do. But the Japanese, and Asians in general, have much

higher rates of other types of cancer, particularly cancer of the

esophagus, stomach, pancreas and liver.38 Asians throughout the

world also have high rates of thyroid cancer.39 The logic that links

low rates of reproductive cancers to soy consumption requires

attribution of high rates of thyroid and digestive cancers to the

same foods, particularly as soy causes these types of cancers in

laboratory rats.

Just how much soy do Asians eat? A 1998 survey found that the

average daily amount of soy protein consumed in Japan was about

eight grams for men and seven for women - less than two teaspoons.40

The famous Cornell China Study, conducted by Colin T. Campbell,

found that legume consumption in China varied from 0 to 58 grams per

day, with a mean of about twelve.41 Assuming that two-thirds of

legume consumption is soy, then the maximum consumption is about 40

grams, or less than three tablespoons per day, with an average

consumption of about nine grams, or less than two teaspoons. A

survey conducted in the 1930s found that soy foods accounted for

only 1.5 per cent of calories in the Chinese diet, compared with 65

per cent of calories from pork.42 (Asians traditionally cooked with

lard, not vegetable oil!)

Traditionally fermented soy products make a delicious, natural

seasoning that may supply important nutritional factors in the Asian

diet. But except in times of famine, Asians consume soy products

only in small amounts, as condiments, and not as a replacement for

animal foods - with one exception. Celibate monks living in

monasteries and leading a vegetarian lifestyle find soy foods quite

helpful because they dampen libido.

It was a 1994 meta-analysis by Mark Messina, published in Nutrition

and Cancer, that fuelled speculation on soy's anticarcinogenic

properties.43 Messina noted that in 26 animal studies, 65 per cent

reported protective effects from soy. He conveniently neglected to

include at least one study in which soy feeding caused pancreatic

cancer - the 1985 study by Rackis.44 In the human studies he listed,

the results were mixed. A few showed some protective effect, but

most showed no correlation at all between soy consumption and cancer

rates. He concluded that " the data in this review cannot be used as

a basis for claiming that soy intake decreases cancer risk " . Yet in

his subsequent book, The Simple Soybean and Your Health, Messina

makes just such a claim, recommending one cup or 230 grams of soy

products per day in his " optimal " diet as a way to prevent cancer.

Thousands of women are now consuming soy in the belief that it

protects them against breast cancer. Yet, in 1996, researchers found

that women consuming soy protein isolate had an increased incidence

of epithelial hyperplasia, a condition that presages malignancies.45

A year later, dietary genistein was found to stimulate breast cells

to enter the cell cycle - a discovery that led the study authors to

conclude that women should not consume soy products to prevent

breast cancer.46

Phytoestrogens: Panacea Or Poison?

The male species of tropical birds carries the drab plumage of the

female at birth and 'colors up' at maturity, somewhere between nine

and 24 months.

In 1991, Richard and Valerie James, bird breeders in Whangerai, New

Zealand, purchased a new kind of feed for their birds - one based

largely on soy protein.47 When soy-based feed was used, their

birds 'colored up' after just a few months. In fact, one bird-food

manufacturer claimed that this early development was an advantage

imparted by the feed. A 1992 ad for Roudybush feed formula showed a

picture of the male crimson rosella, an Australian parrot that

acquires beautiful red plumage at 18 to 24 months, already brightly

colored at 11 weeks old.

Unfortunately, in the ensuing years, there was decreased fertility

in the birds, with precocious maturation, deformed, stunted and

stillborn babies, and premature deaths, especially among females,

with the result that the total population in the aviaries went into

steady decline. The birds suffered beak and bone deformities,

goiter, immune system disorders and pathological, aggressive

behavior. Autopsy revealed digestive organs in a state of

disintegration. The list of problems corresponded with many of the

problems the Jameses had encountered in their two children, who had

been fed soy-based infant formula.

Startled, aghast, angry, the Jameses hired toxicologist Mike

Fitzpatrick. PhD, to investigate further. Dr Fitzpatrick's

literature review uncovered evidence that soy consumption has been

linked to numerous disorders, including infertility, increased

cancer and infantile leukemia; and, in studies dating back to the

1950s,48 that genistein in soy causes endocrine disruption in

animals. Dr Fitzpatrick also analyzed the bird feed and found that

it contained high levels of phytoestrogens, especially genistein.

When the Jameses discontinued using soy-based feed, the flock

gradually returned to normal breeding habits and behavior.

The Jameses embarked on a private crusade to warn the public and

government officials about toxins in soy foods, particularly the

endocrine-disrupting isoflavones, genistein and diadzen. Protein

Technology International received their material in 1994.

In 1991, Japanese researchers reported that consumption of as little

as 30 grams or two tablespoons of soybeans per day for only one

month resulted in a significant increase in thyroid-stimulating

hormone.49 Diffuse goiter and hypothyroidism appeared in some of the

subjects and many complained of constipation, fatigue and lethargy,

even though their intake of iodine was adequate. In 1997,

researchers from the FDA's National Center for Toxicological

Research made the embarrassing discovery that the goitrogenic

components of soy were the very same isoflavones.50

Twenty-five grams of soy protein isolate, the minimum amount PTI

claimed to have cholesterol-lowering effects, contains from 50 to 70

mg of isoflavones. It took only 45 mg of isoflavones in

premenopausal women to exert significant biological effects,

including a reduction in hormones needed for adequate thyroid

function. These effects lingered for three months after soy

consumption was discontinued.51

One hundred grams of soy protein - the maximum suggested cholesterol-

lowering dose, and the amount recommended by Protein Technologies

International - can contain almost 600 mg of isoflavones,52 an

amount that is undeniably toxic. In 1992, the Swiss health service

estimated that 100 grams of soy protein provided the estrogenic

equivalent of the Pill.53

In vitro studies suggest that isoflavones inhibit synthesis of

estradiol and other steroid hormones.54 Reproductive problems,

infertility, thyroid disease and liver disease due to dietary intake

of isoflavones have been observed for several species of animals

including mice, cheetah, quail, pigs, rats, sturgeon and sheep.55

It is the isoflavones in soy that are said to have a favorable

effect on postmenopausal symptoms, including hot flushes, and

protection from osteoporosis. Quantification of discomfort from hot

flushes is extremely subjective, and most studies show that control

subjects report reduction in discomfort in amounts equal to subjects

given soy.56 The claim that soy prevents osteoporosis is

extraordinary, given that soy foods block calcium and cause vitamin

D deficiencies. If Asians indeed have lower rates of osteoporosis

than Westerners, it is because their diet provides plenty of vitamin

D from shrimp, lard and seafood, and plenty of calcium from bone

broths. The reason that Westerners have such high rates of

osteoporosis is because they have substituted soy oil for butter,

which is a traditional source of vitamin D and other fat-soluble

activators needed for calcium absorption.

Birth Control Pills For Babies

But it was the isoflavones in infant formula that gave the Jameses

the most cause for concern. In 1998, investigators reported that the

daily exposure of infants to isoflavones in soy infant formula is 6

to11 times higher on a body-weight basis than the dose that has

hormonal effects in adults consuming soy foods. Circulating

concentrations of isoflavones in infants fed soy-based formula were

13,000 to 22,000 times higher than plasma estradiol concentrations

in infants on cow's milk formula.57

Approximately 25 per cent of bottle-fed children in the US receive

soy-based formula - a much higher percentage than in other parts of

the Western world. Fitzpatrick estimated that an infant exclusively

fed soy formula receives the estrogenic equivalent (based on body

weight) of at least five birth control pills per day.58 By contrast,

almost no phytoestrogens have been detected in dairy-based infant

formula or in human milk, even when the mother consumes soy

products.

Scientists have known for years that soy-based formula can cause

thyroid problems in babies. But what are the effects of soy products

on the hormonal development of the infant, both male and female?

Male infants undergo a " testosterone surge " during the first few

months of life, when testosterone levels may be as high as those of

an adult male. During this period, the infant is programmed to

express male characteristics after puberty, not only in the

development of his sexual organs and other masculine physical

traits, but also in setting patterns in the brain characteristic of

male behavior. In monkeys, deficiency of male hormones impairs the

development of spatial perception (which, in humans, is normally

more acute in men than in women), of learning ability and of visual

discrimination tasks (such as would be required for reading).59 It

goes without saying that future patterns of sexual orientation may

also be influenced by the early hormonal environment. Male children

exposed during gestation to diethylstilbestrol (DES), a synthetic

estrogen that has effects on animals similar to those of

phytoestrogens from soy, had testes smaller than normal on

manturation.60

Learning disabilities, especially in male children, have reached

epidemic proportions. Soy infant feeding - which began in earnest in

the early 1970s - cannot be ignored as a probable cause for these

tragic developments.

As for girls, an alarming number are entering puberty much earlier

than normal, according to a recent study reported in the journal

Pediatrics.61 Investigators found that one per cent of all girls now

show signs of puberty, such as breast development or pubic hair,

before the age of three; by age eight, 14.7 per cent of white girls

and almost 50 per cent of African-American girls have one or both of

these characteristics.

New data indicate that environmental estrogens such as PCBs and DDE

(a breakdown product of DDT) may cause early sexual development in

girls.62 In the 1986 Puerto Rico Premature Thelarche study, the most

significant dietary association with premature sexual development

was not chicken - as reported in the press - but soy infant

formula.63

The consequences of this truncated childhood are tragic. Young girls

with mature bodies must cope with feelings and urges that most

children are not well-equipped to handle. And early maturation in

girls is frequently a harbinger for problems with the reproductive

system later in life, including failure to menstruate, infertility

and breast cancer.

Parents who have contacted the Jameses recount other problems

associated with children of both sexes who were fed soy-based

formula, including extreme emotional behavior, asthma, immune system

problems, pituitary insufficiency, thyroid disorders and irritable

bowel syndrome - the same endocrine and digestive havoc that

afflicted the Jameses' parrots.

Dissension In The Ranks

Organizers of the Third International Soy Symposium would be hard-

pressed to call the conference an unqualified success. On the second

day of the symposium, the London-based Food Commission and the

Weston A. Price Foundation of Washington, DC, held a joint press

conference, in the same hotel as the symposium, to present concerns

about soy infant formula. Industry representatives sat stony-faced

through the recitation of potential dangers and a plea from

concerned scientists and parents to pull soy-based infant formula

from the market. Under pressure from the Jameses, the New Zealand

Government had issued a health warning about soy infant formula in

1998; it was time for the American government to do the same.

On the last day of the symposium, presentations on new findings

related to toxicity sent a well-oxygenated chill through the giddy

helium hype. Dr Lon White reported on a study of Japanese Americans

living in Hawaii, that showed a significant statistical relationship

between two or more servings of tofu a week and " accelerated brain

aging " .64 Those participants who consumed tofu in mid-life had lower

cognitive function in late life and a greater incidence of

Alzheimer's disease and dementia. " What's more, " said Dr

White, " those who ate a lot of tofu, by the time they were 75 or 80

looked five years older " .65 White and his colleagues blamed the

negative effects on isoflavones - a finding that supports an earlier

study in which postmenopausal women with higher levels of

circulating estrogen experienced greater cognitive decline.66

Scientists Daniel Sheehan and Daniel Doerge, from the National

Center for Toxicological Research, ruined PTI's day by presenting

findings from rat feeding studies, indicating that genistein in soy

foods causes irreversible damage to enzymes that synthesise thyroid

hormones.67 " The association between soybean consumption and goiter

in animals and humans has a long history, " wrote Dr Doerge. " Current

evidence for the beneficial effects of soy requires a full

understanding of potential adverse effects as well. "

Dr Claude Hughes reported that rats born to mothers that were fed

genistein had decreased birth weights compared to controls, and

onset of puberty occurred earlier in male offspring.68 His research

suggested that the effects observed in rats " ...will be at least

somewhat predictive of what occurs in humans. There is no reason to

assume that there will be gross malformations of fetuses but there

may be subtle changes, such as neurobehavioral attributes, immune

function and sex hormone levels. " The results, he said, " could be

nothing or could be something of great concern...if mom is eating

something that can act like sex hormones, it is logical to wonder if

that could change the baby's development " .69

A study of babies born to vegetarian mothers, published in January

2000, indicated just what those changes in baby's development might

be. Mothers who ate a vegetarian diet during pregnancy had a

fivefold greater risk of delivering a boy with hypospadias, a birth

defect of the penis.70 The authors of the study suggested that the

cause was greater exposure to phytoestrogens in soy foods popular

with vegetarians. Problems with female offspring of vegetarian

mothers are more likely to show up later in life. While soy's

estrogenic effect is less than that of diethylstilbestrol (DES), the

dose is likely to be higher because it's consumed as a food, not

taken as a drug. Daughters of women who took DES during pregnancy

suffered from infertility and cancer when they reached their

twenties.

Question Marks Over Gras Status

Lurking in the background of industry hype for soy is the nagging

question of whether it's even legal to add soy protein isolate to

food. All food additives not in common use prior to 1958, including

casein protein from milk, must have GRAS (Generally Recognized As

Safe) status. In 1972, the Nixon administration directed a re-

examination of substances believed to be GRAS, in the light of any

scientific information then available. This re-examination included

casein protein that became codified as GRAS in 1978. In 1974, the

FDA obtained a literature review of soy protein because, as soy

protein had not been used in food until 1959 and was not even in

common use in the early 1970s, it was not eligible to have its GRAS

status grandfathered under the provisions of the Food, Drug and

Cosmetic Act.71

The scientific literature up to 1974 recognized many antinutrients

in factory-made soy protein, including trypsin inhibitors, phytic

acid and genistein. But the FDA literature review dismissed

discussion of adverse impacts, with the statement that it was

important for " adequate processing " to remove them. Genistein could

be removed with an alcohol wash, but it was an expensive procedure

that processors avoided. Later studies determined that trypsin

inhibitor content could be removed only with long periods of heat

and pressure, but the FDA has imposed no requirements for

manufacturers to do so.

The FDA was more concerned with toxins formed during processing,

specifically nitrites and lysinoalanine.72 Even at low levels of

consumption - averaging one-third of a gram per day at the time -

the presence of these carcinogens was considered too great a threat

to public health to allow GRAS status.

Soy protein did have approval for use as a binder in cardboard

boxes, and this approval was allowed to continue, as researchers

considered that migration of nitrites from the box into the food

contents would be too small to constitute a cancer risk. FDA

officials called for safety specifications and monitoring procedures

before granting of GRAS status for food. These were never performed.

To this day, use of soy protein is codified as GRAS only for this

limited industrial use as a cardboard binder. This means that soy

protein must be subject to premarket approval procedures each time

manufacturers intend to use it as a food or add it to a food.

Soy protein was introduced into infant formula in the early 1960s.

It was a new product with no history of any use at all. As soy

protein did not have GRAS status, premarket approval was required.

This was not and still has not been granted. The key ingredient of

soy infant formula is not recognized as safe.

The Next Asbestos?

" Against the backdrop of widespread praise...there is growing

suspicion that soy - despite its undisputed benefits - may pose some

health hazards, " writes Marian Burros, a leading food writer for the

New York Times. More than any other writer, Ms Burros's endorsement

of a low-fat, largely vegetarian diet has herded Americans into

supermarket aisles featuring soy foods. Yet her January 26, 2000

article, " Doubts Cloud Rosy News on Soy " , contains the following

alarming statement: " Not one of the 18 scientists interviewed for

this column was willing to say that taking isoflavones was risk

free. " Ms Burros did not enumerate the risks, nor did she mention

that the recommended 25 daily grams of soy protein contain enough

isoflavones to cause problems in sensitive individuals, but it was

evident that the industry had recognized the need to cover itself.

Because the industry is extremely exposed...contingency lawyers will

soon discover that the number of potential plaintiffs can be counted

in the millions and the pockets are very, very deep. Juries will

hear something like the following: " The industry has known for years

that soy contains many toxins. At first they told the public that

the toxins were removed by processing. When it became apparent that

processing could not get rid of them, they claimed that these

substances were beneficial. Your government granted a health claim

to a substance that is poisonous, and the industry lied to the

public to sell more soy. "

The " industry " includes merchants, manufacturers, scientists,

publicists, bureaucrats, former bond financiers, food writers,

vitamin companies and retail stores. Farmers will probably escape

because they were duped like the rest of us. But they need to find

something else to grow before the soy bubble bursts and the market

collapses: grass-fed livestock, designer vegetables...or hemp to

make paper for thousands and thousands of legal briefs.

Extracted from Nexus Magazine, Volume 7, Number 3 (April-May 2000)

COMMENT: Sally Fallon and Dr. Enig are to be highly commended for

this much needed soy update. Together they have compiled the most

definitive document to date on why one should avoid soy. This is a

MAJOR work and I am hoping to promote it for the national media

attention that it deserves.

ENDNOTES:

1. Program for the Third International Symposium on the Role of Soy

in Preventing and Treating Chronic Disease, Sunday, October 31,

through Wednesday, November 3, 1999, Omni Shoreham Hotel,

Washington, DC.

2. Houghton, Dean, " Healthful Harvest " , The Furrow, January 2000,

pp. 10-13.

3. Coleman, Richard J., " Vegetable Protein - A Delayed Birth? "

Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society 52:238A, April 1975.

4. See www/unitedsoybean.org.

5. These are listed in www.soyonlineservice.co.nz.

6. Wall Street Journal, October 27, 1995.

7. Smith, James F., " Healthier tortillas could lead to healthier

Mexico " , Denver Post, August 22, 1999, p. 26A.

8. " Bakery says new loaf can help reduce hot flushes " , Reuters,

September 15, 1997.

9. " Beefing Up Burgers with Soy Products at School " , Nutrition Week,

Community Nutrition Institute, Washington, DC, June 5, 1998, p. 2.

10. Urquhart, John, " A Health Food Hits Big Time " , Wall Street

Journal, August 3, 1999, p. B1

11. " Soyabean Milk Plant in Kenya " , Africa News Service, September

1998.

12. Simoons, Frederick J., Food in China: A Cultural and Historical

Inquiry, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1991, p. 64.

13. Katz, Solomon H., " Food and Biocultural Evolution: A Model for

the Investigation of Modern Nutritional Problems " , Nutritional

Anthropology, Alan R. Liss Inc., 1987, p. 50.

14. Rackis, Joseph J. et al., " The USDA trypsin inhibitor study. I.

Background, objectives and procedural details " , Qualification of

Plant Foods in Human Nutrition, vol. 35, 1985.

15. Van Rensburg et al., " Nutritional status of African populations

predisposed to esophageal cancer " , Nutrition and Cancer, vol. 4,

1983, pp. 206-216; Moser, P.B. et al., " Copper, iron, zinc and

selenium dietary intake and status of Nepalese lactating women and

their breastfed infants " , American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

47:729-734, April 1988; Harland, B.F. et al., " Nutritional status

and phytate: zinc and phytate X calcium: zinc dietary molar ratios

of lacto-ovovegetarian Trappist monks: 10 years later " , Journal of

the American Dietetic Association 88:1562-1566, December 1988.

16. El Tiney, A.H., " Proximate Composition and Mineral and Phytate

Contents of Legumes Grown in Sudan " , Journal of Food Composition and

Analysis (1989) 2:6778.

17. Ologhobo, A.D. et al., " Distribution of phosphorus and phytate

in some Nigerian varieties of legumes and some effects of

processing " , Journal of Food Science 49(1):199-201, January/February

1984.

18. Sandstrom, B. et al., " Effect of protein level and protein

source on zinc absorption in humans " , Journal of Nutrition 119(1):48-

53, January 1989; Tait, Susan et al., " The availability of minerals

in food, with particular reference to iron " , Journal of Research in

Society and Health 103(2):74-77, April 1983.

19. Phytate reduction of zinc absorption has been demonstrated in

numerous studies. These results are summarised in Leviton, Richard,

Tofu, Tempeh, Miso and Other Soyfoods: The 'Food of the Future' -

How to Enjoy Its Spectacular Health Benefits, Keats Publishing,

Inc., New Canaan, CT, USA, 1982, p. 1415.

20. Mellanby, Edward, " Experimental rickets: The effect of cereals

and their interaction with other factors of diet and environment in

producing rickets " , Journal of the Medical Research Council 93:265,

March 1925; Wills, M.R. et al., " Phytic Acid and Nutritional Rickets

in Immigrants " , The Lancet, April 8,1972, pp. 771-773.

21. Rackis et al., ibid.

22. Rackis et al., ibid., p. 232.

23. Wallace, G.M., " Studies on the Processing and Properties of

Soymilk " , Journal of Science and Food Agriculture 22:526-535,

October 1971.

24. Rackis, et al., ibid., p. 22; " Evaluation of the Health Aspects

of Soy Protein Isolates as Food Ingredients " , prepared for FDA by

Life Sciences Research Office, Federation of American Societies for

Experimental Biology (9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20014), USA,

Contract No. FDA 223-75-2004, 1979.

25. See www/truthinlabeling.org.

26. Rackis, Joseph, J., " Biological and Physiological Factors in

Soybeans " , Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society 51:161A-

170A, January 1974.

27. Rackis, Joseph J. et al., " The USDA trypsin inhibitor study " ,

ibid.

28. Torum, Benjamin, " Nutritional Quality of Soybean Protein

Isolates: Studies in Children of Preschool Age " , in Soy Protein and

Human Nutrition, Harold L Wilcke et al. (eds), Academic Press, New

York, 1979.

29. Zreik, Marwin, CCN, " The Great Soy Protein Awakening " , Total

Health 32(1), February 2000.

30. IEH Assessment on Phytoestrogens in the Human Diet, Final Report

to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, UK, November

1997, p. 11.

31. Food Labeling: Health Claims: Soy Protein and Coronary Heart

Disease, Food and Drug Administration 21 CFR, Part 101 (Docket No.

98P-0683).

32. Sheegan, Daniel M. and Daniel R Doerge, Letter to Dockets

Management Branch (HFA-305), February 18, 1999.

33. Anderson, James W. et al., " Meta-analysis of the Effects of Soy

Protein Intake on Serum Lipids " , New England Journal of Medicine

(1995) 333:(5):276-282.

34. Guy, Camille, " Doctors warned against magic, quackery " , New

Zealand Herald, September 9, 1995, section 8, p. 5.

35. Sander, Kate and Hilary Wilson, " FDA approves new health claim

for soy, but litte fallout expected for dairy " , Cheese Market News,

October 22, 1999, p. 24.

36. Enig, Mary G. and Sally Fallon, " The Oiling of America " , NEXUS

Magazine, December 1998-January 1999 and February-March 1999; also

available at www.WestonAPrice.org.

37. Natural Medicine News (L & H Vitamins, 32-33 47th Avenue, Long

Island City, NY 11101), USA, January/February 2000, p. 8.

38. Harras, Angela (ed.), Cancer Rates and Risks, National

Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, 1996, 4th edition.

39. Searle, Charles E. (ed.), Chemical Carcinogens, ACS Monograph

173, American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 1976.

40. Nagata, C. et al., Journal of Nutrition (1998) 128:209-213.

41. Campbell, Colin T. et al., The Cornell Project in China.

42. Chang, K.C. (ed.), Food in Chinese Culture: Anthropological and

Historical Perspectives, New Haven, 1977.

43. Messina, Mark J. et al., " Soy Intake and Cancer Risk: A Review

of the In Vitro and In Vivo Data " , Nutrition and Cancer (1994) 21

(2):113-131.

44. Rackis et al, " The USDA trypsin inhibitor study " , ibid.

45. Petrakis, N.L. et al., " Stimulatory influence of soy protein

isolate on breast secretion in pre- and post-menopausal women " ,

Cancer Epid. Bio. Prev. (1996) 5:785-794.

46. Dees, C. et al., " Dietary estrogens stimulate human breast cells

to enter the cell cycle " , Environmental Health Perspectives (1997)

105(Suppl. 3):633-636.

47. Woodhams, D.J., " Phytoestrogens and parrots: The anatomy of an

investigation " , Proceedings of the Nutrition Society of New Zealand

(1995) 20:22-30.

48. Matrone, G. et al., " Effect of Genistin on Growth and

Development of the Male Mouse " , Journal of Nutrition (1956) 235-240.

49. Ishizuki, Y. et al., " The effects on the thyroid gland of

soybeans administered experimentally in healthy subjects " , Nippon

Naibunpi Gakkai Zasshi (1991) 767:622-629.

50. Divi, R.L. et al., " Anti-thyroid isoflavones from the soybean " ,

Biochemical Pharmacology (1997) 54:1087-1096.

51. Cassidy, A. et al., " Biological Effects of a Diet of Soy Protein

Rich in Isoflavones on the Menstrual Cycle of Premenopausal Women " ,

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1994) 60:333-340.

52. Murphy, P.A., " Phytoestrogen Content of Processed Soybean

Foods " , Food Technology, January 1982, pp. 60-64.

53. Bulletin de L'Office Fédéral de la Santé Publique, no. 28, July

20, 1992.

54. Keung, W.M., " Dietary oestrogenic isoflavones are potent

inhibitors of B-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase of P. testosteronii " ,

Biochemical and Biophysical Research Committee (1995) 215:1137-1144;

Makela, S.I. et al., " Estrogen-specific 12 B-hydroxysteroid

oxidoreductase type 1 (E.C. 1.1.1.62) as a possible target for the

action of phytoestrogens " , PSEBM (1995) 208:51-59.

55. Setchell, K.D.R. et al., " Dietary oestrogens - a probable cause

of infertility and liver disease in captive cheetahs " ,

Gastroenterology (1987) 93:225-233; Leopald, A.S., " Phytoestrogens:

Adverse effects on reproduction in California Quail, " Science (1976)

191:98-100; Drane, H.M. et al., " Oestrogenic activity of soya-bean

products " , Food, Cosmetics and Technology (1980) 18:425-427; Kimura,

S. et al., " Development of malignant goiter by defatted soybean with

iodine-free diet in rats " , Gann. (1976) 67:763-765; Pelissero, C. et

al., " Oestrogenic effect of dietary soybean meal on vitellogenesis

in cultured Siberian Sturgeon Acipenser baeri " , Gen. Comp. End.

(1991) 83:447-457; Braden et al., " The oestrogenic activity and

metabolism of certain isoflavones in sheep " , Australian J.

Agricultural Research (1967) 18:335-348.

56. Ginsburg, Jean and Giordana M. Prelevic, " Is there a proven

place for phytoestrogens in the menopause? " , Climacteric (1999) 2:75-

78.

57. Setchell, K.D. et al., " Isoflavone content of infant formulas

and the metabolic fate of these early phytoestrogens in early life " ,

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, December 1998 Supplement,

1453S-1461S.

58. Irvine, C. et al., " The Potential Adverse Effects of Soybean

Phytoestrogens in Infant Feeding " , New Zealand Medical Journal May

24, 1995, p. 318.

59. Hagger, C. and J. Bachevalier, " Visual habit formation in 3-

month-old monkeys (Macaca mulatta): reversal of sex difference

following neonatal manipulations of androgen " , Behavior and Brain

Research (1991) 45:57-63.

60. Ross, R.K. et al., " Effect of in-utero exposure to

diethylstilbestrol on age at onset of puberty and on post-pubertal

hormone levels in boys " , Canadian Medical Association Journal 128

(10):1197-8, May 15, 1983.

61. Herman-Giddens, Marcia E. et al., " Secondary Sexual

Characteristics and Menses in Young Girls Seen in Office Practice: A

Study from the Pediatric Research in Office Settings Network " ,

Pediatrics 99(4):505-512, April 1997.

62. Rachel's Environment & Health Weekly 263, " The Wingspread

Statement " , Part 1, December 11, 1991; Colborn, Theo, Dianne

Dumanoski and John Peterson Myers, Our Stolen Future, Little, Brown

& Company, London, 1996.

63. Freni-Titulaer, L.W., " Premature Thelarch in Puerto Rico: A

search for environmental factors " , American Journal of Diseases of

Children

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