Soy Breast Cancer

[Guest guest]

Here, here, Celia, you said it all and quite eloquently I might add!

;o) Roxanne NE Philly PA

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

I honestly have trouble believing that as all my Asian e-mail pals (Malaysia,

Japan, China, Thailand, Indonesia) profess to eat it on a regular basis. Many

of them are poor and find fried tofu from street vendors to be a cheap and

filling protein to get them through the day. The one e-mail pal from Jakarta

reports that it only costs her the equivalent of $ .25 in American currency,

which helps since she has so little income.

 

But let's start with the facts: Asian women have a very low breast cancer rate

and it's assumed to be linked to diet and lifestyle. (Let's just leave soy out

of it for the moment.) When Asian women come to the States and adopt a western

lifestyle--complete with fatty-fast food and Sara Lee--their breast cancer rates

begin to rival that of western women. Let's just assume for a moment that it's

the fish or the rice or a combination of things or whatever...anything but soy

keeping them healthy when they are in their native environment. Some doctors

feels that soy may be causing breast cancer, but how do you explain that Asian

breast cancer rates soar like ours when they are living here with us, sharing

our crappy diet and NOT eating soy??? Clearly that has nothing to do with soy

" causing " breast cancer. We here in the west have a lousy diet and lifestyle

and any combination of factors could be causing that.

 

I will agree that soy should be ingested in it's most unaltered state to reap

the benefits (in other words, eat edamame, not pop a soy pill!), but let's now

put soy back into the equation for a moment. Many Eastern monks are vegetarian

(and some Christian Orthodox and other monasteries to that lifestyle

also), and they use soy beans, tofu, soy milk, tempeh and seitan as their daily

protein...and it's used in abundance. They also live long and healthy lives,

which may or may not be as a result of eating soy as we cannot discount the rest

of their healthy lifestyle. That said, they are clearly not dropping like flies

from cancer caused by soy, LOL!

 

I think both the 'virtues' and the 'sins' of soy have been grossly

overstated...but that's just my humble opinion. <smiles>

 

--Celia--