Is soya bad for your health?

[Korn]

Okay, so moving on slightly, how often do you guys eat tofu / soya a week? And do you use soya milk every day?

Glen

Hi Glen, and welcome! There are many vegans who never use soya milk or use any other soy products. You don't need to eat soya even if you drop animal products!

[Cryospark]

hehe the guy must of found his docotorette in a rice crispy box, propoganda he speaks of haha, the jackass gives himself near nil counter points. Every food he spoke of as sacred grains have very large benefits, possibly why they were sacred, the only interest in the article is that it says soy reduces thyroid function, i suffer from hyperthyroidism, this does nothing but encourage me to have more soy. He only managed to talk about american soy I believe modified to all hell and messed up completely useless, heh doctors....
poor idiot, cancers may be caused by soy..........
soy contains phytoestrogens i think that's how its spelled, these disallow cancer from attatching itself to your cells, cause cancer indeed......

people are scared by the term phytoestrogens because it sounds like hormones that shouldnt be messed with sadly these ppl are uneducated

[bjorn again veg]

Hi all,

I am a little worried about the phytoestrogens in soy after following some of the links & reading about soy on this site: http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/Phytos.htm
& other sites.

Now I am sure the meat industry would happily lie through their teeth to us. I wonder if the soy industry would be any different - it seems money not health is the main concern for nearly all business in our times.

I was particularly intrigued by some of the comments from people swapping to soy & the health problems associated with this.

Anyway, any comments or advise on this topic would be welcomed...

[FR]

You can find quite a few posts here dealing with that. Plant estrogens are different than human estrogen. They do not make men feminine.

[eve]

This has been discussed fully, and just remember that people in the far east have been enjoying soy since well before the US and Australia were 'discovered'! :)

[abrennan]

I think that that there are people who are allergic to soy products


I think that some soy products that contain soya isolate are to avoided or at least reduced.

latest research shows that too much protein is a significant health problem


and lastly thatweb site which I have come accross before is not to be used as an information source as it is clearly biased. There seems to be not one balanced view point on it. It is, I would suspect, paid for by the dairy industry or someone with an axe to grind. One tell tail sign is that it seems to have no owner or contact details, it is designed to scare.

We do not need to replace meat or dairy they are both additions that are not required. Soy should be consumed in a balanced way. If your not allergic andif you are not consuming products that have been chemically altered (like isolates) then I think its a useful component of a balanced diet.

If you are concerned you should look into it further

As FR says you'll find some posts here dealing with the issue

here's a good place to start:

http://veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1382


Antony beansprout:)

[englishvegoboi]

I have just come across this article on the BBC world service that advocates the benefits of soy in terms of reducing cancer: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4285910.stm

No doubt in a few weeks time a new study will emerge that portrays soy consumption as damaging to your health. The problem with modern science is that it only examines health related issues on an issue-by-issue basis without examining the nutritional impact of soy from a more holistic perspective. The myriad of studies that both advocate and rebuff soy must be very confusing to a lot of people.

So the jury is still out with regard to the health implications of consuming unfermented soy. To be on the safe side I have reduced my tofu intake to once a week and soymilk on cereal twice a week (oat milk the rest of the time). I do however have miso soup regularly and tempeh at least twice a week as I am convinced that these are extremely healthy sources of soy protein.

I also strongly recommend that you purchase a soymilk that is free of vegetable oil such as bonsoi (www.spiralfoods.com). It is pricier but if you drink less soymilk it is works out to be affordable. It goes without saying that we should use organically sourced soy as many soy plants are heavily sprayed or GM (or both).

My biggest concern is that the soy controversy is putting people off becoming vegan. As you all know, there are so many fine sources of protein available to us. It just means that we should encourage people to challenge their conditioning and embrace foods such as quinoa, and nut butters etc as well as the more commonly known sources such as pulses and beans. In terms of mock meat, I find that seitan is by far the healthiest and tastiest way to go.

That’s my rant over!

[abrennan]

What Bonsoy...

http://spiralfoods.com.au/images/bonsoy.jpg

MMMMMmmmmmm my favourite
I want some now

[eve]

antony, you say that you think some soy products containing soya isolate are to avoided or at least reduced.

I agree wholeheartedly - there are too many soymilks out there, such as 'So Good' by Sanitarium, plus all their faux meats and bacons etc, that are made using soy isolates. There's no way in the world that I'd consume any of that stuff. The soymilk I use is made from organically grown Australian whole soybeans, and I can do without the faux stuff. I do take some tofu but only that made with organic soybeans etc, same applies to tempeh. There is no avoiding the fact that we must check ingredients listings on whatever we buy.

[abrennan]

antony, you say that you think some soy products containing soya isolate are to avoided or at least reduced.

I agree wholeheartedly - there are too many soymilks out there, such as 'So Good' by Sanitarium, plus all their faux meats and bacons etc, that are made using soy isolates. There's no way in the world that I'd consume any of that stuff. The soymilk I use is made from organically grown Australian whole soybeans, and I can do without the faux stuff. I do take some tofu but only that made with organic soybeans etc, same applies to tempeh. There is no avoiding the fact that we must check ingredients listings on whatever we buy.

Hi Eve

there have been a few reports lately about Faux meat (I call them meat analogs) sometimes being labled as containing no animal products, but because they come from countries where there is no real requirement of disclosure of this kind of thing they can contain who the bleep knows what.

I read recently that the chinese govt are cracking down on this as they fear it will affect exports.

Ant:eek:ny

[eve]

yes I read that too, but it still pays to read the ingredients listing because even if it says there are no animal products, soy items have to reveal if made from soy beans or soy isolate. Nevertheless, like any other food, moderation is the watchword.

[peaches22]

Please excuse my ignorance, but are soy and soya the same thing?

[gertvegan]

Please excuse my ignorance, but are soy and soya the same thing?See here (http://veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4452) p. ;)

[eclectic_one]

I don't agree with everything in this site (they argue for some meat and dairy), but they list soybeans/tofu/tempeh as some of the healthiest stuff around! Take a look if ya want:

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=79
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=111
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=126

[peaches22]

Thanks, gertvegan.

[abrennan]

what reports have you heard about soy milk

there are couple of naught web sites that are advertising that it's bad for you (probably sponsored by the dairy industry) I know that the latest studies (the china study being one) has found that too much protein is bad for you. Sota Isolate, which many soy products are made of isn't very good for you. But having been through all that a moderate amount of soy is good for you.

antony bean

[Gliondrach]

Hello, Phil. Welcome. Soya is more likely to protect you against certain cancers. Japanese and Chinese women, eating traditional diets, suffer a lower incidence of breast cancer. Of course, there could be other factors involved but the soya does them no harm.

There does seem to be some conflicting evidence. One study found that low concentrations of soya phytoestrogens stimulated breast tumour growth and interfered with the effects of tamoxifen. This was conducted in vitro and also in animal studies. Large concentrations of the soya phytoestrogens were found to behave in the opposite way - inhibiting tumour growth and increasing the effects of tamoxifen. This latter finding was only done in vitro.

Of course, animal models and also in vitro are not the same as living humans.

The conclusion was that women who have breast cancer, or have had it, should be made aware of the possible risk to them of using soya products.

A study was conducted in Singapore, ten years earlier, in 1991, using 200 women with breast cancer and more than twice that number without breast cancer. Their findings were that soya had a protective influence in women of premenopausal age.

And then there were the studies done on rats and hamsters. Raw soya fed to them caused the development of pancreatic cancer cells in the rats but not in the hamsters. Both types of animals had been treated to make them more suseptible to pancreatic cancer.

You pays your money and you takes your chances.

Or you could try other milks if you're worried.

Regards,

Martin.

[Panda]

www.doctorsaredangerous.com
could be biased but interesting read

[Gliondrach]

Phil, see my reply to your introduction post. Furthermore:

There have been reports of soya causing thyroid problems. For thyroid cancer, at least, there is evidence gleaned from studies, that phytoestrogens in soya have a protective effect against thyroid cancer.

For breast cancer, a studywas conducted, involving over 3,000 women, about half of whom had breast cancer. These women were all non-Asian. Most previous studies had been conducted on Asian women, due to their high soya consumption. The findings were that phytoestrogens, not just soya, but phytoestrogens in general, had little effect on breast cancer risk at the levels normally consumed by non-Asian women.

Yet another study found a reduced risk of endometrial cancer in non-Asian women who had phytoestrogens in their diet. Again, this was based on the amounts of phytoestrogens normally consumed in the Western diet.

Another study, using high intakes of soya milk - 36 ounces a day, which is nearly two pints - found that there was a reduced level of ovarian hormones during the study. This could explain the protective influence of soya in breast cancer.

It's interesting that low intakes of phytoestrogens have been found to have little effect on breast cancer risks but that high intakes of phytoestrogens have a protective influence.

[Gliondrach]

I haven't read all of this thread but I clicked on the link from Bjornagain, post 103. I didn't read all of that page but I chuckled when I read that an Hawaiian study showed brain shrinkage in soya users. I have been drinking soya milk for about 20 years and my brain is even better than it was when I started.

[Barley]

I haven't read all of this thread but I clicked on the link from Bjornagain, post 103. I didn't read all of that page but I chuckled when I read that an Hawaiian study showed brain shrinkage in soya users. I have been drinking soya milk for about 20 years and my brain is even better than it was when I started.

Thanks Martin, I always like to read your threads - you help me stay sane..... I read shock horror headlines 'soya shrinks brains' or 'soya causes breast cancer' and I feel this awful panic start.... I do try to keep it all in perspective, I KNOW lots of these so called studies originate from sources keen to keep people eating animals and animal producs, but still thay manage to scare me - though I'd NEVER be anything but vegan, of course..... I am a long term vegan too, I think we must accept that we are experimental subjects (I am proud and honoured to be so) so that veganism can thrive long after we have departed.

[Gliondrach]

Mind you, I should have added that I'm a bit more barmy than I used to be.

[Barley]

Mind you, I should have added that I'm a bit more barmy than I used to be.

OH STOP IT!!

[Gliondrach]

Was that you or was it the voices in my head again?

[Barley]

Was that you or was it the voices in my head again?

Not sure.... but I expect you missed my other mail about three back.... n'est pas?