Is soya bad for your health?

[Jacqui]

Have Bonsoy:D
Yummmmm, well worth the extra money!

[englishvegoboi]

Have Bonsoy:D
Yummmmm, well worth the extra money!
:)

[Morna]

Any thoughts on how much soy is too much? I haven't bought into the anti-soy hype, but I do know that a varied diet is the key to good nutrition, and so many vegan products are made of soy, I don't want to overload.

[Tigerlily]

I think too much soy would be when soy is in every meal every day.

[Morna]

I need to learn how to make my own burger patties from beans and so forth. Too much tofu recently.

[Pilaf]

I guess some variety of refried beans would be your best bet, although the exact process is unknown to me..

Why not vegan friendly burritos? Make your own flour tortillas in a vegan friendly way. It'll be delicious. Use Nutritional Yeast for the "cheese", and put some veggies in there. Mmmm mmmm good.

[treehugga]

I need to learn how to make my own burger patties from beans and so forth. Too much tofu recently.

Here is an excellent recipe for burgers made with kidney beans but you could substitute just about any.

MEXICAN BEAN BURGERS

1 large can kidney beans
1 large onion chopped
1 clove garlic chopped
2 tabelspoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon chilli paste

Process in food processor or mash really well.

Add about 1/3 to 1/2 a cup breadcrumbs to mix to a firm but pliable consistancy and shape into burgers with hands then rub in breadcrubs and fry or bbq until browned.

Delicious served with vegan sour cream and salad on a bun.

Or you can make similar burgers by using 2 medium cans of chickpeas instead of the beans and adding a teaspoon of ground cumin.

Kids love these burgers and so do meateaters from my experience. :)

[veggiegirl3]

How do you know if a soy product contains isolates? Does it say it in the ingrediants? Do Boca Burger Vegan burgers contain them and Silk Soymilk? What about tofu? Those are the forms of tofu I eat. I try to limit it to that because I have a thyroid condition and I heard large amounts of soy can be bad for your thyroid if you have a thyroid problem.

[Pilaf]

I guess it depends on how processed it all is, Veggiegirl. I'd imagine plain tofu would be less processed than Veggieburgers, and Soymilk would be less processed than the Tofu in many cases.

Now as far as I know, for another "meat alternative", seitan is supposed to be fairly safe.

[ukahela]

but also in moderate amounts - seitan is gluten, and in people with a predisposition to coeliac's disease or gluten intolerance, eating much gluten may trigger these conditions. i suppose most things are best in moderation..

some dislike the 'overly meatish' texture of seitan, though ;)

[cvC]

I've just been reading a closed thread in which there was a question about a possible link between soy and breast cancer and thought I would post this:

http://www.mercola.com/2005/aug/30/soy_ruled_no_health_food.htm

[gertvegan]

Have a look at this (http://veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3136) thread cvC.

[cvC]

Thankyou.

[Sproutpout]

meh i dont eat soy, i havent tried seitan or tofu yet either :eek:

Strange, some omni's say its so hard to switch to vegetarian/vegan because the artifical meats dont taste as good. I havent even tried them and dont consider myself to be missing out, just another excuse for them i suppose :rolleyes:

[gertvegan]

There's no risk to humans from soya

The hormones in cow's milk are potentially far more harmful than those in plants, says Justine Butler

Dr Justine Butler
Tuesday August 8, 2006
The Guardian

Read more here. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1839484,00.html) ;)

[Gorilla]

a friend of mine who used to be veggie but now eats meat was trying to warn me off soya products the other day because she read in a book that it was really unhealthy.

she has a book about alleviating mental health problems through nutrition, which has a section called "No soya for me, please!" it claims that soy protein isolate can cause mental health problems and is found in soya milk and tofu, as well as processed foods. i was aware it was in many processed foods these days, but as far as i know the only soya milk made with soy protein isolate is So Good which i don't drink anyway. i drink Alpro which i believe is made with whole soya beans. is it true that tofu can be made with soy protein isolate because i always thought it would have to be made with whole soya beans? :confused:

i wouldn't put much faith in this book she's reading anyway because the author says at the beginning that the diet plan in the book cannot be followed by vegetarians, she has apparently 'never met a healthy vegetarian' and thinks that veggies should not inflict their dietary choices on their children because it will make them ill. :rolleyes:

i can't remember what the book was called but it's not next on my reading list that's for sure ;) rant over now :)

[Mermaid07]

I drink chocolate soy milk everY morning and put it on my cereal when I eat it. Sometimes I eat tofu and other fake meat products. There is a vegan restaurant by my house that has soy chicken which I go to almost once a week. I noticed that the soy milk has isoflavones. Is that bad for you too. I love soy milk and hope that drinking it everyday is not bad. I have tried nut milks, but they have too much sugar and calories and not as much protien as soy milk.

I think that to a degree all food can be bad for you. You never know what came into contact with your food unless you grow it yourself. Who would have that E coli in SPINACH?? Sorry if this is off topic, but I feel that people can argue anything as bad for your health. I think if the good qualities overpower the bad ones then that food would be safe to eat.

[treehugga]

I've read soy protein is bad for your health mainly due to the manufacturing process. Most soy milk, tofu, tempe is fine and in fact good for your health if you're vegan due to the protein content.

[WolfRain]

I have been drinking Soya milk, and eating soya as a meat substitue since I became Vegetarian about 3 years ago, and it has only ever helped me. It might be good to point out here that I have E-O Schizophrenia, which I was diagnosed with about 4 years ago. Since I cut meat, and then milk out of my diet I have gone from strength to stength. I am not 100% better, but as I suspected dairy played a part in it. I cant say that Soya did though!

I would say that this theory is just a thoery, soya doesn't impinge mental health. Although, obviously everyone is different. :D

WolfRain

[satirecafe]

as other people were saying, if you check the sources of many anti-soy reports, you'll see that a lot of it is simply propaganda in support of the dairy industry. Silk is becoming bigger and bigger; they even have TV commercials now, so of course milk manufacturers are going to feel threatened! It's similar to the tobacco industry covering up the health effects of smoking in the 1960s.

[hazelbunny]

I've been vegan for ages, but I never really ate started eating soya till a few years ago. Since then I have developed hypothyroidism, which I have just discovered is a known effect of eating soy.

Sorry to be anti, but I will be avoiding it altogether from now on.

[Mahk]

Hazelbunny, there are two distinctly different issues here:

A) Does soy cause hypothyroidism?

B) Does soy negatively effect the absorption of medication for hypothyroidism?

We should not confuse the two. If a medical professional has advised you to stop eating soy, it could be for reason B), not A):

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hyperthyroidism/AN00454

I'm no medical expert, just a casual web surfer, but I wish you well. Also, look at the top of page 7 of this 25 page PDF document from "The American Thyroid Association":

http://www.thyroid.org/patients/brochures/Hypothyroidism%20_web_booklet.pdf (http://www.thyroid.org/patients/brochures/Hypothyroidism%20_web_booklet.pdf)

[hazelbunny]

Hi Mahk, thanks for the links! :)

Its hard to know which reports to believe, its encouraging to read, but there are others that say the opposite. I would like to source traditionally fermented soy, as I've heard that this process removes the
phyto-oestrogens etc and leaves in the good stuff.

[eve]

Today the whole front page of the Sunday Mail, from Brisbane, is about the dangers of eating soy. Banner headlines of 'Danger of Soy', then quotes from cancer council and other authorities stating that eating soy can lead to breast cancer and prostate cancer. And if people already had cancer, then they had better avoid soy as it will make things worse for the patients.

I already know what to expect from the people I see each morning. Recently I persuaded one guy, who eats yoghurt, and who has #2 Diabetes, to try soyoghurt. At the time I gave him a newspaper cutting of some research showing that those who ate the soyoghurt were able to give up their diabetes medication.

[Roxy]

Ohhhhhhhhh great :rolleyes: Thanks for the warning, Eve. I can expect my father to be on the phone to me this week telling me all about it. :(