GOD’S OLD LAW ON MODERATION IS STILL THE RULE -- Just How Much Soy Do Asians Eat?

GOD’S OLD LAW ON MODERATION IS STILL THE RULE
Just How Much Soy Do Asians Eat?
Source: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2000/01/09/truth-about-soy.aspx


Just How Much Soy Did Asians Eat?
In short, not that much, and contrary to what the industry may claim soy has never been a staple in Asia. A study of the history of soy use in Asia shows that the poor used it during times of extreme food shortage, and only then the soybeans were carefully prepared (e.g. by lengthy fermentation) to destroy the soy toxins. Yes, the Asians understood soy all right!
Many vegetarians in the USA, and Europe and Australia would think nothing of consuming 8 ounces (about 220 grams) of tofu and a couple of glasses of soy milk per day, two or three times a week. But this is well in excess of what Asians typically consume; they generally use small portions of soy to complement their meal. It should also be noted that soy is not the main source of dietary protein and that a regime of calcium-set tofu and soymilk bears little resemblance to the soy consumed traditionally in Asia.
Perhaps the best survey of what types/quantities of soy eaten in Asia comes from data from a validated, semi quantitative food frequency questionnaire that surveyed 1242 men and 3596 women who participated in an annual health check-up program in Takayama City, Japan. This survey identified that the soy products consumed were tofu (plain, fried, deep-fried, or dried), miso, fermented soybeans, soymilk, and boiled soybeans. The estimated amount of soy protein consumed from these sources was 8.00 ± 4.95 g/day for men and 6.88 ± 4.06 g/day for women (Nagata C, Takatsuka N, Kurisu Y, Shimizu H; J Nutr 1998, 128:209-13).
According to KC Chang, editor of Food in Chinese Culture, the total caloric intake due to soy in the Chinese diet in the 1930's was only 1.5%, compared with 65% for pork. For more information on the traditional use of soy products, contact the Price Pottenger Nutrition Foundation.
The chief concern we have about the consumption of large amounts of soy is that there is a risk of mega-dosing on isoflavones. If soy consumers follow the advice of Protein Technologies International (manufacturers of isolated soy protein) and consume 100 grams of soy protein per day, their daily genistein intake could easily exceed 200 milligrams per day. This level of genistein intake should definitely be avoided. For comparison, it should be noted that Japanese males consume, on average, less than 10 milligrams of genistein per day (Fukutake M, Takahashi M, Ishida K, Kawamura H, Sugimura T, Wakabayashi K; Food Chem Toxicol 1996, 34:457-61).
GOD’S OLD LAW ON MODERATION IS STILL THE RULE.

Blog comments:
Apparently you've never been to Japan. I lived there for 6 months, and almost everyone I knew ate soy every day, if not at every meal. Natto mixed with a raw egg dropped on top of a bowl of rice is a staple breakfast food, and miso soup is eaten with almost every lunch or dinner, unless another soup (often containing tofu or miso) is the main dish. Miso soup's main ingredient is soy and it is usually garnished with small block of tofu. A block of cold tofu drizzled with soy sauce is also a very common dish.
Source: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2000/01/09/truth-about-soy.aspx