ORGANIC SOY, NOT GENETICALLY MODIFIED AND CHEMICALLY GROWN AND PROCESSED SOY

ORGANIC SOY, NOT GENETICALLY MODIFIED AND CHEMICALLY GROWN AND PROCESSED SOY
In short, ancient Nature's soy, not U.S. soy

From: Franky Corne
To: Cocoy777
Hi Cocoy,
I think it is a good article that you wrote on soy. I found another article on Internet and you can find it at the end of this.
Actually, the greatest danger of soy I think is firstly the fact that about 90% of the soy (at least in the US) is Genetically Modified and secondly the overconsumption due to commercial advertising. However, apparently soy germs (non-GM of course) are ok.
Franky

Read the whole article below and take note of its conclusion, to wit:
In conclusion, Soy is a very highly processed food. The dangers of soy far outweigh any claims of benefits. The only safe way to eat soy is to consume slow fermented soy such as miso, soy sauce, tempeh, and natto.

SOY - Health or Hype?
So, you think you're eating healthy by buying soy products...
...You’ve replaced milk with soy, and you look for protein bars and various other products containing soy. After all, it is supposed to be high in protein, lower your cholesterol, fight osteoporosis, reduce your risk of cancer, and be heart healthy. How can you go wrong? Truth is, soy may not be the all round good food it’s cracked up to be. In fact, it may be down right unhealthy.
New studies show that soy may increase the risk of breast cancer in women, affect brain function in men and cause developmental abnormalities in infants.
The soy marketing campaign has truly been phenomenal. Soy was once considered unfit to eat – even in Asia. Soybeans were planted as a rotation crop, not to be eaten, but to add nutrients back into the soil (specifically nitrogen). Soy was not used for food until the discovery of fermentation techniques. The first soy foods were natto, miso, tempeh, and soy sauce. The Chinese did not eat unfermented soybeans due to the large quantities of natural toxins called “antinutrients” they contained.
These antinutrients include potent enzyme inhibitors that block trypsin and other beneficial enzymes needed to digest protein. Soybeans also contain haemagglutinin, a clot promoting substance that causes red blood cells to clump together. These clustered blood cells cannot properly absorb oxygen for distribution to the body’s tissues, and are unable to help in maintaining good cardiac health. So, instead of being supposedly "heart healthy", soy has the opposite effect.

Haemagglutinin and trypsin inhibitors are both “growth depressant” substances. Farmers are well aware of this because animals on soy feed must be given lysine supplements to achieve normal growth. Fermenting soybeans does de-activate both haemagglutinin and trypsin inhibitors, while cooking and precipitation (a soaking/washing process used in the manufacture of soy products) do not.

Soybeans are high in phytic acid. Phytic acid is present in the bran or hull of all seeds. It can block the uptake of essential minerals like calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc in the intestinal tract. Phytic acid is reduced or removed in most other beans by long slow cooking. But, this is not the case with soybeans. Only a long fermentation process will significantly reduce the phytate levels in soybeans.
Soy processors have worked hard to get the toxins (antinutrients) out of the finished product, particularly soy protein isolate (SPI). SPI is the key ingredient in most soy foods which imitate meat and dairy products.
Soy Protein Isolate:
SPI is not something you can whip up in your kitchen. This processing takes place in industrial factories where soybeans are first mixed with an alkaline solution to remove fiber, then precipitated and separated using an acid wash and, finally, neutralized in an alkaline solution.
The acid washing portion of the above process is done in aluminum tanks and can leach high levels of aluminum into the final product. As a result, soy-based baby formula has over 1000% more aluminum than conventional milk based formulas. Finally, the resulting curds are spray-dried at high temperatures to produce high protein powder. Nitrates, potent carcinogens, are formed during spray-drying and a toxin called “lysinoalanine” is formed during the alkaline processing.
Food manufacturers then use the Soy Protein Isolate to produce another product, textured vegetable protein, by mean of high pressure extrusion processing. This high temperature processing removes much of the trypsin inhibitor content, but not all. Ironically, high temperature processing denatures the other useful proteins in soy, rendering them largely ineffective for use by the body.
Numerous artificial flavorings, particularly MSG, are added to soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein products to mask the strong beany taste and create the flavor of meat and milk.

Soy does not have GRAS status (Generally Regarded As Safe)
The amount of toxins formed during soy processing (nitrites and lysinoalanine) was considered too great a threat to the public to allow GRAS (generally regarded as safe) status. Soy protein was given the OK to be used as a binder in cardboard boxes though. Researchers determined that the amounts of the toxins that would migrate from the box into the food ingredients would be too small to constitute a cancer risk. Soy protein has NEVER been given GRAS status (Generally Regarded As Safe).
Soy and breast cancer; does it cause it or protect against it?
Thousands of women consume soy with the belief that it protects them from breast cancer. In 1996 researchers found the women consuming soy protein isolate had an increased incidence of epithelial hyperplasia, a condition that presages malignancies. Studies now conclude soy is not beneficial in the prevention of breast cancer, and may actually increase breast cancer risk in some women.
Soy: and thyroid:
25 grams of soy protein isolate, (about a cup of soy milk) the minimum amount claimed to have cholesterol lowering effects, contains from 50 to 70 mg of isoflavones. A study showed that it took only 45 mg of isoflavones in pre-menopausal women to exert significant biological effects, including a reduction in hormones needed for adequate thyroid function. These effects lingered for 3 months after soy consumption was discontinued.

Scientists have known for many years that soy is goitrogenic (thyroid suppressant). The prevalence of thyroid dysfunction is now reaching such alarming rates that this connection should not be disregarded.
Isoflavones contained in soy have been isolated as the culprit. Isoflavones are estrogen like compounds plentiful in the soybean (phytoestrogens). The discovery that the isoflavones found in soy were damaging to the thyroid rocked the soy industry that has promoted these phytoestrogens as beneficial.
It was found that in normal women, consuming sufficient iodine, it only took 30g of roasted soybeans daily, containing about 38mg.of isoflavones, to depress thyroid function. Sensitive individuals were found to be affected by even less soy.
Soy: The estrogenic equivalent of The Pill
In 1992, the Swiss health service estimated that 100 grams of soy protein provided the estrogenic equivalent of The Pill. Speaking of The Pill…if a person was giving an infant 5 birth controls pills per day, they would probably be charged with child endangerment. Sadly, if an infant is given a diet consisting solely of soy formula it is being given the equivalent of 5 birth control pills per day due to the isoflavones. Soy was introduced into the infant formula in the early 1960’s.

Soy and Diabetes:
Research done at Cornell University Medical College and the Long Island Community Hospital found that children who develop Type 1 diabetes are twice as likely to have been fed soy formula as those fed other formulas.
Soy; infant and child development
The effects of soy products on the hormonal development of infants is a potential nightmare. In the first few months of a normal male infant’s development, they undergo a “testosterone surge”. During this period the infant is programmed to express male characteristics in his sexual organs, masculine physical traits, and form patterns in the brain of male behavior. Physicians are noticing a large number of boys whose physical maturation is delayed or does not begin at all. This includes sexual organs not developing. Learning disabilities in male children have reached epidemic proportions. Soy cannot be ignored as a possible cause for these developments.
An alarming number of girls are entering puberty at an early age. A recent study shows that one percent of all girls now show signs of puberty, such as pubic hair or breast development before the age of three. By the age of eight, 14.7 percent of white girls and 48.3 percent of African American girls are showing signs of puberty. Soy has also been implicated in early menarche.
Other problems related to soy fed children of both sexes include extreme emotional behavior, asthma, immune system problems, pituitary insufficiency, thyroid disorders and irritable bowel syndrome. There is a movement in Canada and New Zealand to ban the sale of soy infant formula.
Over 90% of all soy is GM (genetically modified)
This means that a pesticide and or herbicide was injected into the seed so that pesticides and herbicides can be sprayed on the crop to kill bugs and weeds but will not kill the soybean plants. There are studies being done that indicate that the pesticides and herbicides in GM foods are becoming activated in the digestive process and causing various illness. Soybeans also have one of the highest percentages of contamination by pesticides of any foods we eat.
In conclusion, Soy is a very highly processed food. The dangers of soy far outweigh any claims of benefits. The only safe way to eat soy is to consume slow fermented soy such as miso, soy sauce, tempeh, and natto.