Soy — Health Food or Not?

It’s a controversial topic in the culinary world today — the perception some have that soy is a health food. Soybeans in the pod, you may know, look a little like short, puffy, green peas with peach fuzz on the outside. Representatives from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just announced a boomerang-like decision on how soy protein should be viewed from now on. In fact, the agency is proposing to revoke its long-held stance that soy protein can lower your heart disease risk. The current claim, which you may have seen on various food packages, reads: “25 grams of soy protein a day, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease.” Many health advocates claim soy must be good for you because Asian people — arguably one of the healthiest populations on the planet — have eaten it a lot, and have some of the lowest rates of heart disease, cancer and dementia worldwide, so, it appears, the rest of the world should eat soy protein products, too. However, the type of soy traditionally consumed by Asian people differs from that being heavily marketed in the U.S. Soy rose seemingly from nowhere into the American consciousness in the late 20th century. In 1999, the FDA allowed food producers to claim that soy protein was heart healthy, but continuing research has convinced government officials to take a closer look. Incidentally, there are 12 health claims sanctioned by the FDA for packaged foods, including the continued (and false) insistence that saturated fat is the culprit behind heart disease.

Mono-Cropping with Government Subsidized Soy and Corn a Threat to Health and the Environment

As farming has transitioned from a once localized industry to an international one, it's brought with it a new set of challenges for U.S. farmers. Spurred in part by a growing demand for biofuel, along with federal subsidy programs, about 180 million additional acres of corn and soybeans have been planted around the world over the last decade. In the U.S., this two-crop cycle of corn and soybeans has become the dominant model in the Midwest, thanks to the federal farm policy that subsidizes these crops, with devastating consequences to human health and the environment.

Changing to non-GMO Soy Transformed the Health of my Pigs

From the day that Danish pig farmer Ib Borup Pederson switched away from GM soy, his animals became healthier and more productive. Birth deformities reduced, sows became more fertile, medicine costs fell, and profits went up. The changes were linked to the reduction in the levels of the herbicide glyphosate in their feed.

GMO Soy Is Scarier Than You Think

Soybeans are the second-largest US crop after corn, covering about a quarter of American farmland. We grow more soybeans than any other country except Brazil. According to the US Department of Agriculture, more than 90 percent of the soybeans churned out on US farms each year are genetically engineered to withstand herbicides, nearly all of them involving one called Roundup. Organic production, by contrast, is marginal—it accounts for less than 1 percent of total American acreage devoted to soy. (The remaining 9 percent or so of soybeans are conventionally grown, but not genetically modified.) Given soy's centrality to our food and agriculture systems, the findings of a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Food Chemistry are worth pondering. The authors found that Monsanto's ubiquitous Roundup Ready soybeans, engineered to withstand its own blockbuster herbicide, contain more herbicide residues than their non-GMO counterparts. The team also found that the GM beans are nutritionally inferior.

Soy-Based Formula Linked To Seizures In Children

Phytoestrogens in soy-based formulas are known to carry greater risks than benefits for infants. Babies fed soy-based formula had 13,000 to 22,000 times more isoflavones in their blood than babies fed milk-based formula. Data published in PLoS One shows that consumption of soy formula may also be associated with a higher rate of seizures in children. In addition, while true cancer of the prostate, carcinoma, is seldom seen in infants and children, other forms of malignant tumors may develop and more cases are appearing in developed nations where the link appears to center around soy infant formula.

EPA Approves Bt Residues in Soy Foods from GM Crops as Legal

In what could easily be classified as one of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) worst decisions yet, a final rule released by the EPA earlier this month creates an exemption for residue tolerance levels of genetically modified (GM) Bt toxin in GM soy foods and feed. Essentially, the Agency has approved unlimited residues of GM Bt toxin in your food!

State Threatens To Seize Infant Who was Fed Goat’s Milk Instead of Approved GMO Soy Formula

A young mother in Maine is being threatened by the Department of Health and Human Services to have her infant child taken away and put into foster care. Her crime? Feeding him goat's milk instead of commercial infant formula. Alorah Gellerson was not able to breast feed her child, so she developed a formula of goat's milk that included celery juice, and reports that the child loved it, and "grew like a weed." The young mother made a huge mistake, however. She told her pediatrician about the formula. The doctor turned her in to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), which resulted in home visits, an overnight stay in the hospital, a directive to buy "approved" commercial infant formula (most of which contain GMOs and soy) and threats to remove the baby and place him into foster care.

Why Do Governments Recommend Toxic Soybeans Today When They Didn’t A Decade Ago?

by MARCO TORRES
Prevent Disease

If we analyze the food guide and government advice on nutrition over a decade ago and compare those advisements to what is recommended today, there is one big difference–one specific food crept up onto the radar of public health officials as if it had some kind of miraculous nutritional benefit for […]

Agent Orange Soy: Just Another Day at USDA

 

by Alliance for Natural Health

The poison can drift up to 100 miles, and may be in your water! Action Alert!

Remember our article from February about the strain of corn that has been genetically engineered to withstand the herbicide 2,4-D, one of the active ingredients in Agent Orange? Here’s the sequel: Dow AgroSciences has petitioned USDA for the deregulation of a […]

How Soy Might Decimate the Health of Your Unborn Baby and the Fertility of Future Generations

by Dr. Mercola

If you’re pregnant or thinking of having a baby, you might want to take a look at some new research on the effects of plant estrogens, such as that found in soy, on a developing fetus.

According to Medical News Today1, a paper published in Biology of Reproduction2 suggests that exposure to estrogenic […]

More Hidden Soy to Enter the Food Chain: Factory-farmed Fish Feed

Health Impact News Editor Comments: Very few people understand just how much soy is in our modern diets. As this report states: “From 1996 to 2009, the sales of foods containing soy increased from approximately $1 billion to almost $4.5 billion.” Few people realize that factory-farmed livestock are dependent on soy as a source of cheap […]

Over 50% of Argentina’s Cultivated Land is GMO Soy, with Serious Health Effects

by Dr. Mercola
Roundup Ready soy is now being cultivated on a massive scale across the globe, along with the exponentially increasing use of the herbicide Roundup. Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” soy beans are  genetically modified to survive otherwise lethal doses of glyphosate, the active ingredient in the company’s herbicide Roundup.

It’s a win-win for Monsanto. But […]

Does Soy Have a Dark Side?

By Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN
KindredCommunity.com
Over the past two decades, soy has been widely promoted as a ‘miracle’ food that can prevent heart disease, fight cancer, fan away hot flashes and build strong bones and bodies in far more than 12 ways.
Sales of soy foods topped $4 billion in the USA for the first […]

Is the Soy Myth Harming Your Health?

by Dr. Mercola

Might soy impair your sex drive to the point of being an aid to celibacy?

Traditional wisdom says yes, and a fair amount of science backs it up.

Many studies have shown that soy’s estrogenic isoflavones interfere with the production and usage of testosterone in your body.

There’s also some evidence that soy can cause […]

Argentinian Doctors Identify Major Health Problems Associated With GMO Soy

Biosafety Information Centre

A report by Argentine physicians points to the major health problems arising from the increasing use of GM Roundup Ready (RR) soy in the country. It is the product of the 1st National Meeting Of Physicians In The Crop-Sprayed Towns organized by the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the National University of […]

Soy protein present in egg yolks and chicken tissues

Health Impact News
There is a growing market today of consumers trying to avoid soy in their diet. Many people have developed soy allergies, and a number of people are concerned about the plant estrogen properties of soy protein. Soy protein is linked to the rise in hypothyroidism, early puberty in young girls, and lower […]

Healthy Food Options? Why You Should Never Take Nutrition Advice from Your Government

by Tyler Simmons
ericcressey.com

Many people don’t know this, but before 1979, there were no public health guidelines for what foods our citizens should eat. So where would we be now without a food pyramid?

In the 1950s, a researcher named Ancel Keys developed a theory that certain dietary fats were a major cause of heart disease. Although […]

Study: Soy no good for menopausal hot flashes, bone loss

By Ryan Jaslow
CBS News

Should menopausal women cross soy milk and tofu off their next grocery list?

Many menopausal women turn to soy to stave off nasty effects, like decreased bone density and hot flashes, because estrogen therapy is associated with risks for breast cancer and heart attack. But now researchers are calling […]

Fishy fat from GM soy is headed for U.S. dinner tables

Health Impact News Editor Comments: Producers of GM crops have come up with even more new ways to get GM soy into your diet: change the fatty acid structure to include Omega 3 fatty acids to eliminate your need to get them from fish! It is called “SDA-enriched soy.” The new GM soy contains […]

Soy Formula for Babies: Birth Control Pills in a Bottle

by Dr. Mercola
A study has linked soy formula given to babies with uterine fibroids in adults. Uterine fibroids are tumors of the uterus that can cause pelvic pain, vaginal bleeding, and fertility problems. Uterine fibroids are the leading cause of hysterectomy.
Twenty thousand women participated in the study. They were asked whether they had ever been […]