Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Not So Fast On That Tofu

Somehow Americans have been convinced that all things "soy" are good for you. That is not actually the case. People also point to the fact that 'soy' is a major part of the Asian diet and has been for centuries but again, that is a little misleading. Most of the soy that Asians eat is fermented as in miso or soy sauce and they actually eat very little of it. Americans however, are consuming it in huge quantities in tofu, soy milk and as TVP and as additives to other foods.

If you have added a lot of 'soy' to your diet I suggest you read the link above. Unfermented soy is very high in 'phytoestrogens' and these are similar enough to human estrogen that the body reacts to them in unwanted ways. This is especially true of children. One study in New Zealand found that infants fed soy milk instead of cow or human milk had seventeen thousand times the estrogen level in their blood than those fed cow or human milk. High levels of estrogen in males suppresses testosterone and can have bad impact on you know what. It has also been found that soy increases the likelihood of Alzheimer’s disease.

It is just something you ought to be aware of. Never overlook the fact that soy beans are a huge agricultural product in the U.S. and as such the purveyors of same have a financial reason to keep us in the dark about how their products affect us.

No comments: