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January/February 2006 Alternative Health
Soy - Wonderfood or Serious Threat?

The FDA confirmed on October 4, 2005 that the Solae Company has withdrawn its petition for a soy protein and cancer health claim. Had this health claim been approved, it would have doubled the sales of soy protein in this country, bringing huge profits to the soy industry while putting American men, women and children at risk.

"This represents a major blow to the soy industry," says Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food. "The FDA advised Solae on at least one occasion that it had not convincingly established that soy can prevent cancer and that it had failed to counter massive evidence that soy can cause, contribute to or accelerate cancer growth."

Dr. Daniel joined the Weston Price Foundation to present much of the scientific evidence against soy that led to the FDA's questions and to Solae's withdrawal. The Weston A. Price Foundation has been a leader in alerting the public to the fact that soy protein and soy oil in the food supply have been linked to digestive distress, thyroid damage, reproductive problems, infertility, ADD/ADHD, dementia, heart disease and cancer. This summer the Foundation drew the FDA's attention to a July 2005 health advisory issued by the Israeli Health Ministry that warned that soy infant formula should not be given to infants, that children should be fed soy foods no more than once per day to a maximum of three times per week and that adults should exercise caution because of increased risk of breast cancer and adverse effects on fertility.

In addition to the recent soy warning issued by the Israeli Health Ministry, expert scientists with the British Committee on Toxicity, Swiss Federal Health Service and other government agencies have all expressed concern about soy's potential to disrupt the digestive, immune and neuroendocrine systems of the human body and its role in rising rates of infertility, hypothyroidism and some types of cancer including thyroid and pancreatic cancers.

Soy is also highly allergenic. Most experts now place soy protein among the top eight allergens, and some rate it in the top six or even top four. The Swedish Health Ministry has warned that allergic reactions to soy are increasingly common, ranging from mild to life threatening, and that fatalities have been reported.

Research Findings

• High levels of phytic acid in soy reduce assimilation of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc. Phytic acid in soy is not neutralized by ordinary preparation methods such as soaking, sprouting and long, slow cooking. High phytate diets have caused growth problems in children.
• Trypsin inhibitors in soy interfere with protein digestion and may cause pancreatic disorders. In test animals soy containing trypsin inhibitors caused stunted growth.
• Soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential to cause infertility and to promote breast cancer in adult women.
• Soy phytoestrogens are potent antithyroid agents that cause hypothyroidism and may cause thyroid cancer. In infants, consumption of soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease.
• Vitamin B12 analogs in soy are not absorbed and actually increase the body's requirement for B12.
• Soy foods increase the body's requirement for vitamin D.
• Fragile proteins are denatured during high temperature processing to make soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein.
• Processing of soy protein results in the formation of toxic lysinoalanine and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines.
• Free glutamic acid or MSG, a potent neurotoxin, is formed during soy food processing and additional amounts are added to many soy foods.
• Soy foods contain high levels of aluminum, which is toxic to the nervous system and the kidneys.

"People are finally starting to hear that soy is not a 'miracle food,'" says Dr. Daniel. "More and more expert scientists are issuing warnings about soy. The FDA made a big mistake in 1999 when it kowtowed to the soy industry and allowed a soy-and-heart-disease health claim. Today's FDA is under intense scrutiny because of the Vioxx debacle and could not afford to approve an unfounded soy-prevents-cancer health claim. Solae withdrew its petition because it knew that its science was unconvincing and that the FDA had no choice but to turn them down. The bottom line is that soy does not prevent cancer."

For references and further information on soy foods and soy formula, see westonaprice.org/soy/index.html or soyonlineservice.co.nz or send $12 US to Soy Alert, PMB #106-380, 4200 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington DC 20007.