The Soy Conundrum: Part 2

As I said in my last post, this is a HUGE topic that would take volumes to adequately explore. Is soy a human food? My answer is a tentative maybe. Here are more reasons why...

Farming practices: Aside from the fact that nearly all soy grown in the US is now genetically modified, it is important to know that this modification allows soy to withstand heavy doses of herbicides. Unfortunately, because soy is a legume, it is very good at soaking up these toxins and incorporating them into the beans themselves. You can’t wash them off. (GMO issues will be discussed in another posting.) These toxic residues have many potential harmful effects on the human system including acting as endocrine disruptors, meaning they will mess around with your whole hormone system.

Phytoestrogenic properties: “Phyto” means plant, so phytoestrogens are estrogen-like substances found in plants. They are present in many different plants including alfalfa sprouts, flaxseeds, clover, hops and thyme, but they are highest in legumes and soy contains the highest amount of them all. Studies have been inconclusive about if these phytoestrogens help menopausal symptoms or if they worsen hormone sensitive cancers. However, these compounds have been shown to have feminizing effects on infant boys and can accelerate sexual maturation in girls. In some cases soy has been implicated in the development of gynecomastia in adult men (the development of breast tissue) and a decrease in sperm production.

Autoimmune disease: More than 70 years worth of studies have connected soy consumption to thyroid disorders, especially Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. This is a type of autoimmune disease that causes hypothyroidism. (Interestingly enough, the exacerbation of Hashimoto’s has also been connected to gluten consumption.) If you suffer from hypothyroid and especially Hashimoto’s, you may find significant symptom relief by eliminating soy. This can seem like a daunting task because soy is everywhere.

Processed foods: Soy is in nearly 60% of all processed foods and basically 100% of fast foods. Soy and soy derivatives are the backbone of the food product industry. The durable nature of soy proteins and their low cost makes them ideal for highly processed foods. If you are trying to avoid soy, the best thing to do is to shop the perimeter of your market where all the REAL food is and cook it yourself. Instead of spending hours trying to read labels to find all the places soy is hidden, spend that time making your own foods.

Cardiovascular health: Soy has been promoted as beneficial for cardiac health. Most of these studies focus on specific constituents of soy called isoflavones. It is important to consider the whole package if soy is used as a food source. It is also important to look at the way some of these studies were put together. Benefits have been shown when conventionally raised animal products are replaced by soy as a protein source, but is the outcome due to soy or due to the reduction in damaged fats and proteins that come from conventional meats and dairy? Be sure to look carefully at studies, both pro and con.

Conclusion: Caution. Soy can be beneficial for humans in small amounts if fermented. Certain constituents may be beneficial for treatment of certain disease states. But the use of soy in its highly processed forms (TVP, soy protein isolate, etc) as the primary source of protein in the diet can be problematic, especially for children.



Get curious. Get informed. Get Real.




(also published on the Patch.com)

The Soy Conundrum: Part 1

This is a HUGE topic that would take volumes to adequately explore, but I’ll try to give you the highlights. If you’ve been following health trends, you are likely as confused as most Americans about soy. Is it healthy for human consumption? My answer is a tentative maybe. Here’s why...

How Soy is Grown: About 85% of all soy grown is now genetically modified. Even if you don’t care about the genetic material itself, what this tinkering has done has allowed these crops to be even more heavily sprayed with pesticides and herbicides which travel up the food chain. We are seeing more and more research coming in now about how these residues contribute to disease, especially in children.

Health Claims: Most of the health claims are marginal at best. When you actually read through the literature and the research, you’ll find there are small benefits to LDL reduction associated with eating soy (although it’s hard to determine if that is the reason or if it’s because participants traded conventional meats for soy a few meals a week and maybe it was really just the removal of the damaged fats and fat soluble toxins that did the trick). Most of the positive health benefits are found from using fermented soy foods, not from products like “Tofurky” or SPI (soy protein isolate).

Protein Quality: You will hear many proponents of vegetarian and vegan diets claim that soy offers a complete protein source. While it is true on a chemical level that soy offers a broad spectrum of essential amino acids, it also important to understand that soy contains chemicals that slow or prevent the digestion of proteins and significantly impair the bioavailability of their component amino acids.

Human systems simply don’t produce the all the enzymes essential to the complete digestion of soy protein or the breakdown of the “anti-nutrients” that get in the way. When we rely strictly on soy for protein, or have a very high intake of soy products in the diet, we risk long term amino acid and mineral deficiencies that create problems in all our systems including hypothyroidism, anemia and immuno-deficiency.

Anti-nutrients: These are substances that either impair nutrient bioavailability or are chemicals that directly impinge on human systems creating health problems in the long term. One of these problematic substances is phytic acid or phytate. Soy has one of the highest amounts of phytate of any legume or grain studied, and to make matters worse, the phytates in soy are highly resistant to breaking down by heat (unlike phytates found in spinach, for example). Phytic acid blocks the absorption of vital minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and zinc. Because we don’t have the capacity to break down phytates, we have to rely on other mechanisms to do it for us. Happily, bacteria can do this via fermentation. This is why fermented soy products are considered by most nutrition experts to be the best form for human consumption. Fermented soy products include tamari (soy sauce), miso and tempeh.

Unfermented soy also contains enzyme inhibitors that block one of your body’s main proteases: trypsin. This is essential in the digestion and breakdown of proteins. Diets high in trypsin inhibitors can precipitate pancreatitis (and other pathological conditions of the pancreas), amino acid deficiencies and gastric distress as the undigested proteins make their way through the intestines.

If you choose to use soy, please choose organic, non-GMO, fermented products, and rotate your protein sources so you don’t rely exclusively, or even heavily, on soy. It is essential that growing children NOT use soy exclusively as their bodies try to build bones and brains. There are plenty of other legumes out there and when combined with a grain you will have a complete amino acid profile, and a broader spectrum of nutrients.

Get Informed. Get Help if you need it. And Get REAL.

(also published on the Patch.com)

GMOs: Genetically Modified Organisms in Our Food Supply

It is unnerving that three of the top five crops grown in the US are now mostly genetically modified. The number one crop, corn, is now 86% GM. Although only 12% of the yields are considered to be consumed directly by humans, over 80% is consumed by livestock and we consume them or their products. The number two crop, soy, is now 93% GM and 79% of all the edible oil consumed by Americans is soy oil. In addition, the following crops are also GM: cottonseed (93%), canola (90%), sugar beets (95%), as well as nearly all Hawaiian papaya, some zucchini and crookneck squash.(1,2)

Traits of GM crops
There are basically two main ways that GMOs are designed: 1) to create a plant that is herbicide tolerant (63% of GMOs); and 2) to create a plant that generates its own pesticides internally (16% of GMOs). About 21% of crops are designed to do both.

Industry Claims
Claims by the companies responsible for this technology, and the creation of the pesticides and herbicides that are used on these crops, assert that GMOs are perfectly safe for human consumption based on the use of some of these pesticides topically on crops over the past decades. As an example, Bt toxin (Bacillus thuringiensis) has been used as a spray on non-GM crops without research into long term effects on human health. Yet, the industry claims that by creating a plant that produces its own Bt toxin, it is essentially the same thing. However, the problem is one of both toxin concentration which is much higher in GM crops, and the alteration of other parts of the organism in ways that have not been studied for long term effects.

Other places you might not think to look for GMO ingredients:
Medications
Supplements

Possible application of biotechnology (3)
The application of genetic engineering is possible in the following ingredients of food supplements. It is however not possible to make general statements whether or not biotechnology was used in a specific product and to which extent.
Vitamins and provitamins: vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B12, biotin
Amino acids: cysteine, lysine, tryptophan, methionine, threonine, phenylalanine, glutaminic acid
Secondary plant metabolites: Plant sterols (phytosterines)
Soy protein
Brewing yeast
Enzymes (like amylase, lipase, lactase as digestive agents)
Flavours
Papaya
Emulsifiers: soya lecithin, soybean polyose (E426)
Filling agents: cellulose, ethylcellulose (E 462), dextrin
Acidity regulators: citric acid

Ingredients and additives that contain or likely contain GMOs:
Acetylated starch
Amino acid
Annatto
Ascorbic acid
Aspartame
Beta-carotene
Biotin
Bread Crumbs
Caramel
Caramel colouring
Caramel sugar
Carotinoids
Cellulose
Citric acid
Cobalamin
Corn flour
Cottonseed oil
Cysteine
Cystine
Dextrin
Dextrose
Diacetyl
Egg white solid
Egg yolk solid
Erythrit
Ethyl maltol
Ethylcellulose
Fatty acids
Flavours
Flaxseed
Flour
Fondant
Fructose
Fructose syrup
Glaze
Gluconic acid
Glucono-delta-lactone
Glucose
Glucose syrup
Glutamate
Glutamic acid
Glycerin
Guanylate
Guanylic acid
Hydroxypropylstarch
Inosinate
Inosinic acid
Invert sugar syrup
Invertase
Isomalt
Lactic acid
Lactoflavin
Lactose
Lecithin
Leucine
Linseed oil
Lysine
Lysozyme
Maize germ oil
Malt sugar
Maltitol syrup
Maltodextrins
Maltol
Maltose
Maltose syrup
Mannitol
Methionine
Methylcellulose
Milk protein
Modified Starch
Mono and Diglycerides
Natamycin
Nisin
Oxidised Starch
Persipan
Phenylalanine
Plant Fat
Plant oil
Plant protein product
Plant Sterols
Polenta
Polydextrose
Rapeseed oil
Riboflavin
Sorbitol
Soy Flour
Soy isolate
Soy Oil
Soy protein
Soya lecithin
Soybean polyose
Starch
Starch hydrolysate
Starch phosphate
Starch Sodium octenyl succinate
Sugar
Sunflower Oil
Sweeteners
Tapioca
Textured Soy Protein
Thaumatin
Threonin
Tocopherol
Trehalose
Trockeneiklar
Tryptophan
Vanilla aroma
Vanillin
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)
Vitamin C
Vitamin E
Vitamins
Whey products
Xanthan
Xylitol
Yeast
Yeast extract
Yeast flakes
(from http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/database/ingredients/)

Enzymes that are derived from or likely derived from GMOs:
Acetolactate decarboxylase
Aminopeptidase
Amylase
Asparaginase
Catalase
Cellulase
CGTase
Chymosin
Galactosidase
Glucanase
Glucose isomerase
Glucose oxidase
Hemicellulase
Hexose oxidase
Laccase
Lactase
Lipase
Lipoxygenase
Mannanase
Pectinase
Pectinesterase
Phytase
Protease
Pullulanase
Transglutaminase
Xylanase

(from http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/database/enzymes/)


(1) http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/ag101/cropmajor.html
(2) “Seeds of Deception” by Jeffery Smith
(3) http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/database/food/360.food_supplements.html


Get Informed. Get Clear. Get REAL.

Being Vegan or Vegetarian Still Can Be Unhealthy!

Rant Alert: Ok, so I have a bone to pick here (pun intended). We need to talk about what it means to be a Healthy Vegetarian or Vegan, and the importance of understanding that just because you don't partake of animal offerings, doesn't mean you get to eat junk food all day long. Why is it that the vegetarian aisles of most of our grocery stores consist mainly of highly processed snack foods? And sadly, why is it that so many of my "vegetarian" clients think that a diet almost entirely of boxed mac and cheese, diet soda and Twizzlers qualifies as healthy? Psst: the word Vegetable is the basis for the word Vegetarian. If you want to be Healthy, whether vegan, vegetarian, pesca-lacto-ovotarian, or omnivorous, you need to eat Real Food. Don't preach to me about animal cruelty while wearing leather shoes, a down jacket and driving a car that runs on gasoline. Don't talk to me about how healthy your lifestyle is as you struggle with your constant post-nasal drip, weight gain, huge dark circles under your eyes, flaking nails and hair loss from nutrient deficiencies.

The Cold Hard Hairy Eyeball of Truth: to be a Healthy vegetarian or vegan you must eat a combination of Vegetables, Fruits, Whole Grains, Legumes, Nuts/Seeds. The only difference between a Healthy vegetarian and a Healthy omnivore is in the choice of some proteins and some fats. The thing is, if you rely on convenience foods, the vegetarian products can be even more dangerous than the omnivorous options. You can actually set yourself up to consume some of the most highly processed foods available on the market today. Yes, you read that correctly. Here is just one in a whole laundry list of problems: the standard vegetarian offerings at most grocery stores rely heavily on products made using TVP or texturized vegetable protein. TVP is usually made from soy but also from cottonseed (which contains a natural spermicide), wheat and oats. Please read the description found at Wikipedia for the utterly delicious sounding way this "food" is made complete with carcinogenic hexane solvent residues. TVP is loaded with damaged proteins, damaged fats, toxic processing residues, and neuro-toxins such as high amounts of MSG.

Soy itself has a really controversial history in the field of human nutrition which is far too big to tackle here. Technically yes, it contains all the essential amino acids to qualify as a complete protein on strictly a chemical basis, BUT the human body doesn't digest and absorb it in the same way as an animal protein so it is still considered low quality by many researchers, scientists and nutritionists (myself included). Most soy products are highly processed, high in phytates (enzyme inhibitors that block mineral absorption), goitrogens (that damage your thyroid), phytoestrogens (which can feminize male children raised on high amounts of soy), and trypsin inhibitors (essential for proper digestion). Fermented soy products are slightly better because some of these anti-nutrients are broken down by fermentation, but soy can still be extremely hard on your thyroid and can push the human system into fat storage mode thereby contributing to body fat gain rather than lean tissue balance. In addition, soy is one of the most highly sprayed crops in the world, as well as nearly all of it is now genetically modified thanks to Monsanto.

Fats are essential for human health, including saturated fats. Vegetarians and vegans often have the highest intake of omega 6 fatty acids due to the ingestion of higher percentages of plant based liquid oils. Safflower, sunflower, corn, cottonseed, grape seed and peanut oils are pro-inflammatory and chronic consumption can lead to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Alzheimers and cancers. It is important to consume a combination of types of fats to be a healthy vegetarian or vegan. Consider coconut oil which has a broad range of fatty acids, is anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal. Omega 3 fatty acids are harder to come by in the plant world and are not as easily assimilated as those found in fish or krill. Consider algal forms over seed sources. Reduce or eliminate all high omega 6 oils. Remember that a damaged healthy oil is just as unhealthy as a bad oil. Don't overheat or reuse oils after cooking. Keep oils away from light, heat and air while storing.

Please, if you choose a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, learn how to be Healthy. It's not as simple as believing the big food product manufacturers and subsisting on boxed, bagged or instant food products. Read labels. Learn about amino acids and how to combine foods to get complete proteins. Get Smart. Get Healthy. Get REAL.