The Soy Conspiracy

The Theory

Conspiracy theories can be attributed as “a part of human nature.” It’s natural for humans to look at something, then look even harder at something, and try to find the holes. And, if any holes are found, to try to make them larger. Unfortunately, in their desperation to be correct about th

eir suspicions, they find unreliable sources with incredible bias to confirm their opinions. They cut context away from facts and arrange them to suit their needs...

It is because of this that so few conspiracy theories, especially theories involving the government, are actually taken seriously.

However, every once in a while, a theory will come along that is absolutely correct.

This is one of those theories.

I submit to you now that soybeans are not only not good for humans but that they are extremely harmful.

A History Of Soy

Soy In Asia

Although the Chinese nicknamed the soybean “the yellow jewel”[i] and honored it as one of the “’Five Sacred Grains,’ along with rice, millet, barley, and wheat”[ii], [iii] unlike the other four grains, soy was not used for eating. Not only that, but, soy isn’t even a grain: it’s a legume.

Upon studying ancient pictographs and Chinese characters depicting the Five Sacred Grains, one will soon notice that, whereas the drawings for rice, barley, millet, and wheat show the par

ts of the grains that are eaten, the one for soy “shows the powerful nitrogen-fixing roots.”[iv] Up until a few decades ago, a relatively short time period on a planet as old as our own, the soybean was considered unfit to eat. Yes, even in Asia. Agricultural literature “speaks frequently of the soybean and its use in crop rotation. Apparently the soy plant was initially used as a method of fixing nitrogen.”[v]

A common argument that soy-lovers like to bring up is that soybeans have been a major part of the Asian diet for “more than 3000 years” or “since the beginning of time.” This is highly inacc

urate and only ends up showing how foolish and ill-researched they are rather than showing off their “skills” of “intellectual debate” as they always seem to hope.

Soy supporters would be surprised to learn that soybeans went from a “nitrogen fixer to fermented food no earlier than about 2500 years ago.”[vi] A fermented food. Soybeans are, of course, highly toxic if eaten raw and remain so even after being cooked by most normal cooking means (a

s I will be discussing later on). Soybeans weren’t considered suitable for humans to eat until after the fermentation/processing methods were discovered. And even then, soy was considered to be food for the very poor (and still is!). “Sukarno, President of the Indonesia Republic from 1945-1967, once admonished his fellow citizens, ‘Don’t be a tempeh nation.’”[vii]

Soy simply does not comprise a major part of Asians diets—Chinese, Japanese, or any other. The myth—and that’s exactly what it is: a myth—that they do was created by the Soy Industry PR machine. Soy is considered a minor source of protein. “Major sources of protein [in Japan and China] listed were meat including organ meats, poultry, fish, and eggs.”[viii] Of course, not all parts of Asia are able to afford to eat meat. This is where increased soy consumption comes into play: “In parts of China where the peop

le are too poor to get other forms of protein, their intake of soy has created, according to scientists who went there and studied the situation, 100 million cretins.”[ix]

And, due to its ability to lower testosterone levels, soy was, and still is, very popular in the Chinese monasteries. “Celibate monks living in monasteries and leading a vegetarian lifestyle find soy foods quite helpful because they dampen libido.”[x] “The aptly named ‘meat without a bone’ soon appeared re

gularly on monastery menus as an aid to spiritual development and sexual abstinence.”[xi] For these same loss-of-sex-drive reasons, in Japan, “wives may take revenge on unfaithful husbands by increasing their daily dose of tofu.”[xii]

Still think soy is considered a tasty treat in Asia?

Soy In The West

Classic soy sauce, not the highly processed goop America knows as “soy sauce” today, was used in 17^th-century France as the impressive secret ingredient at court banquets. It was a culinary curiosity and therefore appealed to the adventurous French palate.

And although Ben Franklin sent some soybeans back home to America in 1770, “soybeans remained a little-known commodity in the United States for more than a century.”[xiii]

John Harvey Kellogg, M.D. (the breakfast cereal king) is noted as the first American to avidly support soybeans. Apparently not a fan of meat, Kellogg decided to create various pamphlets,

books, and horrible-tasting recipes to promote what he considered the magic bean solution to the world’s health problems. In 1944, one of his students created an advertisement that invited the nation to “Meet the Vegetable Cow.” The ad “showed the head of a cow made entirely from soybeans and with the horns, forelock and parts of eyes, nostril, and mouth made of green pods.”[xiv]

America’s other historical soy supporter, Henry Ford, also had grand plans... But he had a drastically different idea in mind: a soy car. “Ford believed that soy plastics would be the material

of the future for car bodies, window frames, steering wheels, gearshift knobs, bathtubs, sinks, and refrigerators.”[xv] He even went so far as to create a prototype. In 1937, he called in reporters to witness a sheet of plastic he had made out of soy and, in 1940, he went so far as to have the trunk lid of one of his own cars made out of the soy plastic! “[Ford] whacked [the trunk lid] with an axe to prove its dent resistance.”[xvi]

However, Ford’s dream of a Soymobile was abandoned when, upon driving th

e prototype, it was discovered that it gave off “a strong odor reminiscent of a mortuary.”[xvii] He then went on to experiment with other uses for soy including an entire suit made out of soybean-fibers (!) and, eventually, soybean biscuits.

In Europe, the most famous historical soy supporters include Benito Mus

solini, the Communist Party, and Adolf Hitler.

Soy = Poison

Soybeans are notoriously hard to digest and are known to cause copious amounts of flatulence. They’re a legume and, therefore, included in the group of “magical fruits” that caus

e humans to “toot.” This side-effect of soy is not hidden from the general public.

The real horrors associated with this food, however, are kept under wraps.

Hormones

Soybeans contain isoflavones. These isoflavones are built-in insecticides for th

e plant, but, interestingly, they are also an estrogen like substance that, if ingested, have the same effect on the human body as estrogen does. “Cancer comes from having too much estrogen. Irritability and mood swings, fat gain from the waist down, fibrocystic breast disease, uterine fibromas are all associated with estrogen dominance. Soy isoflavones are now known to increase the bad effect of estradiol and estrone, the two major bad guys of the estrogen family.”[xviii]

“Hormones have a role in many of the body’s functions and consciously or unconsciously altering their balance could result in sexual dysfunction, loss of muscle mass, hypothyroidism and possibly even Cancer.”[xix]

Whether you’re a man, a woman, a wee little baby, or a promising athlete: Soy isn’t good for anyone.

Males

Males who fancy soybeans in their diet may be horrified to know that it can permanently lower their Lutinizing Hormone production—the hormone that signals their testicles to work. “Soy definitely has an adverse effect on testosterone levels. Researchers have reported lower levels of testosterone and higher estrogen levels in males (humans) who consume soy foods because they are rich in isoflavones (the soy estrogens).”[xx]

Soy being fed to younger males, infants in particular, is a very bad idea. Male infants, within the first few months of being alive, have a surge of testosterone that is needed to prep/program their bo

dies for puberty, the magic time in their lives when their sexual organs develop and they start to look more characteristically manly. “If receptor sites intended for the hormone testosterone are occupied by soy estrogens, however, appropriate development may never take place.”[xxi]

Females

For females, “the presence of soy estrogens at a susceptible time might predispose girls to breast cancer, another condition that is on the rise and definitively linked to early puberty.”[xxii]

Soy baby formula is akin to being given a concentrated dose of isoflavones. It’s rea

lly no surprise that females being raised on soy formula as infants hit puberty early—often as young as age eight (some show early onset signs of puberty—small breasts, light vaginal discharge—while they’re still in diapers!). “An infant exclusively fed a soy formula diet receives the estrogenic equivalent (based on body weight) of at least five birth control pills a day.”[xxiii]

Hitting puberty early, as well as being an annoyance that young girls shouldn’t have to deal with, can cause more serious problems later in life with their reproductive systems including but not lim

ited to “amenorrhea (failure to menstruate), anovulatory cycles (cycles in which no egg is released), impaired follicular development (follicles failing to mature and develop into healthy eggs), erratic hormonal surges and other problems associated with infertility.”[xxiv]

Athletes

Aspiring athletes looking to build muscle could not pick a worse form of protein than soy protein. Simply put: “[soy’s] isofavones can demasculinize men trying to build muscle.”[xxv]

Soy protein powders contain either soy protein isolate, soy protein concentrate, or a mixture of both, offering athletes a nice big helping of exactly what they don’t want: a muscle-building inhibitor. “Estrogenic compounds added to a man’s naturally low estrogen levels may be enough to thw

art testosterone production in some men—thus impeding muscle growth.”[xxvi]

Heavy Metal

Although I would love to report that the heavy metal found in soy is the kind hip young people use for “rocking out,” it is sadly not the case.

Aluminum is abundant in soybeans. The soy plant sucks up aluminum from the soil and, later, more aluminum is added when the beans undergo food processing. And, for dried soy products such as certain baby formulas, one more addition of aluminum is added when “tap water added at home [is used] to reconstitute soy formula from powder.”[xxvii]

“Aluminum is probably most dangerous in conjunction with other neurotoxins such as fluoride, manganese, and estrogens, all of which are found in soy foods.”[xxviii]

When the body absorbs a large amount of aluminum, it is unable to dispose of it and it ends up getting stored in the bones. This leads to what’s known as aluminum toxicity and can greatly disturb the body’s intake of calcium. This can lead to “microcytic (iron-deficient) anemia, osteomalacia, rickets, and bone fractures.”[xxix]

Not much fun. All things considered, you’d be better off getting your “heavy metal” at a music concert.

Anti-Nutrients

As well as containing isoflavones and aluminum (as discussed in the previous pages), soy is chock full of anti-nutrients.

The following glossary has been taken from The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN.

Reader’s Guide To Naturally Occurring Antinutrients And Toxins In Soy

Allergens = cause allergic reactions. Soy is one of the top 8 allergens.

Goitrogens = damage the thyroid

Lectins = cause red blood cells to clump together and may cause immune system reactions.

Oligosaccharides = pesky sugars that cause

bloating and flatulence.

Oxalates = prevent proper absorption of calcium and have been linked to kidney stones and a painful disease known as vulvodynia.

Phytates = impair absorption of minerals such as zinc, iron, and calcium.

Protease Inhibitors = most notably Trypsin Inhibitors interfere

with the digestive enzymes protease and trypsin. This can lead to gastric distress, poor protein digestion and an overworked pancreas.

Saponins = bind with bile. They may lower cholesterol and may damage the intestinal lining.

Soyspiracy

Monsanto

Ah, Monsanto... No longer the sweet company that brought you the Monsanto Ride at DisneyLand, Monsanto is now the world’s largest soybean corporation. As well as the most corrupt.

Monsanto is primarily an insecticide chemical company. Their pride & joy is the Roundup Ready™ soybean, of which there are 23 different varieties. The Roundup Ready™ soybeans are t

he result of a fusion of insecticides and soybeans. This allows Monsanto to spray less than other companies.

How does Monsanto get away with selling genetically mutated soybeans? A handy government loophole, that’s how. In fact, they have even found a way to sell these beans as organic soybeans. “American law permits these crops to be mixed with a small amount of organic soybeans, and the resultant combination may then be labeled organic.”[i] In other words, as long as one soybean in your bag of beans is authentically organic, even if the rest of the bag is filled with insecticide injected soybean mutations, the bag may b

e sold as “organic.” Tricky.

The Monsanto Corporation has over 45 million acres of these Roundup Ready™ soybeans growing in the United States alone.

FDA Involvement

Are Monsanto soybeans really so evil? The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) says they’re fine!

“First of all, the studies submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for demonstrating the safety of genetically altered Roundup Ready™ soybeans were conducted by Monsanto scientists and by direct association could lead to a conflict of interest. Secondly, the tests they conducted on phytoestrogen levels were on unsprayed soybeans.”[ii]

In other words, the tests conducted on Monsanto soybeans were rigged to achieve favourable results.

And here’s a tasty tidbit to keep in mind, well hidden in the FDA’s Poisonous Plant Database: soy. “A search for ‘soy’ in the database reveals 256 references, including studies that warn about goiter, growth problems, amino acid deficiencies, mineral malabsorption, endocrine disruption a

nd carcinogenesis.”[iii]

You Cannot Escape

Soy In Foods

Remember the movie Soylent Green? In it, as part of a conspiracy, soy wa

s being mixed into all foods.

It’s true.

Just try to find a carton of ice cream, a chocolate bar, or any other packaged food that doesn’t have some form of soy in it on your next visit to the supermarket. I dare you.

Soy has even started showing up in nail polishes, lotions, and candles.

To show you just how difficult the challenge I’ve issued you really is, here’s a list of words that really mean “Soy” (taken from The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN.):

Soy Goes By Many Aliases

Food processors are less likely to list the three letter word “soy” than a technical term such as

Textured vegetable protein (TVP)

Textured plant protein

Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP)

Vegetable protein concentrate

Vegetable oil

Monosodium glutamate (MSG)

Ingredient lists also include words such as

Lecithin

Vegetable broth

Boullion

Natural flavors

Mono-diglyceride

that do not necessarily come from soy, but are very likely to.

Soy In Schools

Lastly, a topic that hits close to home: pushing soy in schools.

“The NuMenu program would allow unlimited use of soy in student meals. With soy added to hamburgers, tacos and lasagna, dieticians can get the total fat content below 30 percent of calories, thereby conforming to government dictates.”[i]

Mary Powell, a cafeteria worker from the Glendale Unified School District

provided me with this, the label from one of her most popular menu items:

Take a trip to your own school’s cafeteria. The hot dog buns? The “butter” on the pancakes? Even the meat...

If you thought you were safe, you’re wrong. Soy isn’t coming for you...

...it’s already here.

[1] The Whole Soy Story by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN; page 9

See Also: Liu, KeSun. Soybeans: Chemistry, Technology, and Utilization (Gaithersburg, MD, Aspen)

[1] The Whole Soy Story by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN; page 9

See Also: Katz, Solomon H. “ Food and biocultural evolution: a model for the investigation of modern nutritional problems” in Nutritional Anthropology, Francis E. Johnston, ed.

[1] Nexus Magazine, Volume 7, Number 3. Tragedy and Hype: The Third International Soy Symposium. Fallon, Sally. Enig, Mary G. PhD.

See Also: Katz, Solomon H. “ Food and biocultural evolution: a model for the investigation of modern nutritional problems” in Nutritional Anthropology, Francis E. Johnston, ed. pg. 50

[1] The Whole Soy Story by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN

See Also: Liu, KeSun. Soybeans: Chemistry, Technology, and Utilization (Gaithersburg, MD, Aspen)

Katz, Solomon H. “ Food and biocultural evolution: a model for the investigation of modern nutritional problems” in Nutritional Anthropology, Francis E. Johnston, ed

[1] Nexus Magazine, Volume 7, Number 3. Tragedy and Hype: The Third International Soy Symposium. Fallon, Sally. Enig, Mary G. PhD.

See Also: Katz, Solomon H. “ Food and biocultural evolution: a model for the investigation of modern nutritional problems” in Nutritional Anthropology, Francis E. Johnston, ed. pg. 50

[1] The Whole Soy Story by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN

See Also: Shurtleff, William, Aoyagi, Akiko. The Book of Miso: Food for Mankind (New York, NY, Ballantine, 1976) 448.

Liu, 218.

[1] The Whole Soy Story by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN

See Also: Shurtlef, Aoyagi. The Book of Tempeh, 145-148.

[1] Roex. Dangers of Isoflavones in Soy and Soy-Based Foods.

See Also: Nutrition during Pregnancy and Lactation, California Department of Heatlth

See Also: http://doctorsaredangerous.com/abstracts.html

[1] Hollingsworth, Elaine. Attack of the Killer Bean! The Case Against Soy. Hippocrates Health Centre of Australia.

3 comments:

Lauren R. TharpApril 28, 2010 at 1:47 PM
The formatting on this got a little wonky when I tried to copy/paste it from my Word document. If you would like a copy of the original document, e-mail me.
AnonymousApril 29, 2010 at 1:58 AM
I value the time that you put into this post. I have known about soy being a used as nitrogen fixer and then incorporated as food so as to get more benefit from the work. I was against soy for this reason and that it contains many enzyme inhibitors. I change my tune after reading a book on metabolic individuality that shows that some people actually benefit A LOT from soy, while others are sickened by it. This explains the conflicting research.
Will enjoy reading your work further.
I run a blog dedicated to protein and protein supplements and how to use them healthy. I try to put the same effort in there as you. Check it out: Protein Supplement Guide
Lauren R. TharpApril 29, 2010 at 1:58 PM
Thanks for tuning in!

My blog isn't strictly a "health" blog, but health issues (hypoglycemia, bi-polar disorder, and anti-soybeans issues in particular) tend to come up a lot... I just write about my life and what's going on in it. Or what's important to me. Very rarely will I make a post that's as in-depth as this, but I felt that it was important to raise awareness. I've been in the hospital a few too many times because of soy (I'm very allergic) and that's what originally prompted me to do the research--which lead me to believe that soy wasn't just not good for ME, but for anyone...

Again, thank you for tuning in! Feel free to spread this post around--get the word out. And, if you like, stick around and read about what else is going on in my life.

--Lauren*
http://littlezotz.webs.com

LittleZotz: Personal Blog of Lauren R. Tharp

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

The Truth About Soy

The Soy Conspiracy

The Theory

A History Of Soy

Soy In Asia

Soy In The West

Athletes

Heavy Metal

Anti-Nutrients

Monsanto

FDA Involvement

You Cannot Escape

Soy In Foods

Soy Goes By Many Aliases

Soy In Schools

3 comments:

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