By Elizabeth Szlek
As I get more and more into the whole Genetically Modified seeds thing, the tragedy that will one day unfold before us seems to creep closer. I just ordered a whole garden of heirloom seeds, and intend, to the best of my ability, to plant them and actually get some return on my gardening efforts. Past forays into vegetable gardening left me with maybe three pumpkins and a couple of tomatoes. It now looks like I really need to produce some food, and perhaps the thing that will make is possible was a big can of anti-rabbit stuff I can spray around, since my resident wild rabbits have been the main recipients of my gardening efforts to date. This year, it’s MY TURN! Which brings me back to soy: A dreadful plague upon us all. We need to look at this stuff once again and firmly fix in our minds what it is! I am turning to Kaala Daniel, whose book The Whole Soy Story is still the best source for a detailed understanding of the problems with soy.
A Very Short History of Soy
The soybean was first cultivated in China, where it was considered “the yellow jewel”, and for several thousand years it ranked with rice, millet, barley and wheat as one of the “Five Sacred Grains”. What few among us know is that soy was never eaten by the Chinese until around 2500 years ago, when the method of fermenting soy into soy sauce was discovered. No, what they did with soy was plough it into the fields, thereby enriching the soil with its nitrogen-fixing roots. Soy was understood to be completely indigestible to both animals and humans in its original state.
So, soy sauce appeared, and other fermented soy products, such as tempeh, natto and miso eventually entered the food pantry of Asians. The key here is the word “fermented”. Fermentation is a beneficial process, whereby certain qualities of a food are changed into something often more healthful or delicious. Think of milk turning into Brie, cabbage into sauerkraut, grape juice into wine, and you get the general picture of fermentation. Yeast also helps turn flour into bread, and brine turns cucumbers into pickles. With soy, though, the original product—the naked soybean -- is considered inedible, and the fermentation makes it usable by the body.
Soy traveled to Japan, and in the 12th century, the Samurai warriors imposed the ascetic diet of rice, vegetables, fish and tofu (in small amounts) upon the population, and they have more or less stuck to this program until now.
Tofu is created from soy milk by precipitating curds by the use of nigari, or magnesium chloride. The curds are then pressed into blocks, creating the famous white, cheesy-looking stuff we all know and (sort of) love. It is interesting to note that monks in Japan, who are celibate, were the first to embrace the use of tofu as a meat substitute. The soy phytoestrogens have the effect of lowering testosterone, and thus making the monks’ commitment to celibacy that much easier. Take note you tofu-munching men! You might want to reconsider your chances at creating progeny!
But I digress. Soy consumption remained a thing of Asia, for the most part, with a few bottles of soy sauce on American shelves for those occasional forays into Chinese cuisine. However, after WWII, American technology and agribusiness concurred that soy was going to provide oil for processed foods, and many millions of acres were planted. Soy oil formed the basis for most margarines (with trans fats). However, there was a problem: Once the oil was extracted, tons of waste products remained. Most of it was fed to livestock for feed, until the amount of the stuff just began to overwhelm American food processors. This is where American innovation just took over. They thought and thought, and began coming up with “food products” made from unfermented soy. Stuff like lecithin, textured vegetable protein, soy flour and soy milks, infant formula, and eventually thousands of other products that are now ubiquitous in our processed foods. Not to mention those horrible little edamame beans.
So What’s Wrong With Soy?
I only have a limited space here, and for those of you who really want to understand this in depth, please get Dr. Daniel’s book mentioned above, but there are many reasons why we should not be eating unfermented soy. The main problem is that soy contains both toxins (poisons) and antinutrients. Antinutrients are elements of a food that work against good nutrition. Here is a short summary of some of the problems soy presents to the human body.
1. Over 90% of soybeans are genetically modified. GM foods present their own problems, but in addition to that fact, all soy is prone to causing allergic reactions, and soy is considered one of the top eight allergens in our diet.
2. Soy contains goitrogens, which damage the thyroid.
3. Soy contains lectins, which cause red blood cells to clump together and may cause immune system reactions.
4. Soy contains oligosaccharides, which cause bloating and flatulence.
5. Soy contains oxalates, which prevent proper absorption of calcium and have been linked to kidney stones and other painful conditions.
6. Soy contains other antinutrients, phytates , which impair absorption of minerals such as zinc, iron and calcium.
7. Soy contains isoflavones, or phytoestrogens (plant estrogens) that act like hormones and affect the reproductive and nervous systems. These include genistein and daidzein.
8. Soy contains protease inhibitors, such as trypsin inhibitors, which interfere with the digestive enzymes protease and trypsin. This can lead to gastric distress, poor protein digestion and an overworked pancreas. This can push one towards diabetes. A friend asked if the protease inhibitors in soy were the same as those in the HIV drugs. Yes, they are the same thing, which is why many HIV patients do develop diabetes and other gastic diseases. I guess it’s a tradeoff, but one which non-HIV people don’t have to make.
9. Soy contains saponins, which may lower cholesterol (but not in a good way) and may damage the intestinal lining.
I don’t know about you, but I think this list is long enough to scare anyone! None of us need to have any of the problems listed above, and if restricting our intake of unfermented soy will do it, I’m all for it!
What to Do?
If you are a reader of food labels, you can immediately see the problem. Soy is added to EVERYTHING these days. And I mean everything. It is rare to find a food in a box that doesn’t contain soy in some form. Again, the goal for better health is to eat foods that are not processed, and which don’t even have labels. And, it is true that the “health foods” sector of the market is heavily invested in pushing unfermented soy-based foods.
There are good substitutes for the substitutes, such as almond milk in the place of soy milk. But, for most Americans, eating processed foods is a way of life, and it will take major changes to remove such unhealthy foods from their diets. Keep reading labels, and avoid unfermented soy!
Elizabeth Szlek is a trained chef and has taught Healthy Cooking and nutrition. She is also the Director of The Door Counseling Center of Utica. Questions and comments can be directed to her at (315) 768-8900 or at info@thedoorcounseling.com.
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