My g-friend and I have almost become vegetarians in the last few months and have been eating large amounts of soy…milk, tofu, tempeh etc… In our quest for knowledge we stumbled across some information on soy that is quite disturbing…any opinions/experience on this?
http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/index.html
IMNSHO, you can ignore anything posted on this guy’s web site. Utter bullshit, I deem most of it.
Ken Lehner
The only negatives I have seen to soy are theories relating to greater tooth decay and possible pregnancy complications. I’m skeptical, especially about the tooth decay thing. I’ve been vegetarian for 14 years and vegan for 11 and still have no cavities, despite drinking way too much soda.
The Price website does not seem to present very balanced coverage. It seems to be kind of a “Fox news” for nutrition.
Utter bullshit may be a little strong, but I think most comprehensive analyses support a health benefit from soy protein. The phytoestrogens found in soy, however, do have hormonal effects, which may be beneficial in some cases (osteoporosis prevention, for example) but might not be good in all cases. Don’t worry too much about it, but personally I wouldn’t make soy my only source of protein.
SOY LEADS TO KIDNEY STONES!!!
http://www.mercola.com/2001/oct/27/soy_kidney_stones.htm
You might want to read this…as someone who is currently battling a stone, I can tell you I’ll be avoiding soy products all together!
Tri_gear
"I’m really easy to get along with once you people learn to
see it my way."
Note that Mr. Mercola’s website is trying to sell you his book and so he is only going to post articles that support his beliefs.
http://healingcrow.com/soy/soy.html http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/
More references to the original site. “Informative” anecdotal tales including the web author’s own that he ate 5,000 calories a day on the Atkins diet and lost 7 pounds the first week! Probably didn’t occur to him that all the weight loss was water…
The latter is an anonymous site, so one cannot determine the level of bias. Of course, it claims to be a bunch of private citizens from New Zealand and the U.S.; now, what is one of the big exports of New Zealand (besides Lord of the Rings)? Also, this group claims to have published a bunch of stuff in journals; pretty good work for a bunch of private citizens. A quick look at one of the papers (some of the links are bad) shows the authors to be associated with the “animal industry” (veterinarians, etc.). Not that the research is tainted; I am in no way able to determine the validity of the research.
Be it known that I have no dog in this fight; I do have issues with misinformation. These sites look like pro-meat industry efforts to fight a major competitor.
Here are some links to studies (all gleaned from the USDA web site; use your judgment):
http://warp.nal.usda.gov/ttic/tektran/data/000008/54/0000085450.html
http://warp.nal.usda.gov/ttic/tektran/data/000007/76/0000077627.html
http://warp.nal.usda.gov/ttic/tektran/data/000012/45/0000124583.html
Ken Lehner
There is a danger in over-consuming most foods. There is a greater danger in overconsuming “protein foods” but soy is not nearly as bad as animal protein overconsumption.
No need to think you need to eat large amounts of soy because you used to eat that much protein from animal sources. Soy is not used as a ‘substitute’ in countries that it originated in.
The only food that seems to be able to be consumed in very large amounts without any detrimental effects are most fruits and veges (raw) - eat them lots and plenty.