I researched the benefits and risks of soy for four straight days. As a mostly vegetarian eater and big fan of soy, I had hoped to find more benefits than risks but what I found was the opposite. I just wanted to post really quick a summary of what I've learned from multiple sources. I will share my paper and sources soon as well.
Other countries have already started removing soy from infant formulas and adding warning labels to other products containing soy. (Israel, France, New Zealand).
Soy was never proven safe, but was added to infant formulas anyway.
Research that prompted the FDA to approve soy to lower cholesterol was based only on one meta-analysis funded by a big soy producer.
The American Heart Association says that soy does not lower cholesterol but the FDA has still not taken back their approval or admitted their mistake in approving soy for that very use.
Low sperm count, birth defects on the male penis, early puberty for females and delayed puberty in males, are some of the serious effects the estrogen mimicking substances in soy have been linked to.
The effects of soy are most severe on infants especially those eating soy based formula- and on infants in the womb during the critical development periods.
In adults of any age problems of the thyroid, and various cancers, pancreas, esophagus are all linked to soy usage as well as increase risk to those with heart disease (the very thing soy is supposed to help it seems it harms).
Soy- it was supposed to be a wonderfood, but it was given an approval from the very agency that is supposed to protect us without sufficient evidence of its safety and unfortunately the evidence is stacking up against soy in very serious ways- not only is it not a health food it is the opposite, it is a poisen.
The processing most soy proteins used in vegetarian foods leaves the soy with high levels of aluminum. Aluminum has been linked to alzheimers. Not to mention the more processed a food is the less healthy it is for you. To process soy it has to be soaked in acid baths and lots of chemicals processing (not too natural or healthy for us or the environment)
Soy is also very harmful to the environment in other ways, especially genetically modified soy and right now there is not a labelling requirement, so you don't necessarily know if the soy you are using is GMO or not. They don't have to tell you. GMO crops are sprayed with much higher levels of pesticides than others which then leach into the food contaminating the food we eat as well as the earth and species that exposed to those chemicals.
It was awful to read that a food I still have in my fridge right now, is so harmful in so many ways. Especially after trusting that it was safe and healthy. I'm thankful I stopped giving my son soy years ago "just in case" and now I will make the switch as well. It's just better safe than sorry with this much scientific evidence, its not a risk I'm willing to take.
I have been having more health problems since eating "healthier" than I have before, and I now strongly feel there may be a connection with soy. I will see how I feel after eliminating as much soy as I can from my diet.
Soy is in everything and goes by many names so if you want to stop consuming it you will need to learn all of its sneaky disguises and read labels carefully. I just discovered its even in my seasonings! My Vegie seasoning by Spike has soy in it. Soy is in commercial foods like Pizza Hut pizza's, its in paints, shampoos, packaging materials. For someone with an allergy to soy its nearly impossible to avoid.
Our government needs to apologize for endorsing such a toxic product, take necessary steps to remove it from our lives and planet especially the GMO's and stop using the toxic sprays "Round Up" whose side effects on animals and humans are very alarming. Most importantly they need to stop endorsing soy as this miracle food that it is NOT. That is the most frightening thing to me is that this dangerous food with anti-nutrient properties and hormones in it is being endorsed as a health food. What next?
I strongly encourage all of you to look into soy for yourselves, especially those of you who eat vegan/vegetarian diets with soy based meat replacements like veggie burgers, tofurky, soy milks etc. Decide for yourself if the benefit outweighs the risks especially for your children. You cannot trust the FDA to tell you its safe, or the USDA (they have approved soy in school lunches with no limit to how much) so its up to you to research for yourself and decide.
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