Sandra Keros
America has an obsession with soy: soy chips, edamame, tofu, miso, soy protein isolate, just to name a few. They're all soy but not all soy is the same. Most soy products are disguised as health foods, but the highly processed nature of it could put you at risk.
Soy in all its forms is a
goitrogen, which suppresses the thyroid by interfering with iodine uptake. This can lead to heinous-looking
goiters; those already with thyroid disease (
how to tell if you have thyroid disease) are predisposed to them and should avoid soy.
Soy phytoestrogens - what the industry tells us is "good" - actually bumps out the estrogen that our bodies naturally produce. Studies have shown that soy can cause
infertility and promote breast cancer in adult women as well as early precociousness in girls and delayed puberty in boys. For a list of studies showing the toxicity of soy, see
this list.
Go to any American health food store or supermarket shelf and one can see that the food industry has promoted soy as a health food, a staple of healthy Asian cultures. Asians do eat soy, but not as much as the industry promotes. Fish is a main staple of Asian culture, especially on the coasts.
Daily soy consumption in Asian countries ranges from
10-20 grams per day, about a teaspoon, versus 45 grams or more in the U.S. And unlike tofu and most products sold in this country, the small amount of soy they typically eat is in
fermented form, which adds nutritional significance because of the probiotic enzymes created during natural fermentation.
Further, soy is one of the most chemical-intense crops grown on American soil. So the next time you feeling like popping some edamame, make
doubly sure it's organic.
Check out this tell-all report put out by the Cornucopia Institute to see how soy products rank on their
scorecard. If what I've written doesn't phase you, this report will have you think twice before putting that "energy bar" or "soy chip" in your mouth.
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