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| | Summary of Problems with SoyAlso Available: Soy Article Links | Health Links | |
More Articles Thai Recipes Cooking Classes Thai Cookbooks This page summarizes some of the best reasons that you ought to consider limiting how much soy you eat. Please visit our page of soy links and educate yourself further. High levels of phytic acid: Phytic acid interferes with the assimilation of minerals, including calcium, magnesium, and zinc, from the small intenstine. This can be neutralized in soy by fermentation (as in miso) but not by long cooking. Growth problems in children have been linked to diets high in phytic acid. Anti-thyroid activity: Soy contains phytoestrogens that are anti-thyroid agents that cause hypothyrodism. (See "Do Soy Foods Negatively Affect the Thyroid" by Mary J. Shoman) Soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid diseases in infants. Contains many toxins: Among the toxins formed during the processing of soy are lysinoalanine, carcinogenic nitrosamines, and the neurotoxin free glutamic acid (MSG). Soy foods also contain high levels of aluminum, which damages the kidneys and the nervous system. Contains trypsin inhibitors: Trypsin Inhibitors interfere with protein digestion and may cause pancreatic disorders. Trypsin inhibitors caused stunted growth in test animals. Contains phytoestrogens: The phytoestrogens in soy disrupt endocrine function. They have the potential to cause infertility and to promote breast cancer in adult women. They are especially harmful to children: feeding infants soy formula is roughly equivalent to giving them five birth control pills daily. Increases need for certain vitamins: Our bodies do not absorb the vitamin B12 analogs in soy and soy actually increase the body's requirement for B12. Soy foods also increase the body's requirements for vitamin D. Soy and the brain: A long-term study of Japanese Americans in Hawaii found a close correlation between "accelerated brain aging" and two servings of tofu a week. Particpants who ate tofu in mid-life had lower cognitive function and a greater incidence of Alzheimer's disease and dementia later in life. (See The Trouble With Tofu: Soy and the Brain by John D. MacArthur.) Follow-up Visit our page of Soy Article Links for further reading. If you are going to read just one article, read Tragedy and Hype by Mary G. Enig, Ph.D. and Sally Fallon or The Shadow of Soy or, How I stopped loving and learned to worry about the bean by Sean Carson. See Also: Soy Article Links | Health Links Options: Index of articles | Thai recipes | Cooking classes | Thai cookbooks | Return to top | Contact Kasma | ||
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