Soy Dangers?

[freebd99]

I was wondering what thought anyone had about articles talking about the dangers of soy (isoflavones) as well as soy milk, tofu, and other soy products. I'm a bit confused about the effects of soy on the body. One side says isoflavones are good the next says it's not good. I got information on the dangers of soy just by doing a search on the net with the search criteria "soy dangers" and I get a wealth of articles discussing soy not being as healthy as we thought.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Anna
:-)

[reb_granger]

Hi Anna,

The increased popularity of soy has made it a target for criticism, especially by competing market interests (read: the dairy industry etc.) You'll be surprised to find that many of these studies are actually funded by the dairy industry!

The Chinese/Japanese have enjoyed diets rich in soy for centuries, and they're in general very healthy, even enviably so. Of course, their good health could be attributed to other factors, but it just goes to show that soy does not do enormous damage!

Eating soy in moderation poses no health risks, unless you're allergic to soy. In fact, soy is recognised as a health food all around the world. However, if you eat only soy products all day long, then it's time to bring some variety to your diet. Too much of anything is bad - water included!

[Erin Pavlina]

I think a lot of people are concerned with the over processed nature of some soy products these days. It's true that in the olden days, soy was really great and healthy. Today, a lot of companies are over processing it and I think that is where people are having trouble.

Use it in moderation, try to use it in it's purest forms, etc. But I wouldn't worry too much anyway. There are worse things you could be eating if you know what I mean. ;)

[sophie]

My main worry with soy is that it is widely GE. I agree with all things in moderation, we cut our soy intake right back as I felt unsure about the children having it as a total dairy substitute, now they drink rice milk and enriched rice milk, (my daughter is soy intolerant anyway) and we use a little tofu or soy yogurt, but definitely don't base our diet around it. I also believe that a lot of the controversy relates back to the dairy board fighting for supremacy.

[reb_granger]

I've also heard that people are concerned about soy being over-processed, and I'd really like to know more about that. Is commercially-made tofu also over-processed? What about Silk soymilk?