Soy and Asthma
Dear Dr. Daniel: I live in a city which has a high level of ozone and particulates, but I lived here for many years without making my asthma worse. Then I started drinking soy milk with the intention of improving my health. I was so into soy milk that I even purchased a soy milk machine. I didn't make the connection until reading your article inNexus. Quitting soy milk has greatly helped. I am pursuing a nearly vegan diet to lose weight, with occasional side trips for a small steak and ice cream. I'd like to do the Weston Price diet but I'd get fat on it. I know what I'm doing is not scientifically great, but it could be worse. Thank you for your work.- -MH Dear MH, Glad you made the connection between soy milk and asthma. I have heard similar stories from many people. It's important to stay as soyfree as possible. That includes not using soyfree inhalers -- Flovent and other some other brands include soy in their propellants -- and not breathing soyfree air. Beware of bulk bin aisles of health food stores -- where there may be soybean dust -- and highways -- where you may be exposed to the exhaust of motorcycles or cars using biodiesel fuel. You may be interested to know that epidemiologists consider soybean dust to be an “epidemic asthma agent.” From 1981 -1987, soy dust from grain silo unloading in the harbor of Barcelona, Spain, caused 26 epidemics of asthma, seriously jeopardizing 687 people and leading to 1,155 hospitalizations. No further epidemics occurred after filters were installed, but a minor outbreak in 1994 established the need for diligent monitoring of preventive measures. Soy asthma epidemics have also occurred in New Orleans harbor and elsewhere. People who work in bakeries and other places using soy flour or other soy ingredients are prone to developing what's called “occupational asthma.” I am happy that your health has improved just from removing soy milk from your diet. However, I would strongly recommend that you reconsider your mostly vegan diet as it will not support the healing of asthma.The best weight loss plan is found in the book Eat Fat/Lose Fat by Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon. It recommends coconut oil, butter and other good fats to nourish the thyroid and support the immune system – weak points for anyone suffering from allergies or asthma. Contrary to popular belief, we need saturated fats. Indeed the lungs cannot work properly without them. The reason is that lung surfactant --a fluid that enables the lungs to work properly -- needs to be 100 percent saturated. When people consume polyunsaturated fats -- as would be true with a vegan diet-- the lungs do not work as effectively. Research has linked the consumption of trans fats and excess polyunsaturated oils to the rising incidence of asthma in children. Children who consume a lot of butter have much lower rates of asthma and also lower rates of allergies. Your body has been craving steak and ice cream because of its need for good saturated fat. Help your body by procuring the highest quality grass fed meat and full fat raw dairy products, preferably raw. If you are going to eat ice cream, make sure it's a high-end product and choose the flavors with the highest fat and lowest sugar content. Vegans will improve their chances if they at least use co
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Dr. Daniels is totally right about asthma/allergy and immune system deficiencies being linked to veganism. I was a vegan, mostly for health reasons and to lose weight too! Here’s the funny thing, I didn’t lose weight, I gained weight, and also gained a ton of other health issues in such a short amount of time.
I had a fear of fat before too, and I was able to get over it by witnessing in my own body how much it benefited from removing damaged fats and denatured food, and adding good sources of saturated fats and avoiding processed foods, including processed dairy.
Following the Eat Fat, Lose Fat model developed by Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon, I was satisfied all the time, and my body switched to a fat burning instead of sugar burning metabolism it was on when I was vegan. After almost two years of nourishing traditional foods, I’m still dealing with the ramifications on my digestive system from consuming too many plant based foods on the vegan diet.
Here’s one very obvious and interesting correlation that I discovered about myself as a former vegan; I had asthma as a child, then it went away for over ten years, once I started vegetarianism and eventually veganism, it came back with a vengeance. Almost instantly being off the vegan diet, adding saturated fats and healing my body with healthy animal sources of nutrients, my asthma completely went away, so has my depression, extra weight, skin problems, and I’m not on any medications at all, and the list goes on.
One important thing: I strictly avoid pasteurized dairy – I believe that’s a big one when addressing asthma, in particular.