The Whole Soy Story

Hello: I  have 2 vegans in my household and they eat quite a bit of commercial soy (meatless) products. Are there any, that you know of that I could order or buy that have been processed correctly so that it is not harmful. I am very, very interested in reading your book and have ordered it!  Thank you, Mary

Dear Mary, The only soy products that are truly healthy for your family to eat are old-fashioned fermented products miso, natto and tempeh.   A little tofu once in awhile would also not be a problem.   Modern industrially processed products — including soy milk, soy nuts  as well as veggie burgers, energy bars or other products using soy protein isolate and similar modern soy ingredients definitely pose risks.  Vegans are a high risk group because so many consume excess amounts of soy and use it as both meat and dairy replacement.

I recommend your family closely read  The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith, not only for its discussion of soy but of the deficiencies of vegan diets in general.    My book The Whole Soy Story discusses the specific risks of soy in great depth.   Thank you for already ordering it.    Good luck to you and your family.

Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, is The Naughty Nutritionist™ because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths. A popular guest on radio and television, she has appeared on The Dr Oz Show, ABC’s View from the Bay, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy and numerous other shows. Her own radio show, “Naughty Nutrition with Dr. Kaayla Daniel” debuted this spring on World of Women (WOW) Radio. Dr Daniel is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, a popular speaker at Wise Traditions and other conferences, a Board Member of the Weston A. Price Foundation and recipient of its 2005 Integrity in Science Award. Her website is www.naughtynutritionist.com and she can be reached at Kaayla@DrKaaylaDaniel.com.

Dear Kaayla, I am so terribly sorry to hear about the deaths of Richard and Valerie James. That is truly devastating news. What an amazing legacy they have left behind for the world. A testimony to the people they were I am sure.  I got very sick a few years ago and have turned to nutrition to help set me aright. Yet, something that should seemingly be easy (i.e. figuring out what to eat) is actually a very daunting task. After working with a nutritionist here in the U.S. for months and after reading her assigned reading (mainly The China Study and Dr. Robert Young’s alkaline diet books) I went vegan, because the case presented was so compelling. But then I get newsletters from Dr. Mercola’s website condemning veganism with many testimonies and studies backing him up as well. It all becomes so overwhelming. I find myself throwing my hands up in the air asking myself, “Who do I listen to? Who is right?” Ah! I suppose, the answer is, I listen to my own body. And my body certainly does not do well with soy. I am cutting it out completely. I am terrified that a food could have such a nasty effect on human health, and even more shocked that soy is sold as a “health food.”  Thank you for your help .    – Cathy

Dear Cathy,   Many people have been led astray nutritionwise because of the growing fashionability of vegan diets and increasing numbers of vegan nutritionists.    You might be interested in reading some articles about the multiple ways T. Colin Campbell misued science and statistics in  The China Study. You can start with  Chris Masterjohn’s  blog  on the westonaprice.org website.   In addition, do check out Denise Minger’s work.  If you google “China Study” and “Denise Minger” the articles and discussion pages should come right up.   To sum it up, Masterjohn and Minger do a convincing job of discrediting Campbell.

Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, is The Naughty Nutritionist™ because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths. A popular guest on radio and television, she has appeared on The Dr Oz Show, ABC’s View from the Bay, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy and numerous other shows. Her own radio show, “Naughty Nutrition with Dr. Kaayla Daniel” debuted this spring on World of Women (WOW) Radio. Dr Daniel is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, a popular speaker at Wise Traditions and other conferences, a Board Member of the Weston A. Price Foundation and recipient of its 2005 Integrity in Science Award. Her website is www.naughtynutritionist.com and she can be reached at Kaayla@DrKaaylaDaniel.com.

What is edamame?   Is it soy?  — Al

Edamame is the Japanese word for sweet, green vegetable soybeans.  They are harvested at the point when the beans are well developed but still soft and green.  Boiled or steamed in the pod for up to 20 minutes, they are salted, removed from the pod and served chilled.  In Japanese restaurants, I’ve seen them offered as an appetizer, green vegetable or an ingredient in salads.  Americans, however, have found a whole new way to eat edamame –  snacking on big bags of it in front of TV.   This practice has taken off to such an extent that Whole Foods, Costco and other food emporia now dedicate whole freezer cases to edamame.    It’s rare to find fresh edamame in such stores.   Most is sold frozen either with or without the pods.  Historically, edamame was unpopular because of the time-consuming challenge of hulling it.   Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was frustrated for years because he wanted to can edamame but found it uneconomical.  That changed for him in 1935 when  Henry Ford’s Edison Institute came up with a reliable mechanical process.    Kellogg would be amazed today to find so many snackers who find the shelling to be part of the attraction.

Do you say “The edamame is delicious?”    Or do you you say “The edamame are delicious?”  —   Stickler

Dear Stickler,   Would I call edamame delicious?   Probably not.  I mean it’s okay as a lima bean substitute .  . .  , but please bring back the old fordhooks.    But I digress.   You really want to know if the word edamame  is singular or plural, don’t you?    As I understand it, its meaning can be either singular or plural in Japanese, but is typically used as a collective.    So what  I’d say is “Edamame is on the menu but so is ikura (salmon roe).  Given the choice between cholesterol and chlorophyll, The Naughty Nutritionist™ will  opt for cholesterol every time.”

I thought edamame was like so good for you!  Really, seriously,  it’s not?  I mean it’s a natural bean still in its shell, how can it not be  good for you?   — Ariel

Dear Ariel,  A little once in awhile, as in the small quantities served as an appetizer in many Japanese restaurants is fine for most people.   No worries unless you are allergic.   The problem today is , a lot of people are noshing on edamame like its popcorn.   And doing so night after night.   Bottom line is the quantities of antinutrients and toxins in the edamame collective  add up quickly.   Edamame can thus put you at risk for digestive distress, thyroid disorders, immune system breakdown, reproductive problems, etc.     I’d also suggest it is “really, seriously” naive to think  “natural” is always “safe” and “good for you.”    Raw or undercooked “natural beans in their shells” are notorious producers of gas and other digestive distress.   And if that doesn’t convince you that there are some hazards to beans, you might want to  Google “favism.”

Please elaborate on edamame. I like to give it to my children.  I’m confused because I thought it was a good and healthy raw health food –  Edda Mama

Dear Edda Mama,   You don’t want to eat edamame raw.  Ever.   It must be cooked.   Even then, it will retain some antinutrients, toxins and phytoestrogens.   These will add up, putting you and your children at risk, if not sooner, later.   Risk is not certainty, but for  the reasons noted above, please don’t  let your children overindulge.

I have got a bag of frozen green soya beans in my freezer and wanted to have these in a salad. Your website is making me believe this may not be a good idea.  Would it be best to sprout them first? I have a seed sprouter in my cupboard and could do this quite easily.  What is the effect of sprouting soya beans on their toxins and so on? —   Ingrid.

Dear Ingrid,   If you put a few edamame beans on your salad once in awhile I would not worry about it, unless, of course, you are allergic to soy.   No reason to throw out the bag but also no reason to buy more.   I would not recommend sprouting soybeans as it concentrates the toxins.   Long-term fermentation neutralizes them, but short-term sprouting concentrates them.

How can edamame be a problem.  It’s simple, natural and been eaten in Asia for at least 5,000 years. –  Peter

Dear Peter,   Edamame is a definitely a low-tech soy product.   Common sense would suggest it’s been around for a long time.  But historian William Shurtleff of the Soyfoods Center in Lafayette, CA, knows of no early references to green vegetable soybeans in China.    An herbal guide from 1406 (Ming Dynasty) indicates the whole pods of young soybeans could be eaten or ground for use with flour, but it recommended such uses only during times of famine.     A Materia Medica from 1620  recommends edamame, but only for the medicinal purpose of killing “bad or evil chi.”  By 1929, however,  edamame was definitely on some menus.  William Morse of the USDA reported on a field trip to China that “as early as May, small bundles of plants with full grown pods were seen on the market.  At  the present time the market is virtually flooded with bundles of plants with full grown pods, the seeds of which are also full grown.  The pods are boiled in salt water and the beans eaten from the pods.”   As for your dateline,  many people talk about soy being eaten by Asians for 5,000 or even 10,000 years or “since time immemorial.”   Anthropology and history texts do not support this idea.   The oldest soyfoods,  miso and tofu  date back only about 2,500 years.   Contrary to popular belief,, soy was not eaten as a food 5,000 years ago, but it was highly regarded for its role in crop rotation.

Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, is The Naughty Nutritionist™ because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths. A popular guest on radio and television, she has appeared on The Dr Oz Show, ABC’s View from the Bay, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy and numerous other shows. Her own radio show, “Naughty Nutrition with Dr. Kaayla Daniel” debuted this spring on World of Women (WOW) Radio. Dr Daniel is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, a popular speaker at Wise Traditions and other conferences, a Board Member of the Weston A. Price Foundation and recipient of its 2005 Integrity in Science Award. Her website is www.naughtynutritionist.com and she can be reached at Kaayla@DrKaaylaDaniel.com.

Dear Dr. Daniel, The deaths of Peter Jennings and Dana Reeve put the fear of lung cancer into me.  Mrs. Reeve had never even smoked and now we’re hearing about many other cases of lung cancer in people like her. This week’s New Yorker even has a story about hospice care and the tragic last days of a 34 year old woman who died of lung cancer, not long after giving birth to a baby.    What is causing all these tragedies?Do you have any reason to think that soy could be responsible? –ST

Dear ST: As you might guess, the soy industry claims that soy protects against lung cancer.  The evidence for that is dubious at best.    Right now I’ve got little evidence that soy causes it.   It’s also important to say that soy rarely is the sole cause of health problems, most of which are affected by a multitude of dietary and environmental risk factors.    That said, it’s  certainly possible that increased vegetable oil consumption, including soy oil,  in the American diet could be responsible.  As I discussed in my answer to the question above, healthy lungs and immune systems depend on saturated fats.

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 coconut oil.

Dear Dr. Daniel:   Is there any evidence that eating soy can cause behavioral changes?   Recently my 7 yr. old son ate edamame and experienced a very noticeable change in behavior (extremely hyper, upset and not paying attention) which occurred approximately 2 ½ hrs. after eating soybeans.  He ate the edamame at the food bar at Whole Foods; we know they were organic and not genetically modified.  As a baby he was fed some soy formula to supplement breast milk.  As a toddler we gave him soymilk; during this time, he also went through the same aforementioned behavior.  This is why we suspect a food intolerance, but are not sure. Any information you can shed on this is greatly appreciated.”–WF

Dear WF:   We have massive evidence linking soy to behavioral disorders, especially ADD/ADHD, as discussed in Chapter 21 of The Whole Soy Story. This could be caused by manganese toxicity, the phytoestrogens in soy or both.    However, your son seems to be reacting to  soy exposure rather than experiencing an ongoing problem due to manganese or phytoestrogen interference with brain function.    I suspect he is  allergic to soy and should eliminate it from his diet completely as discussed in my article “Soy Recovery Part I.”    My second article “Soy Recovery: The Toxic Metal Component” may also help your son.   Both are available on this website.    Soy is now one of the top 8 allergens, and is increasing so much that many experts believe it will soon move into the top four.   I discuss soy allergies in Chapters 24 and 25 ofThe Whole Soy Story, and have answered many questions about coping with soy allergies on my website www.soyfreesolutions.com.    A Nourishing Traditions diet may prove very helpful.    Good luck.

Dear Kaayla:  If soy isoflavones are so deleterious to our brains, then why do menopausal women always get told to combat their hot flashes with soy isoflavones? Doesn’t this just hasten the overall aging, starting with the brain?  So what should we do instead–maybe red clover?

Dear Wendy:  The soy industry heavily promotes the myth that soy is safe and all-natural HRT and the ticket to a healthy and easy menopause. The truth is the studies on soy and menopause are inconsistent and contradictory at best. Soy might alleviate hot flashes in some women, but there are well proven risks to the thyroid. Red clover contains coumestans, another type of phytoestrogen. In terms of a comfortable passage through menopause, I’d recommend a Nourishing Traditions type diet perhaps with some heavy metal detoxification, adrenal support, thyroid nourishment, liver cleansing and other work as indicated by laboratory assessment and work with an alternative MD or other health care practitioner. Good luck.

Dear Dr. Daniel,    I would like to take PC,  GPC and PS as part of my anti aging program   These products come from soy.   Do you see a downside for me?   –    Jon

Dear Jon:   I can’t really evaluate your situation since I am not familiar with your diet, lifestyle, health history or lab reports.  That said, phosphatidyl choline glycerylphosphorylcholine  and phosphatidyl serine are widely recommended by alternative medical doctors and other health practitioners as anti-aging supplements that can promote and preserve brain function and mental acuity. They are also widely included in nutritional protocols designed for people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and for those recovering from damage from stroke.

However, they might not work as well as you might hope.  The fact that PC, GPC and PS products almost always derive from soy oil is problematic on a number of levels.  First of all, most of the scientific studies proving the efficacy of phosphatidyl serine come from bovine sources, which also contain DHA as part of the structure.  Because of the Mad Cow scare, bovine-derived PS isn’t likely to show up in the marketplace soon.

The biggest problem with a vegan version of PS  is that plant oils never contain ready-made DHA. Indeed, the entire fatty acid structure of soy-derived PS is different from that of bovine-derived PS. The latter is rich in stearic and oleic acids, while soy PS is rich in linoleic and palmitic acids. Complicating matters further,  Dr. Mary Enig, PhD, MACN, has pointed out that the PS naturally formed in the human body consists of 37.5 percent stearic acid and 24.2 percent arachidonic acid.  Despite these differences, soy-derived PS has proved helpful to many people.

A fish oil or egg-derived PS, which would naturally contain DHA, would probably perform better in the body and brain than any plant- sourced product.   I have heard of at least one company — Enzymotec USA — that hopes to bring such a PS to the market soon.   Although a sunflower oil-derived PS would also fail to match the superior fatty acid structure of animal sourced PS, it would offer the advantage of being soy free and thus suitable for the growing numbers of people who are allergic to soy.

Dr Daniel,  Does anyone know if soy lecithin has been linked to the brain shrinkage problem? I’ve heard tofu will damage my brain.   Is my brain safe with lecithin?  — Fred

Dear Fred:    I  think you might be referring to the work of Dr. Lon White, a neuro-epidemiologist with the Pacific Health Institute in Honolulu.   Dr White and colleagues showed that men and women who ate tofu at least twice per week experienced accelerated brain aging, diminished cognitive ability and were more than twice as likely to be clinically diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.  MRI scans showed enlarged ventricles while autopsies revealed atrophied brains with lower weights. Subjectively, the researchers couldn’t help but notice that by age 75 to 80, the tofu eaters looked about five years older than those who had abstained.

The soy industry claims “the tofu effect” is just a fluke, but the statistical probability of the results being true varied from 95 to 99 percent, depending upon the particular brain aging endpoint. The investigators also searched for – but failed to find – confounding factors such as age, education, obesity or other food and drinks.   The study has earned high marks from researchers not on the soy industry’s payroll, including Dan Sheehan, PhD and Daniel Doerge, PhD at the FDA’s National Laboratory for Toxicological research in Jefferson, Arkansas.who stated, “Given the great difficulty in discerning the relationship between exposures and long latency adverse effects in the human population and the potential mechanistic explanation for the epidemiological findings, this is an important study. It is one of the more robust, well-designed prospective epidemiological studies generally available.”

White has hypothesized that the isoflavones in tofu and other soy foods caused the adverse effects in the brain. In fact, numerous animal studies show that soy isoflavones interfere with an enzyme called tyrosine kinase in the hippocampus, a brain region involved with learning and memory. Elevated levels of phytoestrogens in the brain also cause decreases in brain calcium-binding protein (needed for protection against neuro-degenerative diseases) and in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (essential to the survival and genesis of brain cells). Finally the soy isoflavone genistein reduces DNA synthesis in the brain, reducing the birth of new brain cells and promoting apoptosis and cell death.  For references, go to The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, pages 307-308.

It is important to state clearly here that soy oil contains low or no isoflavone content, and that a lecithin, derived from soy oil would be highly unlikely to contain isoflavones.   The above studies linking soy to cognitive decline are irrelevant in terms of health risks from lecithin .  But given the fact that soy has been linked to cognitive decline, dementia, brain atrophy and neurodegenerative disease, it would not be wise to start swigging soy milk or feasting on tofu.

Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, is The Naughty Nutritionist™ because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths. A popular guest on radio and television, she has appeared on The Dr Oz Show, ABC’s View from the Bay, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy and numerous other shows. Her own radio show, “Naughty Nutrition with Dr. Kaayla Daniel” debuted this spring on World of Women (WOW) Radio. Dr Daniel is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, a popular speaker at Wise Traditions and other conferences, a Board Member of the Weston A. Price Foundation and recipient of its 2005 Integrity in Science Award. Her website is www.naughtynutritionist.com and she can be reached at Kaayla@DrKaaylaDaniel.com.

Dear Dr. Daniel:  I react terribly to chocolate.   Now a friend tells me I might really be reacting to the lecithin.  Is this possible?   — Sandy

Dear Sandy:  It’s certainly possible.   Try a soy-free chocolate and find out.    But don’t think you need to eat chocolate. A lot of health claims are being made for it, but I think they are greatly exaggerated.   Likewise, it’s supposed to the classic “naughty” food, but this Naughty Nutritionist™ hasn’t found firm evidence, so to speak!

Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, is The Naughty Nutritionist™ because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths. A popular guest on radio and television, she has appeared on The Dr Oz Show, ABC’s View from the Bay, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy and numerous other shows. Her own radio show, “Naughty Nutrition with Dr. Kaayla Daniel” debuted this spring on World of Women (WOW) Radio. Dr Daniel is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, a popular speaker at Wise Traditions and other conferences, a Board Member of the Weston A. Price Foundation and recipient of its 2005 Integrity in Science Award. Her website is www.naughtynutritionist.com and she can be reached at Kaayla@DrKaaylaDaniel.com.

Dear Kaayla,  I am now avoiding soy.  Do I need to avoid soy lecithin?   The vitamins I take contain soy lecithin in vegetable glaze.  The company says the amount of soy lecithin is so tiny that the amount is not required to be listed.  Do I need to avoid this vitamin?  Do I need to find a soy lecithin-free vitamin.     Thank you for this website and your book! – Doris

Dear Doris,  Are you allergic to soy?    If so, I’d take the precaution of finding a soy-free vitamin.  But if you are avoiding it because you  are  at risk for — or already suffer from — thyroid, reproductive  problems,  breast cancer or other health reasons, I’d put my energy into avoiding soy protein or soy oil.   As for lecithin, it’s difficult to avoid if you like processed and packaged foods.  Lecithin, as you’ve already found out,  is also present in many supplements.  For most people the occasional product with lecithin won’t be a problem, but please focus on eating real foods.

Although The Soy Connection, an industry newsletter, has stated that highly refined oils and lecithin “are safe for the soy-allergic consumer,” many allergic persons who put their trust in such reassurances have ended up in the hospital.   If soy lecithin were 100 percent free of soy protein, it would not provoke allergic symptoms.    However, the variable manufacturing conditions, quality controls and processing methods used by the vegetable oil industry make the presence of at least trace amounts of soy protein possible – and even likely – in soy oil or soy lecithin.  Likewise,  highly susceptible people cannot use supplements containing soy-derived Vitamin E, phosphatidyl choline (PC) , glycerylphosphorylcholine (GPC)  or phosphatidyl serine (PS) safely.

Dear Dr Kaayla,   What is lecithin?  Is it soy?   Should I take lecithin supplements? My ND thinks I should.  — Jessie

Dear Jessie:   Lecithin is an emulsifying substance found in the cells of all living organisms.     It was discovered in 1806 by Maurice Gobley, a French scientist who named it lekithos after the Greek word for egg yolk   Lecithin can be found in many foods including cabbage, cauliflower, garbanzo beans, soy beans, split peas, organic meat, seeds and nuts, but the best source by far is eggs.  Until it was recovered from the waste products of soybean processing in the 1930s, egg yolk was the primary source of commercial lecithin.   Today most lecithin supplements derive from soybeans, though a sunflower lecithin is also available.

Lecithin products are  widely marketed to promote cardiovascular health, reverse liver damage, improve brain function and memory.   Your naturopathic doctor might be right about your diet not providing enough lecithin to protect your cells.  That would certainly be true if you’ve been afraid to eat eggs and have stuck to a “healthy” lowfat, low-cholesterol diet.  The solution though is not the supplements he or she has suggested, but a Weston A Price Foundation type  diet rich in eggs, especially the egg yolks.

Dear Dr. Daniel: First, thank you so much for being so generous and sharing your email address with us. I am an Institute of Integrative Nutrition (IIN) student and just heard your talk and Sally Fallon’s talk and I have been so distressed. I mainly eat vegetarian so conversation about vegetarian options is very important to me; especially when it reduces the amount of choices there are.

A few years ago I started hearing about the negatives associated with soy products and switched to almond milk and drastically reduced our consumption of soy products. The one soy product I have been consistently using and loving for years is a powder for a smoothie called _______. I have attached the label and would appreciate your taking a look at the ingredients. It also says on the front label ‘Identity Preserved Soy 24 mg of isoflavones per serving). I don’t know what that means but hope it’s good. I have been a rep for this company for years and have benefited greatly by using their products. This drink makes me feel so good and satisfied every day, and I am really upset at the thought of it not being healthy for me. I have shown it to so many dieticians and nutritionists and have always gotten such positive feedback so I hope you will look and tell me if you think it is bad for me.

I will also tell you that I have a low thyroid and have been taking 90 mg of Armour Thyroid for the last 40 years. It has helped but not as much as when I add these juice and juice plus soy products.

I do want to be healthy and help others improve their health, so I am open to your honest opinion.

Also, and very important, are plant milks (i.e. almond, hemp, oat, etc). I’ve tried finding if there is any negative information out plant milks but aside from rice milk, I haven’t found any negative. Are they healthy? Thank you, thank you for your help. To your best health, NP

Dear NP: Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I can’t drink to this product!  I have serious concerns about this juice drink for anyone, but especially for someone with thyroid problems. My first concern is with 24 mg of isoflavones per serving. A Japanese study at the Ishizuki Clinic found that just 35 mg of isoflavones per day caused thyroid suppression in healthy individuals in just three months. If you drink just one serving per day, you will come in under that, but that too would be a high level in susceptible individuals. It is also highly likely that you are getting soy isoflavones or other phytoestrogens in other products as well. This will definitely be the case if you follow the manufacturer’s suggestion of taking the product mixed with one cup of soy milk. Isoflavone content varies from glass to glass to glass of soy milk, depending upon the brand, the year, the growing conditions of the crop and other factors, but the likelihood is high that a glass of soy milk contains about 45 mg.

Boosting the thyroid (with Armour) while also depressing it (with soy isoflavones) has a strong “push me, pull me” effect that puts stress on the thyroid. Environmental scientist Mike Fitzpatrick PhD points out this is the classic way that researchers induce thyroid tumors in laboratory animals. The fact that soy is “natural” does not make it safe or weak. A single serving of a drink such as this has several times the goitrogenic potency of the pharmacetuical thyroid-inhibiting drugs methimazole and 6-propylthiouracel. Knowledgeable physicians now recommend taking thyroid medications separately from drinking soy milk or other products.  Christiane Northrup, MD, author of Women’s Bodies/ Women’s Wisdom and other books, and a longtime proponent of soy consumption, makes this recommendation.

I must also object to an unwarranted – and probably illegal – health claim on the label of the product you are taking. It says that one scoop of the product “contains 24 mg of isoflavones, regarded as essential to today’s women’s health issues.” Essential? One scoop puts a woman’s thyroid at risk, as stated above. One scoop stirred into soy milk and drunk by a woman of reproductive age could alter her menstrual cycles and hormone patterns in ways indicative of infertility. One scoop every day would also be risky for a woman who has been diagnosed with – or has a family history of – breast cancer. So many studies have linked soy breast cell proliferation, (a well known marker of breast cancer risk) that warnings have been issued by the Israeli Health Ministry, French Food Agency, German Institute of Risk Assessment and Cornell University’s Center for Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors. As for this product helping a woman sail through menopause, the evidence on soy and menopause is inconsistent and contradictory, according to a review by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Please visit the website www.soyonlineservice.co.nz, where you will find numerous letters from people whose thyroid problems have developed or been worsened by eating or drinking soy products. This website also includes many abstracts of studies involving soy and the thyroid.  More than 70 years of studies, after all, link soy to thyroid dysfunction.    I’d also recommend that you read my book The Whole Soy Story, particularly chapters 26 on soy isoflavones, chapter 27 on soy and the thyroid, chapter 29 on soy and the reproductive system and chapter 30 on soy and cancer.

In addition to the isoflavone danger, I have other concerns with this product’s fructose content. Though not as bad as High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), the evidence is mounting that it is addictive and more harmful than sugar. For more information, search this website and also www.mercola.com.

Reviewing the label, I must also point out that much of the high vitamin content comes from added supplements and not from the powdered vegetables and fruits. That’s to be expected given that true Vitamin A and D3 do not occur in any plant foods. This means your “healthy” green drink is actually a rather incomplete multi in a overpriced package loaded up with fructose and soy isoflavones. I do not know why you feel better taking it. With any such product, risk is not certainty. Perhaps you are getting a sugar hit. Maybe you are so protein deficient that your body responds positively even to inferior soy protein. Another possible explanation is the soy isoflavones stimulate the thyroid, giving you more energy for the time being. Sadly, this daily “whipping” is likely to lead to thyroid exhaustion and slowdown over the long term. You may also just need the vitamins and minerals because of overall deficiencies in your diet.

Since you are mainly vegetarian, I would recommend you go to the Home page of this website and take our “vegetarian tour.” If you intend to remain vegetarian, I would suggest eating lots of free-range eggs and a raw dairy products to get much needed fats, fat-soluble vitamins, cholesterol and high-quality protein. For more info on safety and availability of raw dairy, visitwww.realmilk.com. If you cannot tolerate any form of dairy, I recommend a coconut tonic drink as described in the book Eat Fat/Lose Fat by Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon.

I cannot recommend rice, almond, oat or hemp milks. These highly processed products are often sold as “equivalents” of dairy milks but only because they are propped up with cheap, poor quality and hard-to-absorb calcium,  Vitamin D2 and other vitamins and minerals. They also tend to contain poor quality vegetable oils, either intrinsic to the beverage as soy oil or hemp oil, or added such as canola oil.  Better to supplement with high-quality supplements than to drink these beverages for the supplements they contain. Many also contain high levels of sugar in order to be palatable.

Dear Dr. Daniel: I want you to know about the wonderful soy shake product that I use myself and have been selling to my friends. I love that _______ is a whole soy based beverage powder made from organic, not GMO soy.  I love this company. There are no health dangers to their soy because it’s organic and they use a special process that is different.  It’s a gentle process that protects the valuable phytonutrients in soy. All the dangers you describe as coming from soy are the result of the poor processing methods other companies use. Please let people know that ______is a good and healthy product. It cures cancer, heart disease, weight loss . .   DG

Dear DG. I have received numerous letters such as yours since The Whole Soy Story was published in 2005. Many of these letters are from MLM companies like yours, including ____, _____, ____ and _____. This reply also applies to the assorted shakes powders sold in supermarkets, health food stores, health clubs and so forth. When people contact any of these companies about the dangers of soy, the responses are virtually interchangeable except for the company name. Supposedly their products are processed differently from the competition, using a unique and “secret” process that makes soybeans both safe and healthy. .

Certainly organic soybeans are safer than GMO soybeans, as there are serious dangers to all GMO foods, soy, corn or whatever. GMO soy contains higher and more resistant levels of protease inhibitors, among other toxins. Whole soybeans are also better than soy protein insomuch as this will minimize some harmful processing methods, particularly the use of hexane to split the bean. It is also possible that some of the other processing methods might be gentler. For example, the process might involve alkaline baths with a lower pH than is used by some commercial companies. Gentler processing methods could conceivably result in lower levels of the toxins lysinalanines and nitrosamines.

That said, I find it highly unlikely that your product – or the similarly hyped products — have removed the dangerous estrogenic isoflavones. Unless the companies use alcohol extraction, the isoflavones will not be removed. In fact these companies don’t want to remove the isoflavones because they all boast about their “health effects” and claim that their unique product somehow has all the benefits and none of the dangers of isoflavones. Saponins, which can bind with cholesterol and damage cell membranes will also be present in any soybean product that has not been alcohol extracted. Not surprisingly, these are marketed as healthy “all natural” cholesterol lowerers, bile acid reducers and cancer preventers and curers.

In all probability, your product also contains a full complement of protease inhibitors (which interfere with protein digestion), phytates (which inhibit mineral absorption), lectins (which can cause blood cell clumping), and oxalates (linked to a multitude of health problems, including kidney stones and vulvodynia). As far as I know, no modern process yet invented can remove all of these things. What’s needed to eliminate or deactivate many of them is old-fashioned fermentation, the traditional method used to make miso, natto and tempeh. Such foods eaten in a richly varied diet are healthy and nutritious. But these are NOT the soy ingredients put in your shake powder.

Please write your company and ask them to send reports from independent laboratories proving that these antinutrients and toxins have been largely eliminated. This is what will convince me, not claims that their “special, secret, patented and unique process” does this work. Over the past ten years, I have reviewed numerous soybean processing manuals and seen many patent applications. I have yet to see any evidence that this can be done. Rather many years of USDA studies show it cannot.   I discuss these processing issues thoroughly in The Whole Soy Story, particularly in Chapters 4-12.  Given the fact that manufacturers cannot get rid of them,  isoflavones, protease inhibitors, phytates, saponins and other antinutrients and toxins have been elevated from devils into angels and are being marketed as health promoting.  They are not. In conclusion, I cannot recommend this or similar products based on their “claims.” Show me the evidence.

Dear Dr. Daniel, I’m a college student, broke and eat lots of beans. Where can I volunteer for some of these studies? Do they pay their subjects?   Frank

Dear Frank, Sorry, can’t guide you.  Although in the past, scientists experimented on dogs, rats, college students and other animals, looks like they are now recruiting the fungus amongus. That’s the word anyway from Singapore, where Dejian Huang and colleagues developed a method of reducing the gas-creating oligosaccharides raffinose and stachyose in soybeans while raising the levels of the supposedly “healthy antioxidants known as isoflavones” (J Agri Food Chem, Nov 12, 2008).  They accomplished this by fermenting black soybeans into soy yogurt in the presence of a fungus that produced enzymes capable of degrading the undesirable oligosaccharide sugars.    Although Science Daily and others suggested that this novel new method would help “soybeans drop off the list of musical fruits,” consider this: It’s a worthy goal to stop gas warfare, but soy isoflavones represent chemical warfare. Soybean plants use isoflavones to sicken predators and affect their ability to live long, strong and propagate. Increased consumption of soy yogurt would not be beneficial to the human race.

Dear Kaayla,   Hey, in your book you mention a device called the TootTrapper. Where can I buy this?  Thanks, Anil

Dear Anil,   The TootTrapper– or something like it — is now available under other names. Products containing the gas-trapping charcoal filter include chair cushions, pads, briefs, panties,  thongs and special products for ‘ostomy patients.  Although the product launched with great fanfare on  Regis and Kathie Lee and other shows,  the inventors felt the TootTrapper name and accompanying publicity demeaned its importance.    While it’s fun to joke about these products, the truth is they greatly improve the life of people with serious digestive disorders. Indeed, the importance of this invention to some patients was detailed in the respected journals Gut andTreatment Options in Gastroenterology.   Interesting name you have.  I’d say your letter was sent as a frat house joke, but I once knew an Indian medical student by that name at the University of Rochester .

Hi, I was perusing the internet trying to see, for lack of a better way to say it, an explanation for my constant “gaseousness.” I have pretty much narrowed it to soy, which is how I think I got linked to your site. I found your article “The Flatulence Factor.” Your writing was hilarious and helped me to feel a little less alone. I loved the part where you mentioned a charcoal seating device (funny, is it true?) and that you provide a more lighthearted side. Thanks for the best laugh I’ve had all day. I’m sure that my soy consumption will continue to produce these lovely little all day and all night long side effects, but at least I can smile about it.   Thanks, Veronica

Dear Veronica, Yes, the charcoal seating device is a real product.   Best of course, to just stay off the soy rather than on the cushion! Though gas is the butt of much schoolyard humor, the reality is it’s a symptom of serious digestive distress when experienced as an ongoing rather than occasional problem. I would also caution against consuming modern soy products because of known risks to the thyroid, reproductive and immune systems.

“Dear Dr. Daniel: I  watched your interview on View from the Bay.    Something you said alarmed me. You said giving soy to babies is bad because it’s the ONLY thing they’re getting. Further, you won’t see the damage till puberty. In boys, they may develop slower or NOT at all! My heart race picked up a little when I heard that. My son is 15 and was fed soy as a baby (as advised by our naturopathic doctor at the time). Well he is certainly slower than the other boys his age in developing. Did I screw up? If so, what do I do now? Can anything be reversed or improved from this point forward?   Thank you for your time and consideration, I would love a response.”   — Anne

Dear Anne:  First of all, don’t blame yourself as you had no way of knowing that your ND was badly misinformed.  I detail the reproductive risks of soy formula in Chapter 28 and 29 of my book The Whole Soy Story. However, risk is not certainty, so let’s hope your son’s development will move forward normally even if he’s on a slower timetable than the other boys.   That said, I would strongly recommend that you begin working right away with an alternative MD or other health practitioner who understands the dangers of soy, does laboratory assessment  and recommends a Nourishing Traditionstype diet.  Such a diet will not only  help your son but your entire family enjoy optimum health.   The more you can improve your son’s overall health, the more likely his body will find the strength and inner wisdom to develop properly.  For more information on soy recovery, please read two articles  on the Weston A. Price Foundation’s website:  ”Soy Recovery Part I” and “Soy Recovery: The Toxic Metal Component.”   Good luck.

Dear Dr. Kaayla: I really appreciate your insights on soy. I’m not sure if I first learned this from you or not, but I wouldn’t have been paying attention except for you: When I eat soy, I’m gluten-intolerant. When I don’t eat soy, I’m not. I wouldn’t ever ask you to imagine just how much cutting out the tofu and natto and edamame (still eat 3-4 oz of minimally processed soy a month) on days I plan to eat wheat products has improved my digestive health. I thank you and my friends thank you, too. – Robert

Dear Robert, Thanks so much for sharing. I hope your reference to eating “minimally processed soy” means fermented products like miso paste, natto and tempeh. Raw or undercooked soybeans are extremely high in antinutrients and toxins. Re wheat products, make sure they’ve been properly soaked and prepared , and even then keep them to a minimum. Not good to become a “bread-atarian.”   Finally, don’t forget the bone broth, coconut oil, cultured vegetables and other WAPF dietary staples. They are the keys to gut healing and health.

Dear Kaayla,
I’ve read your warnings about soy formula and wonder how the formulas on the market differ from soy formulas used for centuries in Japan and China.
SP

Dear SP,

Soy formula was never used traditionally in Asia. Babies that couldn’t be breast fed by their birth moms were either given to a wet nurse or fed a homemade dairy formula. Soy formula was first developed in China in the late 1920s and 1930s. I found that late date hard to believe until I got a hold of some 1936 and 1938 articles from the Chinese Medical Journal. Historian William Shurtleff of the Soy Center in Lafayette, CA, tells us that first person to manufacture soy formula in China was an American, a Seventh Day Adventist missionary named Dr. Harry W. Miller.

Dear Kaayla,
I love Christiane Northrup’s books and she says wonderful things about a product named Revival. I checked their website and learned that the problems you attribute to soy are irrelevant with Revival because of the care with which they manufacture the product. Can you comment?
DF

Dear DF,

It may be true that Revival’s manufacturing process involves lower and less caustic alkaline levels than other commercial processing methods. If so, this would result in lower levels of a toxin known as lysinoalanine. That’s to the good. However, Revival boasts that it contains 160 mg isoflavones per serving. That is more than four times that the amount that caused thyroid damage in a clinical trial using healthy Japanese men and women. It is almost four times the amount that has disturbed the menstrual cycles of healthy women. I could go on about the dangers of isoflavones — and do in The Whole Soy Story. I hear more complaints about Revival than any other product on the market. Dr. Northrup herself admits to having been recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Why take the risk?

Dear Kaayla,
I’ve heard all the stories about soy causing hypothyroidism. I had been diagnosed with hypothyroidism already when I started taking a soy shake every day. Now I feel lots more pep and energy. So either I am an exception or you are wrong.
KG

Dear KG,

Occasionally, people who start taking soy shakes will experience increased energy and metabolism. This is caused by stimulation to the thyroid and is usually temporary, after which the thyroid wears down and the person goes into long-term hypothyroidism. Talk to your doctor, give him or her the chapter from The Whole Soy Story on soy and the thyroid. You might want to reconsider the soy.

Dear Kaayla,
I’ve been drinking a soy protein shake every morning for breakfast. I have not increased the number of calories in my diet yet seem to be gaining weight. The only change in my diet is the soy yet I’m being told that soy helps you lose weight. What do you think?
JR

Dear JR,

Traditionally, the Chinese only ate only products made from whole soy beans. When the bean was split into oil and protein, the oil was used to fuel kerosene-type lamps and the soy protein was used as a fertilizer. It was only used for animal feed when the goal was to “fatten” the animals. Some brands of soy protein contain high levels of isoflavones. It only took 35 mg of isoflavones a day in a clinical trial to cause hypothyroidism in healthy Japanese men and women. Hypothyroidism means low thyroid function. This is likely to result in a loss of energy and weight gain, as well as other possible symptoms such as hair loss, depression, etc.

Dear Kaayla,
I attend lots of vegetarian potlucks. I went to your class “The Whole Soy Story” and believe your warnings against too much soy. I buy very few soy products myself but still like to spend time with my vegetarian friends. Can you tell me again, how much soy is safe for me to eat?
JK

Dear JK,

If you are healthy, go ahead and enjoy the occasional vegetarian potluck. If possible, stick to old-fashioned soy products (miso, tempeh, natto, shoyu, tamari) and eat them at the levels traditionally consumed in Asia. The Japanese eat the most but still average just a few tablespoons. On a weekly basis, a few cups of miso soup, a small serving of tempeh or natto and the modest use of shoyu or tamari in cooking should not be a problem. A little tofu (such as three little cubes you’d typically find in your miso soup at a Japanese restaurant would also be okay. I wouldn’t even worry about the occasional ingestion of Tofurky, Veat, Boca burger or other of the highly processed, high tech modern American soy foods. The important thing is don’t “pig out”. When you join your friends, be a vege-tarian not a soya-tarian.  You might also want to read my earlier article “Practice Safe Soy,” which is posted on this website.

Dear Kaayla,
I take great care to buy only organic as I’m sure all the problems with soy are because of GM soy. I think you should make this clear to your readers. Not all soys are alike.
DF

Dear DF,

True, organic soy will ensure fewer pesticide residues than GM (genetically modified) soy. I highly recommend buying organic products whenever possible. That said, soy is a problem whether it is organic or not. All modern soy products carry a load of antinutrients and toxins including protease inhibitors, phytates, saponins, isoflavones and other components that have been proven to cause digestive distress, immune system breakdown, thyroid dysfunction, reproductive problems, etc, etc.

Dear Kaayla,
I’ll be leaving soon to get the little girl I’m adopting from China. I was told to put her on soy formula, but now I’m afraid to. Help!
GH

Dear GH,

Congratulations! I adopted my children too, a son from Korea and a daughter from Vietnam. I fed my children homemade formulas using the recipes in Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. You can order it on Amazon or from www.newtrendspublishing.com. Yes, it takes extra time but I’ve never seen a child who didn’t thrive on one of these recipes. This wonderful book also offers tips on how to easily improve some of the commercially available dairy formulas. Good luck!

Dear Kaayla,
I am lactose intolerant and cannot eat any dairy products. If I can’t use soy milk what am I supposed to put on my cereal?
FB

Dear FB,

You might want to rethink the cereal. Cold cereals – even health food versions – are not very healthy. They are hard to digest and high in carbs. Dr. Mercola has some excellent breakfast suggestions in his book The No Grain Diet (in most bookstores) and his new book Dr Mercola’s Total Health available on his website www.mercola.com.

Dear Kaayla,
I love my soy milk. Whenever I need a lift, I drink a glass. Thanks to soy milk, I’ve gotten off Diet Coke.
SO

Dear SO,

Glad to hear you are off the diet sodas. Check the ingredient list on your soy milk and you’ll almost certainly find a lot of sugar. It might be named cane sugar, barley malt, rice sugar, fructose, corn syrup. Whatever, it’s sugar. The most likely reason that you feel better after drinking your soy milk is that you are getting a sugar hit.

The second possibility is that the soy estrogens are stimulating your thyroid. For some people this results in a mildly hyperactive thyroid with short-term energy gain. The down side is that over the long run your thyroid may go down, sinking into hypothyroidism. That means loss of energy, cognitive decline, brain fog. In my opinion the long-term risks of soy do not justify any short term benefit.

Dear Kaayla,
People in Asia have been eating soy for 10,000 years. So how could there possibly be a problem?
GT

Dear GT,

This is a myth perpetuated by the soy industry. Soy has been a food in China for a little more than 2000 years. Farmers grew soybean plants only as “green manure” — as a cover crop plowed under to enrich the soil. Soy was a fertilizer, not a food. The ancient Chinese originally developed the technique for making soybean paste (best known by the Japanese term miso) to preserve protein-rich animal foods. This process was first applied to soybeans and grains in the second century BC at the earliest and appeared in Japan around 500 AD. Legend holds that tofu was invented in China in 164 BC and came to Japan in the eighth century AD. Natto entered the food supply around 1000AD and tempeh no earlier than the 1600s.