Jacqui Chiplin Course: Nutrition Consultant NC4

Food facts file: The Healing Arts

Soy Bean or not Soy Bean that is the Question… What would Shakespeare have made of the soy product? Would he have pondered whether it would be better for it to exist or not because of the controversies or troubles that surround it as did Hamlet with his life? Not really likely although had been imported to Europe by Dutch traders in the 17th Century. In today’s world, the evolutionary journey of the soy bean leaves us with this important question. The Chinese first cultivated the soy bean 3,000 years ago and in the early days it was known as ‘shu’. Since then other Asian countries like Korea, Japan and Singapore have been using soy products for many years. Interestingly though, it wasn’t until the early 1800s that soy beans arrived in the United States. And it wasn’t until the 1940’s that the farming of actually became popular. So why did it take until the 20th Century for the United States and Europe to adopt soy? A journal written in the early 20th Century pointed to the need for an alternative food supply because of an international shortage of food. ‘The demand which the international shortage of food has created for cheaply produced and easily obtainable sources of all nutrients, and particularly of suitable proteins and fats, has directed attention anew to the possibilities of the soy bean.’ Global population increase had become a concern in the Western world. So why choose soy and what is it? The Chinese found that ‘The bean turned out to be a very cheap source of protein, yielding much more by acreage than milk, eggs or meat, or other common crops.’ Soy is a legume with an edible bean and the composition of whole soy is ‘36% protein, 30% carbs, 20% fat, 9% crude fiber and 5% ash’. Today soy has become very popular with vegetarians as an alternative source to animal protein. Soy bi-products abound. There is , the milky liquid from mashed beans, soy sauce from fermented soy bean, cholesterol-free soy bean oil, , the immature soy bean (hence the green color), , curdled soy milk, , a thick sauce from fermented soy bean, , fermented soy and foremost - voila, the American dream, we now have veggie burgers, hot dogs, ice cream, yogurt all made from soy! So far so good in terms of conquering the issue of food shortage, some may say. However, the dark, hidden secret of production of soy tells a different story when it comes to the benefits of eating soy. Most of the versatility with soy products arrives in the form of protein isolates made from defatted soy beans. This concentrated form of also extruded from defatted soy flour known as textured vegetable protein (TVP) or textured soy protein (TSP), involve production methods whereby high temperature processing denatures the proteins resulting in food that is quick to cook, high in protein and low in fat. It seems most processed foods today

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Jacqui Chiplin Course: Nutrition Consultant NC4 include soy isolate. The underlying American message, again, being that there isn’t much time for eating, make it fast and reduce fat in the diet at all costs. Those costs are that this is no longer a whole food product. Regardless of this fact, there is a global push for more soy because of its versatility and the money the industry generates. In light of the soy movement, the FDA bureaucrats have still been forced to deal with the health issues of soy protein isolate (SPI). ‘Even with the change to Soy Protein Isolate, FDA bureaucrats engaged in the ‘rigorous approval process’ were forced to deal nimbly with concerns about mineral blocking effects, enzyme inhibitors, goitrogenicity, endocrine disruption, reproductive problems and increased allergic reactions from consumption of soy products.’ Soy beans are also high in phytic acid which is responsible for blocking calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc from absorption in the intestinal tract. Our not so innocent bean also contains goitrogens, substances that depress thyroid function. And on top of this, ‘Additionally 99%, a very high percentage of soy, is genetically modified and it also has one of the highest percentages of contamination by pesticides of any of our foods.’ On the flip side of the bean is the belief that soy products have many health benefits. In traditional Asian foods, the soy bean is served whole as in edamame or as fermented tofu and miso, not as isolated nutrients or part of the bean and the population do not have the same health problems as in the West. “Scientists have long suspected that the soy foods in Asian diets may help explain why people in places like Japan, China, and Singapore have lower rates of breast cancer, prostate cancer, osteoporosis and heart disease.’ The West thinks of soy as something different from the Asian world. With that in mind, many articles expound the health benefits derived from the excellent source of protein. ‘ products have been designated as one of the world’s healthiest foods due to being an excellent source of high quality protein… Soy has been shown to reduce serum cholesterol levels in animals and human nutrition studies. There has been evidence that soy consumption reduces ischemic stroke risk. Women who include soy products are less likely to develop breast cancer compared with other women, soy products may reduce the risk of fibroids, do not cause hypothyroidism and may reduce osteoporosis-related hip fractures as referenced by Neal Barnard in his article, Settling The Soy Controversy. In 2006 the American Heart Association declared some benefits to cardiovascular health from soy protein and its lowering of LDL (low density lipoprotein or bad cholesterol). Compounds in soy products had been found to be similar to female hormones and Mark Messina of Loma Linda University in California has shown in good studies that soy reduces the frequency of hot flashes. There are clearly strong opposing opinions regarding soy. So it would seem that the jury is still out on the benefits of soy but should it be? The arguments that stand seem to dismiss that what we are really comparing is apples and pears or put more aptly a whole bean with a part of a bean, where Western ideology of the need for ‘fast’, low fat food meets that of Asian where food is viewed as essential holistic medicine. I believe it is not so much a health issue as a commercial one with the huge dollar market at stake. So are we making a big soy meal out of nothing where perhaps if we were to remove this issue, the existence of a whole bean or whole food would surely weigh in more heartily and heavily than a half …that, I think, is the real question! Health & Happiness… Jacqui 2012

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Jacqui Chiplin Course: Nutrition Consultant NC4

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