SOY DANGERS:

* High levels of phytic acid in soy reduce assimilation of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc. Phytic acid in soy is not neutralized by ordinary preparation methods such as soaking, sprouting and long, slow cooking. High phytate diets have caused growth problems in children.

* Trypsin inhibitors in soy interfere with protein digestion and may cause pancreatic orders. In test animals soy containing trypsin inhibitors caused stunted growth.

* Soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential to cause infertility and to promote breast cancer in adult women.

* Soy phytoestrogens are potent antithyroid agents that cause hypothyroidism and may cause thyroid cancer. In infants, consumption of soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease.

* Vitamin B12 analogs in soy are not absorbed and actually increase the body’s requirement for B12.

* Soy foods increase the body’s requirement for vitamin D.

* Fragile proteins are denatured during high temperature processing to make soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein.

* Processing of soy protein results in the formation of toxic lysinoalanine and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines.

* Free glutamic acid or MSG, a potent neurotoxin, is formed during soy food processing and added to many soy foods.

* Soy foods contain high levels of aluminum which is toxic to the nervous system and the kidneys.


SOY INFANT FORMULA — BIRTH CONTROL PILLS FOR BABIES

* Babies fed soy-based formula have 13,000 to 22,000 times more estrogen compounds in their blood than babies fed milk-based formula.

* Infants exclusively fed soy formula receive the estrogenic equivalent of at least five birth control pills per day.

* Male infants undergo a “testosterone surge” during the first few months of life, when testosterone levels may be as high as those of an adult male. During this period, baby boys are programmed to express male characteristics after puberty, not only in the development of their sexual organs and other masculine physical traits, but also in setting patterns in the brain characteristic of male behavior.

* Pediatricians are noticing greater numbers of boys whose physical maturation is delayed, or does not occur at all, including lack of development of the sexual organs. Learning disabilities, especially in male children, have reached epidemic proportions.

* Soy infant feeding—which floods the bloodstream with female hormones that inhibit testosterone—cannot be ignored as a possible cause for these tragic developments. In animals, soy feeding indicates that phytoestrogens in soy are powerful endocrine disrupters.

* Almost 15 percent of white girls and 50 percent of African-American girls show signs of puberty such as breast development and pubic hair, before the age of eight. Some girls are showing sexual development before the age of three. Premature development of girls has been linked to the use of soy formula and exposure to environmental estrogens such as PCBs and DDE.

I'm not sure I believe this. Please cite some respectable source, e.g. JAMA, NEJM, Medscape, or other medical journals.

The thought that one bean has SO SO SO many bad effects...just sounds strange to me. Possible though, so I am eager to know your sources as I consume a lot of soy products.

http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/03summary.htm

I do too, so thats why I've been researching the things I eat. I want to know everything I put in my body... I'm a bit of a health freak.

I have had problems with kidney stones, and have read much of this information years ago. I love soy products but gave them up. No more stones so far. It's a real drag that my diet keeps dwindling down to practially nothing but rabbit food.. LOL I cheat but I don't do soy.

Here is a list of links to soy related stuff from Mercola site.

http://www.mercola.com/article/soy/index.htm

I took a look on Wikipedia and most studies were either contradictory or needed more work.

I also looked at your source. I'm not sure it's credible at all, and it sounds more like a smear campaign to hurt the soy industry.

With the rise of health food, perhaps the rest of the food industries are feeling threatened? Who knows? Scary isn't it, to have no idea what the truth is, to be at the mercy of people who may have ulterior motives.

Personally, I think soy is fine. It's a bean, and beans tend to be great for the body. Asian peoples have had soy-heavy diets for centuries/millenia and look how healthy and skinny they tend to be. Look how many children there are in China and Japan.

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Thanks for the video from Dr. Mercola. The guy has put out a book and all this - it sounds sort of commercial.

He says fermented soy is fine, but that doesn't make much sense to me. Usually, when something is fermented, the sugars are converted to something else...I don't know why the fermenting process would destroy "tripsid inhibitors."

This is all really interesting...

My thought is the same. One has no clue if one industry is trying to discredit another in the end, at our expense. But I wouldn't ignore either and assume I have made the right choice. I do love soy products, well some of them, but it's not worth my health to ignore what might be fact... It's just a real drag that we have to do all this research and can't trust the powers that be to look out for us.

I just want to know all sides. I am kinda leaving out wheat and anything with gluten, and soy. I'm a vegetarian so I am gonna have to figure somethin else out...lol, but I won't starve cus I do research EVERY food I eat. My friend keeps tellin me to switch back to meat but I don't like it so its not happenin...lol