Just when you thought it was safe to eat tofu.

[elbales]

Jesus Christ. On a pogo stick.

Should we worry about soya in our food?

Tuesday July 25, 2006
The Guardian

For Dr Mike Fitzpatrick, the saga of soya began in Monty Python-style with a dead parrot.

(BEST. LEAD. EVER.)

His investigations into the ubiquitous bean started in 1991 when Richard James, a multimillionaire American lawyer, turned up at the laboratory in New Zealand where Fitzpatrick was working as a consultant toxicologist. James was sure that soya beans were killing his rare birds.

"We thought he was mad, but he had a lot of money and wanted us to find out what was going on," Fitzpatrick recalls.

Over the next months, Fitzpatrick carried out an exhaustive study of soya and its effects. "We discovered quite quickly," he recalls, "that soya contains toxins and plant oestrogens powerful enough to disrupt women's menstrual cycles in experiments. It also appeared damaging to the thyroid."

JESUS CHRIST. How the hell did I miss this? And should I throw away the tofu in my fridge?
 

Comments

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

I've read that women with breast cancer are told to avoid soy, because the oestrogens can really mess them up. So I guess the medical community is aware that soy is a problem, even if no one's sure of the extent yet.

*hates the stuff anyway, except in sauce form on sushi*

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

Actually, from what I was reading, the tofu should be fine - it's the raw form that causes the problem, the process of making tofu removes the toxins. It's the raw stuff like soy flour or the cheap soy sauces that causes the problems.

*has a suspicion that my "organic" soy sauce, however, is probably not so safe*

[elbales]

Miso is better than tofu, which is better than soy milk and all the rest. I guess.

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

Actually, miso and soy sauce both started from the same base as soy milk, soy flour, etc. But I didn't see anything about the tofu using the same base - I could be reading it wrong, of course. But tofu does have to age longer and in the process of making it, the whey (which is where all the nasty stuff is) is removed.

[elbales]

It's more that some soy products (sauce, miso, most commerical soy milk) are made using that scary-sounding industrial process with ground-up defatted dried beans that have hexane solvent used on them Jesus Christ how can that even be LEGAL, and some aren't. It's the ones using the old process that are safer.

[emidala.livejournal.com]

the only "safe" soys, I've been told, are non-processed soys. thus, tofu is awful, as is soy milk, soy flour, soy sauce... you name it. the only thing one could possibly eat is soybeans, but even then you do not know if the genetic makeup has been altered - which it probably has. genetically modified soy has more oestrogen than most other things in man-made nature.

the thing is that everything is ok in small doses. thus, asian countries, where people don't eat a whole slab of tofu for dinner, but use it very sparingly indeed, do not suffer from extreme numbers of hormonal cancers. thus, I'd say don't throw the tofu away, but eat it a small piece at a time - but don't buy it again if you can help it. personally, I am staying away from all soy products - especially after reading that one glass of soy milk contains the same amount of oestrogen as five birth control pills.

[elbales]

From the article, it's kind of the opposite: properly fermented miso is quite safe, as it soy sauce made the old-fashioned way. And young soybeans are okay, though not as safe.

It's the soy additives that go into our food that are really problematic.

[emidala.livejournal.com]

but tofu is not properly fermented. I don't eat it, and I would not serve it to anyone I know. (read the article again - and google it - - - actually, do not, because you'll be terrified!)

[elbales]

No, I mean tofu made the old way--from the way it's described, it sounds like the worst of the problematic compounds get either boiled away or thrown out in the whey. And then of course in a traditional diet, nobody's eating slabs of the stuff at a sitting.

All things in moderation, right?

[saffronra.livejournal.com]

Well, I dislike the taste of soy milk, so I mostly use rice milk for all my dairy substitution needs. But increasingly with food these days, it's damned if you do, damned if you don't. *put out sigh*

[elbales]

Srsly.

[ebrin.livejournal.com]

Is this just a version of "soy makes you gay" (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2006/12/soy_makes_you_g_1.html)? I mean, without the gay.

[elbales]

*headdesk*

It's not fringe science, if that's what you mean.

*walks away, muttering "soy makes you gay... jesus christ"*

[aspasia02.livejournal.com]

*takes sip of coffee with soy creamer*

oh, goddammit.

Is ANY food safe?!?!

[al-zorra.livejournal.com]

Considering how well the women have done in cultures that have been consuming soy products regularly for a very long time, there is nothing for most people to worry about.

And, um I've been consuming soy milk and tofu myself for a long time, with nothing but good effects, in terms of cholesterol, etc.

Anything can cause bad effects for somebody.

Raw soy beans (which we still raise on my farm and always have) are definitely not good for you. But how you could actually eat enough raw soybeans to cause yourself hard, I do not know, considering how I could never chew even a single one, no matter how often I tried as a kid Unlike wheat or flax, say -- soy beans are even harder than corn kernals.

Soy products are fine.

Just worry about the sodium content of products like soy - veggie burgers, soy sauce, etc. Which is why I don't consume THEM.

Love, C.