What is soy? A soybean is a legume – soybeans are rich in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, tryptophan, fiber, iron and other minerals.
A big problem comes when people become “vegetarians” and start eating a lot of processed soy food – including soy hot dogs, soy hamburgers, soy bacon, soy sausage, soy yogurt, soy ice cream, and just about any other type of “health food” soy products. If you have been in almost any health food store (except Dr. Christopher’s Herb Shop) you will find the aisles, “non-dairy dairy” section and frozen food aisle packed with almost every imaginable soy-based product, all touted as health foods. When these foods become a regular part of your diet they are not healthy – they can occasionally be used as a meat substitute as part of an otherwise healthy diet and you will be fine. David Christopher says if you are trying to decide between a slice of bacon and a slice of soy bacon go with the soy bacon – in moderation and only once in a while. In other words, they are a transition food.
The problem with most of these foods is that they are highly processed and use genetically modified soybeans. The majority of soybeans in the United States are genetically modified, which is not good for your health. For more information on the problems associated with genetically modified foods read the article here: http://articles.herballegacy.com/nightmare-on-elm-streets-dinner-table-genetically-modified-food-morgellons-disease/. If you are going to buy these foods check the package and try to find one that says “Non-GMO” for a better alternative.
PCRM (Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine) says, “It is useful to remember that the more we mimic a meat and dairy diet by using soy products that are altered in various ways for flavor and mouth-feel, the further away we get from healthier foods.” For the most part we encourage you to avoid these foods – you don’t need them, and if eaten often can be very detrimental to your health.
However, in their organic state soy can be a healthy addition to a healthy diet. Organic soybeans that have been fermented are also healthy – this includes miso, tempeh and some soy sauces.
What about soymilk? The School has always taught that soymilk is not a beverage to drink on a regular basis – distilled water and fresh juices should be the main beverages you drink. However, using some organically made soymilk (preferably made at home) in your fruit shake or in other recipes is fine. It is better than using cow’s milk! You can also make delicious nut milks – see our recipe section for some nut and rice milk recipes - http://www.herballegacy.com/Beverages.html. You will find some recipes, including soups, on our site that use soymilk. You will continue to see these recipes on occasion – but we will always link the recipes to our recipe for organic soy milk.
What about tofu? Many Asian people include tofu in their diets – Dr. Ben Kim, who is of Korean descent, says, “Sometimes tofu, once it’s made, is fermented to produce fermented tofu dishes in East Asian cooking – mostly Chinese. The bottom line for me is that I know enough healthy Korean and Chinese folks in their 80’s and even their 90’s who have long enjoyed den jang (miso) and tofu to believe that including some soy in one’s diet is fine for most people.”
Please note that we aren’t encouraging you to eat soy – if you don’t like it or you have allergic or other negative reactions to it then don’t eat it. If you like it and use it in its organic and/or organic fermented state then it is fine (as part of an overall healthy diet).
PCRM concludes a great article about soy with this: “Soy has many attributes that make it useful for those transitioning to healthful diets, although it is quite easy to follow a healthy, low-fat, vegan diet without using soy. For those who prefer to add soy products to their diets, it is prudent to emphasize the least processed sources of soy, such as edamame, tempeh, tofu, and soymilk, as part of a diet that includes other legumes, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Other soy products, including vegetarian meat and dairy substitutes, may be helpful for people who are making healthful changes from meat- and dairy-based diets.”
For more detailed information about soy, including a discussion of the studies done about soy and its effect on Alzheimer’s, thyroid function, breast cancer and reproductive health, please check out the links below.
Sources and Additional Information:
• A Healthier You Radio March 28, 2009 (during the caller portion of the show)
• Dr. Ben Kim: The Place of Soy in the Health Food Arena http://drbenkim.com/soy-health.htm
• Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine: Soy and Your Health http://www.pcrm.org/health/prevmed/soy_health.html
May 6th, 2009 at 10:48 am
You totally ignore the fact that soy is a goitrogen! For the many thousands of Americans who have thyroid disease, either plain hypothyroidism or Hashimoto’s, soy should not be ingested unless it is fermented. Your article was okay, but incomplete and misleading. Just because soy beans might be organic doesn’t mean that they are safe to eat for everyone. Only fermented soy is safe to eat for those with thyroid disease, and only in moderation. That is a fact. Your article was remiss in ignoring this very important fact.
May 12th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Catherine,
Thank you for your comment and concern.
We have been doing some research on goitrogenic foods. For those who aren’t familiar with this goitrogens are substances that supress the function of the thyroid gland which can cause enlargement of the thyroid.
Our concern is in the number and types of foods that are listed as goitrogens - from soybeans to strawberries to cabbage and many other very healthy foods.
For people with thyroid diseases we always encourage you to focus on taking care of the thyroid problems with herbs, but we still maintain that most of the foods of the goitrogenic list are safe and healthy for most people.
We remind every one that we do NOT recommend processed soy foods or drinking soymilk as a beverage. If you have a problem with soy or thyroid diseases then you may want to exercise caution.
Soy is a food, as are strawberries, radishes, broccoli, millet and the other foods on the goitrogenic list.
We welcome any other comments - and encourage those who have had good and bad experiences with soy to post their comments here.
May 19th, 2009 at 6:20 am
I appreciate your article on soy, although I would have liked to see you touch on the fact that soybeans are rich in estrogen and could inhibit fertility (lowering sperm count in men) or help replace estrogen in postmenopausal women (but should be regulated just as HRT is in western medical practices.) Since soybean oil and soybean byproducts are found in most food items (even organic ones, and it is a major ingredient of supplement capsules) I feel like we are getting an rather high doseage of soy whether we want to or not…slightly frustruating! My resources for this information are The Aromatherapy Encyclopedia (Schiller) and The Whole Soy Story (Daniel).
May 19th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Hi Chelsea,
Thank you for your comment - please see next week’s article (May 13, 2009) for Master Herbalist Jared Tropple’s comments on estrogen and soy.
March 30th, 2010 at 4:24 am
What is the SNH stand on genetically altered foods? Soy is one that has especially been under fire in this arena. I would like to get your take on that. Thanks!
May 22nd, 2010 at 5:24 pm
I would like to address the ESTROGEN effect of soy and other foods that contain “estrogen”. So many people get caught up on the word ESTROGEN without realizing it’s EFFECT in their bodies. Meat, dairy, and animal products (with the exception of honey) are harmful articles to ingest due to the estrogen and other animal hormones present (by nature, or injected by farmers into the animals). These have a debilitating effect on the human body, which was designed to only handle it’s OWN specific hormones, and not that of other creatures. Hormones are like cholesterol, in the sense that our body produces enough by itself, without needing to take extra into the body by diet. Soy (as well as other plants and herbs), on the other hand, has PHYTO-estrogens - meaning PLANT estrogens. These are entirely different from animal hormones. PLANT estrogens can actually help to BALANCE your body out if you are producing (or eating) too much human/animal hormones, or if you are not producing enough. This is why:
You body has very specific receptor sites for estrogen. Plant estrogens can FIT into this receptor site. This is a good thing if your body is producing TOO MUCH ESTROGEN, because the phytoestrogens compete for the receptor sites, and give a more mild estrogenic effect than your own estrogen would.
If you do not have ENOUGH estrogen in your body, the plant estrogens fill in at the receptor sites and make up for the lack.
So it is balancing EITHER WAY. Praise God that He gave us balancing foods. I am not saying we should all eat soybeans - my own daughter has problems digesting them . I only recommend edamame (the fresh green beans) slightly steamed, or homemade soy milk. Tofu is basically only cogulated soy milk, and it condenses only the proteins together. Therefore it is a very concentrated protein food that is not so very easily digested. It’s not a “NEVER TOUCH THIS FOOD”, but not highly recommended as an IDEAL food, and certainly not a staple. I look at organic dried soybeans just like any other kind of organic dried bean like pintos, kidney, navy beans, etc. It is a bean. Why treat it as a “miracle food” or “poison”?
Regarding strawberries and other goitrogenic foods: i don’t think that originally these foods were so “bad”….could it be that after modifying them, and using chemicals (herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, growth hormones, MSG, toxic chemicals, etc) sprayed on them, that we are having reactions to the poisons, rather than the foods themselves??