Soy

ARE SOY PRODUCTS GOOD SUBSTITUTES FOR MEAT AND DAIRY PRODUCTS?

Today, the soy industry has become a multi-billion dollar business. It attributes its huge success mainly to the anti-cholesterol and anti-meat gospels of current nutritional thought. It took a long time for soybeans to gain acceptance in the West as they were probably seen as conventional beans, and therefore cooked in the same way. However, today we see soy products proliferating in the North American market. While the traditionally fermented soy products of miso, shoyu, tempeh and natto are known to provide bounty of vitamins, minerals, carbodrates and fiber, the hyper-processed soy "foods" has no nutritional values at all.

Non-fermented soybeans products such as tofu are anti-nutrients. They  contain extremely high amounts of phytic acid. This acid is an anti-nutrient that binds to minerals in the digestive tract and carries them out of the body. As such, vegetarians have high rates of iron and zinc deficiencies.

Soybeans also inhibit protein digestion as they contain trypsin inhibitors. Fragmented foods such as textured vegetable protein (TVP), soy "milk" and soy protein powders, vegetarian meat and milk substitutes are made by heating the soybeans and washing them with alkaline water. The purpose is to remove the fats and neutralise their potent enzyme inhibitors. Today, scientist tells us that these processes denature the bean's protein content, making them very hard to digest. Another compound called MSG, a neurotoxin added to TVP to make it taste like the various foods it imitates is harmful.

Soybeans are deficient in cysteine, methionine and vital sulphur-containing amino acids. They are also lacking in tryptophan, another essential amino acid. Soybeans also contain no vitamins A or D that are required by the body to assimilate and utilize the bean's protein. For these reasons, the Chinese usually do not consume soybeans alone. They usually combine them with fish or fish broths and other forms of proteins.

With so much being said against the benefits of soy, the New Zealand government is considering removing soy formula from the market and making it available only by prescription.

The final conclusion has yet to be drawn. Research is still ongoing. However, some recent studies have said that soy's phyto-oestrogens, which are supposed to help alleviate the effects of low oestrogen production in the body, is now believed to be a causative factor in breast cancer and infantile leukaemia. These phyto-oestrogens or isoflavones are also believed to depress thyroid functions and cause infertility in some animals.
 

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