Soy products are today very trendy across the world. Millions eat soybeans in many forms, including tofu, soy burgers, soy sauce, the beans themselves (also called edamame), soy milk, miso, and soy powder. Probably the largest sector of the populous that eat soy on a regular basis are vegans.
A study done by researchers at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medical College suggests that for many women, adding just a medium amount of soy to their diets, can cause cancer to grow.
Soy’s Link to Breast Cancer
The study, “The Effects of Soy Supplementation on Gene Expression in Breast Cancer: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Study,” published in the Sept. 4, 2014 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, examined 140 women who were newly diagnosed with stage I or stage II breast cancers. Each woman in the study had recently undergone a breast biopsy and had pending plans for either a mastectomy or lumpectomy in the following 2 to 3 week period.
While soy based foods may be very tasty to many, soy products possess a very high concentration of isoflavones, which are weak estrogen-like compounds found in some plants.
In those 2 to 3 weeks, the women were assigned to take either soy powder (70 women) or a placebo that looked like the soy powder (70 women).
The results showed that soy encouraged significant cancer cell growth in all the women in the soy powder group.
Related Article: Beat Breast Cancer With Mango?
Soy’s link to breast cancer has demonstrated that estrogen can boost the growth and development of breast cancers, scientists are growing ever more concerned that consuming a lot of soy foods or soy isoflavones (which can be taken as a dietary supplement) might make the condition of women diagnosed with breast cancer worse, or even contribute to women developing breast cancer in the first place.
10 Health Reasons to Avoid Soy Products
2. Soybeans are high in phytates which protect the seed from consumption by humans and animals. Present in all nuts and seeds phytic acids block the body from absorbing essential minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc. In many studies high grain and legume diets have been shown to cause nutrient deficiencies in less developed countries. Processed soy foods can also cause an increased risk of fatty liver.
3. Soy foods contain endocrine disruptors which can inhibit the synthesis of important thyroid hormones including T4 and T3 which can contribute to to low thyroid and autoimmune thyroid conditions.
4. MSG, a neurotoxin that kills brain cells is added to most soy foods during processing to make them taste more palatable. Other names for MSG include hydrolyzed vegetable proteins, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed yeast, yeast extract, soy extracts, and protein isolate.
5. Vitamin D, provided by animal foods and sunlight is needed for preventing cancer and bone health. Our need for increased by the consumption of soy foods.Vitamin D-3 deficiency is extremely common among Americans. An optimal Vitamin D Level according to Dr. Mercola is 60 ng/ml.
6. Soy foods do not contain Vitamin A which is vital for fighting infections, bone growth, healthy reproduction, and normal eyesight. This activator vitamin is found in animals foods such as grass fed meat, eggs, butter, fish, and unpasteurized full fat milk. It is the popular belief that adequate Vitamin A can be obtained from carrots or other colorful vegetables. However, in reality low thyroid, diabetes, low fat diets, heavy alcohol consumption, diets high in vegetables oils, and being a young child can all hinder the conversion of Beta Carotene’s from vegetables into Vitamin A. This means that almost no one is able to convert enough Carotenoids to usable Vitamin A in the body.
7. Soy is not a complete protein because it lacks the essential amino acids cysteine and methionine. Also soy cannot be relied on as a source of B-12, which is vital for a functional nervous system.
8. Soy is a new food and did not appear until The Chou Dyansty 1143 BC. At that time it was fermented and eaten as a small part of the diet along with rice, fish, meat, and vegetables. Fermented products made from organic soybeans like miso, tempeh and natto in small amounts are safe when eaten with bone broths, sea veggies, and organ meats (Wapf,1995). This is not the way soy foods are usually consumed today where people eat highly processed soy milk and Boca burgers.
9. Soy protein isolate used to make baby formula is high in aluminum which can be toxic in high amounts and cause memory problems. Babies need cholesterol (found in mother’s milk) to form healthy brains which is absent from soy milk formula.
10. The Omega 3’s and Isoflavones in soy that are cancer preventative are altered and destroyed by high heat processing methods to make soy milk and tofu.
Have you stopped eating soy? If so, we’d love to hear how you found the change over and what health benefits you felt. Lets us now in the comments below.