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Western
societies are now consuming an increasing amount of soy that is unfermented and
highly processed.
The
reason?
Food
manufacturers favour soy as a cheap and versatile ingredient. It’s added to a
wide range of human food products and is also routinely used in the animal feed
industry.
You
really need to become a vigilant label checker to discover if a food contains
some type of soy ingredient. Soy is now found in bread, breakfast cereals,
biscuits, crackers, margarine, chocolate, sauces and soups.
Soy
is also used to make soy milk, baby formula, soy protein shakes, soy cheese,
soy ice cream, vegetable stock, texturised vegetarian soy protein, soy flour,
soy protein bars, soy lecithin and soybean oil.
Soy
protein products and infant formulas often contain soy protein isolate. This is
not something that you can make in your kitchen. This soy ingredient is made in
high tech chemical processing plants.
The
extraction process utilises high temperatures and the soybeans are bathed in
hexane, a toxic chemical solvent despite the usage of hexane is being prohibited
when processing organic soy foods.
The
safety of soy based infant formula is hotly debated as these products naturally
contain a class of plant compounds called isoflavones. The primary isoflavones
are genistein and daidzein. These isoflavones are referred to as phytoestrogens
because they are found in plants (phyto) and they have the ability to mimic
estrogens in the body.
It
is well recognised infants are sensitive to estrogen exposure as they progress
though different developmental stages. This makes infants more likely than
adults to be vulnerable to the estrogen-like effects of the phytoestrogens
found in soy. There is also research to show that genistein and similar
isoflavones can compete for iodine when iodine stores are low.
Further,
infants fed soy containing formula in early life have a higher risk of
developing autoimmune thyroid disease. For infants fed soy formula their rate
of exposure to phyotestrogens is much higher which may a negative impact on
both their thyroid health and hormonal balance.
Soy + Asian cultures
In
Asia, small quantities of whole bean soy products are considered a traditional
staple of the diet. From the simple soybean comes a variety of foods including
tofu, natto, miso, tempeh, and boiled soy beans (edamame). These foods are
prepared using traditional methods to make these otherwise inedible foods
nutritious.
Soybeans
like other beans, nuts, and seeds contain naturally occurring enzyme
inhibitors. Termed phytic acid or phytates, these compounds make soy difficult
to digest and also have the potential to bind to minerals in the digestive
system.
In
this way phytic acid acts as an ‘anti-nutrient’ to prevent the absorption of
important minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc.
Soybeans
contain a much higher phytic acid content than most other grains and legumes.
If you have been over doing soy products you may be low in these minerals.
Thyroid Disorder: Does soy harm the thyroid?
An
incredible amount of hype has accompanied the meteoric rise of soy as a popular
‘health’ alternative. Once reserved as a staple for vegetarians’ soy is finding
its way into the shopping baskets of more conventional consumers in various
forms, usually disguised as a refined soy ingredient.
When
it comes to thyroid health and if you have thyroid disorder, processed soy
foods and foods containing soy ingredients should be strictly avoided.
Soy
is goitrogenic, a term used to describe many foods and environmental compounds
that have a serious potential to block normal thyroid activity and causes
thyroid disorder.
Highly
processed soy products are not normally manufactured using the phytic acid
reducing techniques used in traditional cultures such as soaking or long slow
cooking.
This
makes these foods harder to breakdown in the digestive system. Overt time this
can lead to digestive distress and lowered micronutrient intake.
This
is not good news for thyroid health as the thyroid is particularly sensitive to
nutrient deficiencies. For example; iodine, zinc and selenium are three minerals
critical to aid ongoing thyroid hormone activity and prevent thyroid disorder.
Globally
soybean oil has become the most widely used dietary oil. This soy derived oil
is routinely used in margarine and shortening. It is also used in salad
dressings, mayonnaise, frozen foods, commercially baked goods and simulated
dairy and meat products. Soy oil along with palm oil and canola oil is often
deceptively referred to as ‘vegetable oil’ on food labels.
Food
manufacturers label dietary oils as ‘vegetable oils’ to make them sound
healthy. However this is far from the truth. They are neither nutritious nor
healthy.
The
long term consumption of these oils has the potential to harm the thyroid and
causes thyroid disorder. As more of these oils are incorporated into the
thyroid cells their goitrogenic effects becomes more obvious.
The environmental impact of soy
The
biggest shift in farming methods occurred over the last century, particularly
with the introduction of ‘monocultures’. These are large scale farming areas
dedicated to a single crop. Soy crops are monocultures favoured by
multinational agribusiness to supply a growing demand.
As
traditional farming methods are lost and the modern monoculture system of
production emerges there is an increasing susceptibility of crops to insects
and disease. This then pushes up the use of toxic agricultural chemicals.
Large
soy plantations are viewed by environmentalists as a growing menace. Intense
soybean cultivation threatens fragile ecosystems and is taking a significant
toll on deforestation of the globe.
Soy + genetic engineering
Genetic
engineering is the process of using biotechnology to transfer specific traits
or genes from one organism into a different plant species. The result is a
genetically modified (GM) food. The safety and potential long term health risks
of these ‘frankenfoods’ is regularly questioned.
Soy,
canola and corn are the most prevalent GM ingredients and are used in many food
products. The first genetically engineered soybeans were planted in the USA in
1996. Now more than 90% of the USA soy crop is GM.
As
the GM industry grows there has been a corresponding demand for food labels to
clearly state if GM plants or microorganisms have been used in production.
In
the European Union all food, and any ingredients directly produced from a GM
source must be labelled even when the GM ingredients may be undetectable in the
final product.
The ‘Roundup Ready’ soybean controversy
The
GM soybean known as the Roundup Ready (RR) soybean was developed by the biotech
giant Monsanto based in the USA. This crop variety was developed to make it
resistant to the Roundup herbicides products which are toxic to conventional
soybean plants. Apart from the issue with genetic engineering this GM soy is contaminated
with pesticide residues which can easily find their way into the food supply.
Read
the following related articles:
Author Bio:
Louise O’ Connor,
the author of The Natural Thyroid Diet –The 4-Week Plan to Living Well, Living Vibrantly, who
is a specialist in Thyroid Health. She is a highly regarded Australian
Naturopath and founder of Wellnesswork.
The Natural Thyroid
Diet goes beyond diet advice and offers practical and effective ways to achieve
healthy thyroid levels within just a short period of time. For more details,
Click on
The-Natural-Thyroid-Diet.com
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