~Ask Granny Earth~
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Soybeans
Ask Granny Earth
After drinking soymilk for about three years, I now am finding out
that I have a malfunctioning thyroid gland. A Naturopath Doctor tells
me that it’s from drinking all that soy milk. What do you think?
Yes, it seems that all that hype about soy milk being so good for us, could
have been just that - a lot of hype. I expect that I’m going to get some flack
here from some of you, but please let me share what I’ve learned:
Archer Daniels Midland is one of the leading manufactures of soy products.
Now if that doesn’t send shivers up and down your spine, nothing will!
Monsanto is another name you should know - they manufacture the popular
herbicide, Roundup, which profits them millions each year. (I hate Roundup,
do you?) They have produced several transgenic crops that resist Roundup.
Soy is one of them. Being resistant to this powerful herbicide, farmers are
able to spray more of it on their crops, resulting in higher levels of toxins in
the harvested product. Sprayed soybean crops have an elevated xeno-
estrogen level, much higher than the soybean’s already high levels of natural
estrogen.
Okay, so how might this effect you, say - if you don’t drink soymilk? Well, a
lot of soybeans are used for food for dairy and beef cows in this country. So
the cows are eating soybeans, which already have natural estrogen
properties. Then the soybeans are sprayed with herbicides, which produce
even more estrogen compounds. This together with the use of BGH (Bovine
Growth Hormone - another Monsanto multi-million dollar product), now
brings the elevated estrogen levels to a dangerously high level. In a recent
pediatric study, investigators found that - “1% of all girls in this country now
show signs of puberty, such as breast development or pubic hair before the
age of THREE: by age eight, 14.7% of Caucasian girls and a whopping
48.3% of African-American girls had one, or both of these characteristics”
(Price-Pottinger, Sally Fallon). In the U. S. there are hardly any regulations
placed on biotechnology industry giants, such as Archers Daniel Midland
(ADM) or Monsanto.
Okay, so you don’t have children and say you’re a vegetarian; no meat and
no cow milk - how could this affect you? You buy your Soymilk from your
local grocer - even Wall Mart carries Soymilk now. Surely they wouldn’t sell it
if it wasn’t good for us, would they? Dr. Daniel Sheenhan, director of the
Estrogen Base Program at the National Center for Toxicological Research
states that, “There is abundant evidence that some of the isoflavones (in soy
products), including genistein are toxicants. Additionally, isoflavones are
inhibitors of thyroid peroxidase, which makes T3 and T4. Inhibition (of T3
and T4) can be expected to generate thyroid abnormalities including goiter
and autoimmune thyroiditis. While isoflavones may have beneficial effects at
some ages or circumstances, this cannot be assumed to be true of all ages.
Isoflavones are like other estrogens in that they are two-edged swords,
having both benefits and risk.” Dr. Sheenhan believes that “The addition of
isoflavones to foods needs to be considered just as would the addition of
estrogen to foods, which is a bad idea. Infants who are being fed soy
formulas are at risk in a large and uncontrolled human infant experiment.”
(Soy: Too good to be true, Susan DeSimone and Brandon Finucan).
Dr. Mike Fitzpatrick, a biochemist and former Auckland University professor
has carefully analyzed the safety of soy isoflavones and presented his
findings in an article, Soy Iso-flavones: Panacea or Poison (Price-Pottinger
Nutrition Foundation- Vol. 22, 3). He concluded that, “ ADM’s document
(seeking GRAS-generally recognized as safe status from the FDA) claims that
‘these isoflavones have been consumed in Asia for hundreds of years. What
ADM’s report fails to say is that soy did not form a significant part of the
Asian diet until the discovery of fermentation techniques, during the Chou
dynasty. These foods were fermented products like tempeh, miso and soy
sauce.
The Chinese DID NOT eat unfermented soybeans, because the soybean
contains large quantities of natural toxins or ‘anti-nutrients’, such as enzyme
inhibitors that block the action of trypsin and other enzymes needed for
protein digestion. In test animals, diets high in trypsin inhibitors cause
enlargement and cancer of the pancreas. They also contain haemagglutinin,
a clot-promoting substance that causes red blood cells to clump together.
The fermentation process (for tempeh, miso and soy sauce) deactivates
trypsin inhibitors and haemagglutinin. Furthermore, the traditional soybean
was quite different from the soybean as we know it today.” (Sally Fallon and
Mary Enig, Tragedy and Hype- 3rd International Soy symposium-
www.mercola.com).
So, while we have been inundated with stories and news clips over the years
about the amazing health benefits of soy food products and soy/isoflavone
supplements, we have not been told about the downside of heavy, regular, or
long-term use of soy products. This is very important:
Soy products increase the risk of thyroid disease. They act as potent anti-
thyroid agents and are capable of suppressing thyroid function and causing
or worsening hypothyroidism; a great concern for infants on soy formula.
(www.thyroid-info.com/articles/soydangers.htm).
As always, I encourage you to do your own research and read, read, read!