Soy has declared war on you. Are you just going to sit around and swallow it?
Now, if you're like me you're probably asking, "why has the soybean declared war on me? I didn't do anything to it!" But to fully explain the situation requires a little bit of background knowledge.
Soy has a mythology that would have you believe ancient Chinese dynasties wisely kept Soy as a key dietary component. Soy has been around for thousands of years, but to fertilize the other grains. As a food, soy only entered the dinner table when it was found edible after fermentation. Even then, it was used by monks as a labido-slayer and the rest of the population used only in moderation. Soy is often portrayed as an organic vegetarian (or vegan) go-to food, as it is the basis for many meat analogues, tofu and tempeh products. Technically, soy contains a complete amino acid profile which would make it a “complete” protein. Complete proteins have all essential amino acids that the body needs but cannot create on its own. While containing the necessary amino acids, soy is light on two of them: Tryptophan and Histidine. But you knew that already 'cause that’s 7th grade chemistry stuff.
What you don't know is that Soybeans are not the healthiest meat substitution, one reason being the goitrogen situation. Goitrogens interfere with functioning of the thyroid gland. They come in different forms, and soy is equipped with Isaflavones that are a phytoestrogen (more on this later) and a goitrogen. Other foods like broccoli and millet have goitrogens, but these are neutralized by heat. The hardy soybean, on the other hand, must go through a chemical extraction via alcohol to neutralize it own thyroid inflaming-badness.
In the 1980s and 1990s, studies were done in England and Japan that found as little as 30 grams of soy products per day could interfere with a healthy adult endocrine system in fewer than 30 days. Subjects were found to exhibit fatigue, lethargy and constipation (a few experienced more dramatic effects like enlarged thyroid gland, and goiter). Results Price, Fenwick et al can be read in archives of Food Additives & Contaminates, an English journal.
Soy proponents attempted to dismiss the effects on the human endocrine system, but Duncan, Merz et al found a significant change in the thyroid activity in humans, and published that research as well in Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Soy has a host of further side-effects, anti-nutrients and processing problems that lead to its poisonus traits.
Stay tuned as I bring you more news about the invading soy!
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