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The Soy Conspiracy
Kaayla T. Daniel, Ph.D. Exposes the Whole Soy Story
by Chris Shugart
If you listen to the popular press and most "health food" makers, then you probably think
that soy is a revolutionary food that every woman should be consuming. But now the
scientific community is starting to take a closer look at this so-called miracle food. What
they're finding is very, very disturbing.
MuscleWithAttitude.com sat down to talk with Dr. Kaayla Daniel about this subject. Dr.
Daniel has written an explosive book about soy called The Whole Soy Story. Here's what
she had to say about this increasingly controversial food.
Muscle With Attitude: First off, why write a book on soy?
Dr. Kayla Daniel: I decided to write this book because I saw so many clients and friends
suffering while on vegetarian and near-vegetarian diets. Most often the chief culprit was
soy. The Whole Soy Story is based on my dissertation so there never was any question
that I'd have to base every claim on hard science.
MWA: Let's back up and talk about what soy is and where it comes from.
Dr. Daniel: Soybeans are beans that grow in fuzzy green pods. Soybeans come in many
colors but most are a yellowish tan color and marked with a single, distinctive black eye
— nature's way perhaps of giving us a warning!
Traditionally, Asia soybean plants weren't grown to be eaten but to be used as "green
manure" — as a cover crop designed to be plowed under to enrich the soil between
plantings of the crops that would be used for food. It wasn't until the Chiang Dynasty
(1134-246 BC) that the Chinese came up with the fermentation methods needed to tame
the soybean's undesirable elements and make it into a food.
The soybean paste known as miso came first, followed by soy sauce, which was
discovered as part of the miso-making process. Other soy foods such as tofu, tempeh, and
natto came much later, around 1000 AD.
In the West, the soybean has mostly been used for its soy oil, which is what you get in
most products labeled vegetable oil, margarine, or shortening. Soy here is a product of
the industrial revolution, an opportunity for technologists to develop cheap meat
substitutes, to find clever ways to hide soy in familiar food products, to formulate soybased pharmaceuticals, and to develop a plant-based renewable resource that could
replace petroleum-based plastics and fuels.
MWA: So how did soy become known as such a "health" food?
Dr. Daniel: For years, the soy protein left over from soy oil extraction went exclusively to
animals, poultry, and more recently fish farms. The problem is that only so much soy can
be used in the feeds before the animals start developing serious reproductive and other
health problems. So the soy industry still had a lot left over and decided to start
marketing it as a "people feed."
MWA: I remember first seeing soy as an ingredient in cheap dog foods. How did it go
from dog food to people food?
Dr. Daniel: Well, for this to succeed, they had to improve soy's image from that of a
poverty food or hippie food. Back in 1975 a top-gun marketer hired by the soy industry
recommended that the fastest way to get poor and middle class people to accept a product
was to have it consumed on its own merit — not just because it was "cheap" — by people
who were affluent enough to buy any foods that they wanted. Accordingly, soy is
aggressively marketed as an upscale "health food."
The United Soybean Board has targeted key influences such as food manufacturers,
chefs, dietitians, editors, writers etc., has aggressively lobbied in Washington and has
invested millions in medical research. They spent more than a million dollars on
establishing the FDA's spurious cholesterol lowering heart claim alone. The campaign
has been nothing less than brilliant.
MWA: Generally speaking, why are you suggesting that everyone avoid soy?
Dr. Daniel: Most of us don't need to avoid it completely — and a good thing too since it's
in just about everything these days — Bumblebee canned tuna, Hershey's chocolate,
readymade spaghetti sauces, muffins... Soy can be found in more than 60 percent of the
goods sold in supermarkets. Anyone who's eating processed, packed or canned foods is
probably getting some hidden soy. It's even been called the "stealth ingredient."
The people who need to avoid soy completely are people with soy allergies. These people
can experience adverse reactions from even a trace of soy.
For the rest of us, the goal would be to avoid modern soy products like readymade foods
such as energy bars, veggie burgers, "low-carb" pastas, chilis, and other things containing
soy protein isolate, soy protein concentrate, texturized vegetable protein, or other
industrial-age soy products.
The soy industry has convinced a lot of people that anything with soy in it must be super
healthy. The truth is these are highly processed junk foods. I also recommend against soy
milk and other soy dairy products. The problem goes beyond soy. Take a good look at the
ingredient list of soy milk or soy ice cream. Lotta sugar!
MWA: Is one type of soy worse than the other?
Dr. Daniel: Yes. Old fashioned soy products such as miso, tempeh, natto, and shoyu or
tamari soy sauce are fine when eaten occasionally. The fermentation process deactivates
some of the anti-nutrients in soy that causes digestive distress and mineral loss. Most of
the better brands of these products are also made with organic soybeans.
Tofu isn't fermented and so is not so good for us, but a little once in a while isn't a
problem. The worst products are the modern soy foods manufactured using high tech
processes. These products have been subjected to very high heat, pressure, and chemicals.
There's nothing "natural" about them.
MWA: Let's talk about how soy affects men and women. Let's start with men. Why
should they avoid soy?
Dr. Daniel: Soy lowers Testosterone levels! Just about all soy products on the market
contain the phytoestrogens (plant estrogens) known as isoflavones. Plant estrogens have
lowered Testosterone levels in rats, monkeys, and other animals as well as humans. For
grown men, this usually leads to decreased libido and lower sperm count. There's an old
wives tale that Japanese women punish their straying husbands by feeding them a lot of
tofu!
We can joke about that but not about the effect on baby boys fed soy formula.
Pediatricians are reporting more and more cases of emasculated boys reaching puberty
with breasts and tiny penises. Undescended testicles are also far more common than they
were in the past.
Remember too that soy estrogens damage far more than the reproductive system. The
thyroid is usually hurt first, leading to loss of energy, weight gain, depression, lethargy
and a host of other symptoms.
MWA: That's frightening! Although you'd never hear this in the popular press, soy isn't
good for women either, is it?
Dr. Daniel: Many men have avoided soy because they've had the idea — rightly as it
turns out — that "real men don't eat tofu." Women, on the other hand, have been sold on
the idea that soy will fix anything that ails them.
I've worked with a lot of female clients who've been purposefully adding large doses of
soy to their diets. A lot of them chug soy milk morning and evening and eat energy bars
on the run. When they come to me, they complain of fatigue, depression, hair loss, poor
skin, and diminished sex drive. When I encourage them to go to their doctors to have
their thyroids tested, they almost always are diagnosed with low thyroids —
hypothyroidism.
Women who eat a lot of soy are also more likely to have reproductive system problems
— heavier menstrual flow, increased cramping, infertility, as well as the loss of sex drive
mentioned earlier. There are increasing reports of a painful urinary tract condition known
as interstitial cystitis and a painful condition called vulvodynia or vulvardynia. This last
refers to pain of the external female genitals — excruciating pain that's often so severe
that sex is impossible.
Finally, we're getting more and more reports of vegan mothers giving birth to sons with
hypospadias.
MWA: I hate to ask, but what is that?
Dr. Daniel: That's an estrogen-induced birth defect in which the opening of the penis is
on the underside, located anywhere from near the tip of the penis to right up at the crotch.
These cases are tragic. Although estrogens in the environment have also been implicated,
it's prudent for pregnant women to avoid ingesting soy estrogens.
MWA: What about soy in infant formulas?
Dr. Daniel: Infants on soy formula are extremely vulnerable. Remember that soy formula
constitutes most if not all of their diets. Based on figures from the Swiss Federal Health
Service, some of my colleagues have calculated that an infant on soy formula is getting
the hormonal equivalent of the estrogen found in three to five birth control pills every
day!
That's a lot of estrogen, and this amount is especially dangerous for infants whose very
development requires the right hormones in the right place at the right time.
Studies on rats, sheep, monkeys and other animals suggest that the estrogens in soy infant
formula can irreversibly harm the baby's later sexual development. And this is exactly
what we're hearing from both parents and pediatricians.
Did you know that baby boys are supposed to experience a Testosterone surge during the
first few months of life and in the large amounts you'd expect from a grown man? Most
people don't, but all that Testosterone is needed to program the boy for puberty, the time
when his sex organs should develop and he should grow facial and pubic hair and start
speaking with a deep voice. If receptor sites intended for the hormone Testosterone are
occupied by soy estrogens, however, appropriate development may be delayed or never
take place.
For girls, soy formula has the opposite effect. It's likely to accelerate puberty and may
cause reproductive difficulties later in life. The studies which supposedly prove that
infants on soy formula develop normally consider only height, weight and other
measurements of growth as measured in infancy and early childhood. Many of the
negative effects don't become obvious until puberty.
MWA: Let me play devil's advocate a minute. One of the arguments for soy out there
always brings up the apparent health and longevity of soy-eating Asian cultures. What do
you say to that?
Dr. Daniel: First of all, Asia is a huge continent. It includes people of very different
cultures with widely varying dietary customs and health records.
If we look at the statistics for cancer and other diseases, we discover that certain types of
cancer are more prevalent in the United States than in, say, China, and vice versa.
Though the soy industry likes to take credit for the good news, it consistently neglects to
mention the bad. And for all anyone knows, the good news could be attributed to other
dietary or lifestyle influences. Claims that soybeans have been a major part of the Asian
diet for more than 3000 years, or from "time immemorial" as we sometimes hear, are also
simply not true.
The main point I want to make is that Asians don't actually eat very much soy. Peter
Golbitz, of Soyatech Inc, a soy-industry information center based in Maine, reports that
the average consumption per year in China, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan ranges
from 9.3 grams to 36 grams per day. Compare that to a single cup of tofu that weighs in
at 252 grams and think about the people you know who are eating soy every day, several
times a day.
Others too have reported that Asians eat very little soy. When T. Colin Campbell of
Cornell University traveled around China to survey the dietary habits of 6,500 adults in
130 rural villages, he reported that they ate an average of 12 grams of legumes per day.
Probably only about one third of this amount is soy. For some inexplicable reason he
never got the figures on soy alone.
Finally, keep in mind that the type of food Asians eat is very different from the soy that's
appearing on the American table. Think small amounts of old-fashioned whole soy
products like miso and tempeh, not soy sausages, soy burgers, chicken-like soy patties,
TVP chili, tofu cheesecake, packaged soymilk or any other of the ingenious new soy
products that have infiltrated the American marketplace.
MWA: Since soy is getting hard to avoid, is there a minimum intake you'd suggest? How
many grams per day is okay?
Dr. Daniel: Total grams can be hard to calculate because of all the hidden soy in
packaged and restaurant and deli foods. This type of soy can be avoided by preparing
fresh, whole foods from scratch.
I'd say that people who are healthy can safely eat several small servings of soy foods per
week, preferably the old-fashioned foods such as miso, tempeh, and natto. They can also
safely use shoyu or tamari soy sauce as a condiment. Those are found at health food
stores and are far superior to the soy sauces sold at supermarkets.
I wouldn't exceed an average of 36 grams per day — an amount equivalent to what's
ordinarily eaten in Japan, which is the country with the highest soy consumption in Asia.
MWA: Have you experienced any backlash because of your views on soy?
Dr. Daniel: My news really upsets some vegans, but even some of the vegan websites are
getting wise to soy. Chet Day's site is one that dares to tell the truth.
In my experience, most non-vegetarians are enormously relieved when they learn that
they don't need to eat soy. These people loathe the "beany" taste of soy products and the
side effects such as cramps and flatulence. People who've harmed their thyroids or
experienced other serious health problems because of soy can get very angry, but not at
me. The backlash is against the soy industry.
MWA: Understandable. Now, it seems soy took on a new role when everyone went low
carb. Why exactly are so many low-carb foods being stuffed with soy?
Dr. Daniel: Soybeans have a lower carbohydrate content than other beans, but the main
reason is that the food industry has lots of soy protein left over from soy oil manufacture.
Soy protein is cheap!
The soy industry has convinced the public that it's "healthy" and desirable. The low carb
fad has made it possible for the soy industry to stop trying to hide the soy that goes into
pastas, breads, chips, cereals, etc., increase the content and brag about it!
MWA: In your book, you write about "hidden soy" and "undeclared soy content" and
"aliases." Sounds scary. What is all that exactly?
Dr. Daniel: It's very scary, at least for people with soy allergies. As I mentioned before,
there's at least trace amounts of soy in the majority of supermarket and health food store
products. People who are allergic must avoid all soy and can experience terrible allergic
reactions from even a trace of it.
MWA: But are a lot of people allergic to soy?
Dr. Daniel: Soy is now one of the top eight allergens and some experts put it as low as in
the top four. People with the highest risk are children who are allergic to peanuts and
have asthma. There have been fatalities because of hidden soy.
By "hidden soy" I mean soy where you wouldn't expect it. For example, the soy protein
found in Bumblebee canned tuna, in a fast-food burger, whipped cream, or in a loaf of
bread.
By "undeclared soy" I mean soy that's not listed on food labels. For a variety of reasons,
labels aren't always accurate. Manufacturers can be careless and neglect to mention soy.
Perhaps the recipe was changed and the label hasn't caught up. Undeclared soy is also a
possibility from cross-contamination caused by soy used in other products produced at
the same facility.
For people with soy allergies, soy dust in the air from the bulk bins at health food stores
can be a problem. So can a trace amount of soy that has rubbed off from cardboard
packaging in which soy protein isolate has been used as a bonding ingredient.
By "aliases" I mean commonly used ingredients that people don't recognize as soy. Some
good examples would be "textured vegetable protein "or "boullion" or "vegetable oil."
These may or may not contain soy — usually they do.
MWA: What do you think about this: certain soy products can now sport a heart-healthy
label from the US Food and Drug Administration. The new claim says something like "25
grams of soy protein a day, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may
reduce the risk of heart disease."
Dr. Daniel: I think 25 grams a day will harm your thyroid! That's a proven risk supported
by dozens of well-designed studies. Furthermore, thyroid disease is itself a risk factor for
heart disease. Cholesterol level has never been an accurate marker of heart disease risk.
Homocysteine levels, c-reactive protein, lipoprotein (a) are all more telling.
As for saturated fats, it's the artificially saturated fats — the hydrogenated fats full of
trans fatty acids — that are dangerous to heart health. These come from vegetable oils,
mostly soy oil, notfrom animal products.
Now about that FDA heart health claim... The FDA bills itself as "The Nation's Foremost
Consumer Protection Agency" and its mission statement ends with the phrase "Helping
the public get the accurate, science-based information they need to use medicines and
foods to improve their health." Yet the handling of this dubious claim suggests nothing so
much as an unholy alliance with big business.
MWA: "Unholy alliance?" That's a big claim.
Dr. Daniel: The original petition submitted by Protein Technologies International
requested that the health claim be made for the soy isoflavones, the plant estrogens found
abundantly in soybeans. Provided with only weak and conflicting proofs that isoflavones
lower cholesterol and besieged by strong evidence of toxicity and hormone disruption,
the FDA should have thrown out the PTI petition. It had a duty to do so.
Instead, the agency took the unprecedented step of rewriting PTI's petition and
substituting a claim for soy protein. This step violated the industry's own regulations.
Then the FDA speeded the decision-making process by reducing the time in which
members of the public could protest to only 30 days.
In doing so, they disregarded the testimony of top scientists at the FDA's own National
Center of Toxicological Research, British government researchers and other qualified
experts providing strong evidence of danger from allergens, protease, inhibitors, and
other soy components as well as the plant hormones.
It's all the more shocking because the FDA never had good evidence of soy's cholesterol
lowering effect to begin with! It relied almost entirely on just one study — a 1995 meta
analysis of 29 studies by James W. Anderson that was sponsored by Protein Technologies
International.
MWA: This is starting to sound like a big "soy conspiracy." I can't help but think all this
positive press and food makers' use of mega amounts of soy isn't padding someone's
pockets. Is there a "Big Soy" out there to go along with "Big Tobacco?"
Dr. Daniel: The little soybean is big business. Soy foods are one of the fastest growing
sectors in the food industry with retail sales growing from $0.852 billion to $3.2 billion
during the decade from 1992 to 2002. In order to accomplish this, the soy industry had to
convince a lot of people that soy is good for them. To do that they've had to cover up and
suppress a lot of evidence to the contrary.
MWA: Very interesting. How can MWA readers find out more and get their paws on
your book?
Dr. Daniel: I'd like to welcome MWA readers to my website: www.wholesoystory.com.
The site includes several free chapters from the book, questions and answers, and other
good information.