confused 'bout soy

[jelle]

hello everybody,

I'm new here, i registered cause i'm kind of confused, this is why:

I stumbled on some article stating that soy products aren't as healthy as one used to asume.

I was kind of surprised and started digging further in to this. What's frustrating is that googeling 'soya unhealthy' or 'soya healthy' leads to an equal amount of 'official' studies, both claiming to be right...

As a vegan and consumer of quite a lot of soya producs, i would like to get a straight forward answer to whether soya is healthy or not... If not i think i would have to change my eating/drinking behaviour drasticly...

What are your thoughts/experiences on this?

kind regards

Jelle
(nevermind the spelling/grammer-errors, i'm belgian ;) )

[Jamie Wilson]

This topic is a hot one for vegans, and I am still a little confused myself on all the studies and statistics.

It seems like for every nutritional issue in the world there are studies on either side backing up opposite points of view. It can get very frustrating to try to sort through it all, and when it comes right down to it I'm not sure if every single one on any side isn't funded by whoever has something to gain!

So my firm personal belief is in moderation-- I don't think soy is bad, but I don't think it should be the bulk of anyone's diet. NO one food should be the bulk of anyone's diet. It's about moderation and variety-- letting studies stress us out would probably cause more health issues than including some soy in a healthy vegan diet! :D

[Christa]

Your spelling is just fine ;) ! I actually wrote an article on the soy debate for vegfamily a bit back: http://www.vegfamily.com/health/vegan-soy-information.htm

It is quite a controversial topic and I think that us vegans have become much more aware of the vocal opponents of our diets since the advent of the internet. It is so easy to put information out there whether it is right or wrong. I just don't like the scare tactics that lack scientific substantiation.

[urbanvegan]

In the US, the dairy lobby speaks out pretty vehemently against soy. You can probably guess why.

Byranna Grogan offers good info on the topic:

http://www.bryannaclarkgrogan.com/page/page/3476771.htm

[Ckflew]

Here's another good article about soy - the pluses and minuses. http://www.foodrevolution.org/what_about_soy.htm

[Wellnesshelper]

We are being deceived about the safety and health benefits of soy. Read the information below:

http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/index.html

[Christa]

Are you vegan, Wellnesshelper? WAPF is vehemently anti-vegan and uses very questionable research to support their hypotheses. I would strongly suggest reading an article that I wrote for vegfamily regarding soy and the claims of the WAPF. It can be found here (http://www.vegfamily.com/health/vegan-soy-information.htm) .

[Cynthia Mosher]

Christa, that was an excellent article you wrote. Certainly of benefit to anyone wanting to be more educated on this topic which seems to arise from time to time. I think I'll run the article again as a feature in the near future. Thanks!!

[Christa]

Thanks :).

[Mishkin]

Humans are supposed to be nomadic. We were never meant to get our nutrients from just one source. I think many people became laze and just saw tofu as the meat alternative. Instead of meat and 3 veg, they are having tofu and 3 veg. Getting too much of one type of nutrient is as bad as getting not enough. The best thing is to remember its moderation in everything, including where the protein comes from.

Have soy 2 to 3 times a week and have legumes, pulses and other yummy stuff the other days.