The benefits of soy - in perspective

The many benefits of soy have to be viewed in perspective.

These benefits range from protection against degenerative diseases like heart disease and cancer, to improved digestion, enhanced immunity and so on.

However, the benefits of soy WILL NOT come from eating the vast array of modern soy foods like soy burgers, soy steak, soy snacks, soy crackers, soy desserts, soy ice-cream, etc. These foods are more likely to bring on the dangers of soy rather than the benefits.

Soy beans and soy products are good - even excellent - for health only if several conditions are met:

• IF soy is eaten in the form of fermented soy products like miso, natto, soy sauce and tempeh.
  
  
• IF these fermented soy products are made by natural fermentation, without the use of modern processing short-cuts and without chemical food additives.
  
  
• IF non-fermented soy foods like tofu and soymilk are made the traditional way, with long hours of soaking the soy beans, long cooking, skimming the "scum" that forms during cooking, and so on.
  
  
• IF soy products are eaten in small amounts as side dishes or even smaller amounts as condiments and seasonings. Eating plenty of soy foods throughout the day - which is what some "health conscious" people, especially vegetarians, do - is far too much.
  
  
• IF soy foods are made from non-GMO (non-genetically modified) soybeans. Unfortunately, about 77 percent of world soybean production and 93 percent of US soybean production today are GMO soybeans.

These many IFs can actually be summarised into one: IF you eat soy products the traditional Asian way. Only then will you enjoy the many benefits of soy.

Benefits of Soy - a summary

Much has already been written about the benefits of soy. Rather than reproduce the full details - complete with Greek-sounding chemical terms - I will just summarise the key benefits:

• NUTRITION: Soybeans are highly nutritious, containing high levels of good quality, proteins that are readily utilised by the body. Soy is a "complete protein" with all the eight essential amino acids. It has very little of the amino acid methionine but eating soy with grains or fish broth (which Asians do) will easily take care of that. In addition, soy is rich in various vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.
  
  
• CANCER PREVENTION: Several studies suggest the people who eat soy products regularly have lower risks of certain cancers, particularly prostate cancer in men, breast cancer in women and possibly colecteral cancer as well. Miso, a fermented soy product, has been found to be effective in blocking, delaying and even reversing the spread of cancer.
  
  
• HEART DISEASE: Soy foods are known to help lower the level of triglycerides and "bad" cholesterol in the blood, although they do not appear to raise the level of "good" cholesterol. Natto, a fermented soy product, has been found to prevent and dissolve blood clots that can cause heart attack, stroke and senility.
  
  
• MENOPAUSE: For older women going through menopause, soy foods can reduce or even completely eliminate symptoms such as hot flushes.
  
  
• STRONG BONES: Soy beans have a high content of calcium, which can help prevent osteoporosis. However, scientific studies have not been able to establish conclusively the value of soy foods in building strong bones.

Benefits of Soy - controversies

The benefits of soy, however, are not without controversies.

For example, while soy products are largely recognised for helping prevent cancer, some studies suggest they might also promote certain types of cancer.

In particular, one study found that soy promotes pancreatic cancer in rats. But the situation is not that straightforward. Only raw soy flour caused the cancer, but not cooked flour. Also, no similar studies have been done on humans and the rats were given a disproportionately large amount of soy compared to what a human might eat.

Another of the benefits of soy pertains to its possible role in helping prevent memory loss. In this case, a study of elderly persons in Indonesia found that high tofu intake was associated with greater memory loss, whereas high intake of tempeh was associated with better memory.

Making sense of soy controversies

What to make of these controversies and apparent contradictions over the benefits of soy?

First, it is meaningless to study the health effects of products such as raw soy flour, since nobody eats raw soy flour anyway. Even cooked soy flour is not widely eaten, except by the Japanese as kinako, a roasted soybean flour used as a coating for desserts and snacks.

Second, many of the studies that found soy to be harmful were done using regular soy products, or just extracts of soy (like soy protein) rather than fermented soy products. When fermented soy products are studied, they are mostly found to be beneficial.

Third, in the case of the Indonesian study, it is not clear what type of tofu was eaten. Traditional tofu is made with nigari, a natural coagulating agent derived from sea salt. Moden tofu is made with calcium carbonate, lactone and various other chemical coagulants. Were the Indonesians who suffered memory loss eating modern or traditional tofu? We don't know. They researchers probably never bothered to find out, since they probably don't know the difference anyway.

Meanwhile, an appreciation of the macrobiotic principles of yin and yang could she further light on the issue.

There are major and important differences between fermented and non fermented soy products. There are also diffences between products like tofu and soymilk made the traditional way versus those made the modern way. If scientists were to appreciate these differences, perhaps they would make better sense of the benefits of soy versus the apparent dangers.

Click the following links to learn more about the benefits of soy products lile miso, natto, soy sauce and tempeh.

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