Tofu / Soy

[John Sapinoso]

I've heard a wide range conflicting information about tofu and soy, I've done some reading and self experimenting and I'm still inconclusive about it. What are your opinions on tofu and soy as a source of protein / nutrition?

[Guest Ido Portal]

To cut a story short:

1. Consider it only if you are Asian.

2. Get the fermented stuff - like Miso.

3. Even the ones who advocate soy cannot argue with the clear fact that soy is the most toxic agricultural food on earth, so if you decide to use it, get organic.

Having said that, I wouldnt touch soy from a driving car with a 6 foot stick in my hand.

Ido.

[braindx]

Basically, don't eat it. 'Specially if you're male.

[John Sapinoso]

This backs up my decision to remove the tofu from my shish kabobs earlier today. I do occasionally eat tempeh and miso soup though.

[Jason Stein]

Tsunami,

As someone who knows many vegetarians, the most common response I receive about tofu is that it must be healthy because it's considered a "staple" food item in Asia.

Generally in Asia the poor used it during times of extreme food shortage, and only after they fermented the crap out of the soybeans to destroy the soy toxins.

Asians generally eat a specific kind of soy, too. The highly fermented forms (miso, tempeh, natto) deactivate some of the antinutrients, especially when eaten with seafood and fish broth (which are full of good minerals, and good for the thyroid).

In Japan, an estimated amount of daily soy protein consumed (which includes natto and edamame) was 8g; in China, soy comprised 1.5%, compared with 65% for pork.

We could also talk about how processed soy can blow out your estrogen levels.

It seems to me that if you're going to eat soy, it's important to eat it in context with the culture from which it originates. I've spent a fair bit of time in Japan and Hong Kong, and came away impressed by the idea that tofu is at best a condiment.

best,

j

[Jay Guindon]

I would check this out, especially the studies.

[Jason Stein]

Fukutake M and others. Quantification of genistein and genistin in soybeans and soybean products. Food Chem Toxicol 1996;34:457-461. Average isoflavone consumption in Japan was found to be about 10 mg per day.

Campbell TC. The Cornell-China-Oxford Project on Nutrition, Health and Environment. 1990; Chen J and others. Diet, Lifestyle and Mortality in China. A study of the characteristics of 65 counties. Monograph, joint publication of Oxford University Press, Cornell University Press, China People's Medical Publishing House. 1990. This exhaustive study of Chinese diets found that legume consumption ranged from 0 to 58 grams per day, with an average of 13 gams. Assuming that two-thirds of this is from soy beans, then consumption averages about 9 grams of soy products per day. Isoflavone content would probably be about 10 mg/day.

As a side note: at one point during my visit to Japan, one of the middle-aged Japanese housewives I knew joked about her husband stepping out on her. The advice she received from the other women was to feed him a lot of tofu. It supposedly would make him much less virile.

Then, once in the clear, she was supposed to feed him oysters.

[Jay Guindon]

http://www.westonaprice.org/Soy-Alert/index.php Here's some stuff.

[John Sapinoso]

I just read the back label of my lotion and saw one of the ingredients is soybean oil. I wonder is topical soybean oil carries the same dangers, either way i stopped using i.

[Blairbob]

Soybean oil is pretty prevalent here in the US. I did see lecithin derived from something other than soy the other day.