phytoestrogens

Thank Lisa -- heading straight there!

Louise

If this is a vote about simple yes or no's, my vote is no.  Until someone can explain why genistein in soy promotes the growth of breast tumors, I'll stay firmly in the no position.

I can't even talk about soy being fed to our little ones.  Instead, I'll let Ms. Daniels talk for me:

http://www.mothering.com/articles/growing_child/food/soy_story.html

The soy industry is doing a great job in covering up the real facts of soy research, by ignoring them.   They act like they don't exist.    Who would know to even look for them?  If we hear it long enough, that something is "good" for us, we'll believe it.  Why wouldn't we?

I tried to buy some salad dressing without soy last week.  I gave up looking.  I'll have to learn how to make french dressing or cave. 

Do we all realize that soybeans are one of the most genetically modified crops in this country?

Anyone hear of "Round-Up" soybeans?  They actually spray them with Monsanto's Round-Up (which we all know kills everything) and they can still harvest these soybeans after spraying and sell them as "organic"?   

When I heard this is when I stopped eating any soy products, period.  As if the genetic modification is not bad enough. . .

Maybe where and how the soybeans are grown has something to do with this?

Rant over.

A little more on the carcdinogenic, "Round Up" wash soybeahs:

Soybeans are one of the "biotech food" crops that have been genetically modified, and GM soybeans are being used in an increasing number of products. In 1995 Monsanto introduced Roundup Ready (RR) soybeans that have had a copy of a gene from the bacterium, Agrobacterium sp. strain CP4, inserted into its genome by means of a gene gun, that allows the transgenic plant to survive being sprayed by this non-selective herbicide, Roundup. Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, kills conventional soybeans. The bacterial gene is EPSP (5-enolpyruvyl shikimic acid-3-phosphate) synthase. Soybeans also have a version of this gene, but the soybean version is sensitive to glyphosate, while the CP4 version is not.[12]

RR soybeans allow a farmer to spray widely the herbicide Roundup and so to reduce tillage or even to sow the seed directly into an unplowed field, known as no-till farming or conservation tillage. No-till agriculture has many advantages, greatly reducing soil erosion and creating better wildlife habitat;[13] it also saves fossil fuels and sequesters CO2, a greenhouse effect gas.[14] It should be noted that RR soybeans simplify the process, but are not a requirement for no-till agriculture. Roundup may be sprayed on the field (and weeds) before the non-RR soybeans have emerged from the soil.

In 1997, about 8% of all soybeans cultivated for the commercial market in the United States were genetically modified. In 2006, the figure was 89%. As with other "Roundup Ready" crops, concern is expressed over damage to biodiversity.[15] However, the RR gene has been bred into so many different soybean cultivars that the genetic modification itself has not resulted in any decline of genetic diversity, as demonstrated by a study on genetic diversity[16]

The ubiquitous use of such types of GM soybeans in the Americas has caused problems with exports to some regions. GM crops require extensive certification before they can be legally imported into the European Union, where there is extensive supplier and consumer reluctance to use GM products for consumer or animal use. Difficulties with coexistence and subsequent traces of cross-contamination of non-GM stocks have caused shipments to be rejected and have put a premium on non-GM soy.

Soooo, does this mean we stop eating!

Don'tcha just love it when they say it warrants further study?

Shirley

Yes, it's getting strange and stranger in eating-land, Shirley.



Today I grabbed a low-fat Yoplait yogurt, and ate away with a small orange and a few walnuts. Suddenly I started thinking of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and corn, and unregulated corn growth and subsidies since the Nixon agricultural years, and how corn is everywhere now, or at least in corn syrup is, and in everything now, including 10% in the gas for my car, with gas price going up!



Sure thing, second on the list, HFCS. So, onto a brief search of pesticides and corn (couldn't find much but it's got to be out there), corn and cancer (up popped a review on liver/pancreatic fat and cancer and abdominal fat) and lastly corn and breast cancer (up popped mice fed high and low levels of HFCS and then injected with mammary cancer cells and sure enough the high level corn oil diet caused more cancer, da).



So, I need to look more at this HFCS issue since it's in everything, and related again to fat gain (they say it's fueling obesity in the US) well, then it's those abdominal and thigh lipocytes or fat cells and estrogen and insulin again that comes to mind. Gosh, I should have sucked them out when I had the chance!



So soy isn't great, and now I'm wondering about high fructose corn syrup too. Not that I eat a lot of it, but commercial yogurt is full of it, so back to making my own.



You'd think we would loose weight from all of this dietary cutting out, but nooooo!



Tender

There are yogurts out there that do not have HFCS.  The one I like the best is made by a company called "Fage".  It is Greek plain strained yogurt and comes in 0% fat, 2% and whole milk.  I usually take the 0% and add fresh fruit and whole grain cereal (Kashi).  It tastes pretty good and is good for you.  I avoid the yogurts that put the fruit in for you.

Robin

Annie's Naturals brand salad dressings are also good and are (at least the ones I've tried) soy free. They make some good light dressings too- including a raspberry vinaigrette and ginger dressing. They are made with canola oil.