How the Soy Bean became good for you

Photo by flickr_10g

Currently, the family is going on the Gerson Therapy (GT) program and one of the forbidden food includes Glycine Max (biological name) commonly known as Soy Bean.

According to GT, soy contains high indigestable fat/protein content, high sodium, toxic inhibitive for nutrient absorption thus absolutely forbidden in the GT diet.

It went contradictory to the general claim that Soy is good for you.

It is actively promoted by Singapore's Health Promotion board as a healthy food. It is even given a big tick on those soy milk cartons labels you find in the supermarket.

I did some digging on the internet on how soy became such a miracle food.

In 1999, the FDA (american food and drug adminstration) approved the health claim that soy protein may reduce cholesterol and the risk of heart disease. This claim was based New England Journal of Medicine publication report fromUniversity of Kentucky - 'Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Soy Protein Intake on Serum Lipids.'(NEJM Vol. 333, No. 5, 1995 August).

The report was financed by the PTI division of DuPont , The Solae Co. St. Louis, Missouri, a soy producer and marketer which submitted the petition to FDA for the health claim approval.

It is also widely known that Glycine Max is a genetically modified (GM) food and might have some health risk.

Disclaimer : According to most scientific studies, GM food are not harmful to humans (although most studies are usually directly/indirectly funded by corporate interest groups.)

References:
New England Journal of Medicine Vol. 333-276-282, No. 5, 1995 August
Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Soy Protein Intake on Serum Lipids
James W. Anderson, M.D., Bryan M. Johnstone, Ph.D., and Margaret E. Cook-Newell, M.S., R.D.

Food and Drug Administration

Food labeling: health claims; soy protein and coronary heart disease. , HHS. Final rule.

FDA Report
Investigation of genetically modified soybean biosafety in the center of the origin and diversity of Russian Far East

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