Are Soy Products Detrimental to My Health?

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Question

My son tells me that soy products are detrimental to my health, that soy binds to minerals and causes the inability of minerals to be absorbed into the body is this true? I have found NOTHING to substantiate this.

Answer

There was a popular belief that fiber, such as in soy, and in grains, binds to some minerals, most probably to zinc and copper.  Later, about two years ago, new studies came out showing that this absorption was minimal. The fiber was re-named (in rice and soy primarily) Inositol Hexaphosphate (I.H.) when it was found to be anti-cancer.

Of course there is much more in soy than I.H. One ingredient is sitosterol, which reduces cholesterol. A report came out in the New England Journal of Medicine showing the reduction in serum cholesterol in persons consuming soy. Another is genistein, an isoflavenoid that helps prevent angiogenesis, the establishing of new capillaries that feed tumor cells.

If you want to know the biochemical basis for this (pardon the jargon,) genistein is a PTK (protein tyrosine kinase) inhibitor. PTK activates the two chemicals that generate angiogenisis, PDGf * and EGF**. So reducing PTK reduces angio, thus inhibiting the growth of tumor cells.

We could go on, but we think you get the idea. By the way, if you eat raw soy beans, you also get protease inhibitors, also anti-cancer.

*Platelet Derived Growth Factor
**Epidermal Growth Factor.