Quality Control Soy Check List

I picked up a December copy of the Chatelaine magazine in a waiting room the other day.  I saw an article on soy and decide to read it. This article was said it was going to dispel the rumours around soy.  It started off saying,  ”Soy. One minute it’s the answer to all our health problems, the next it’s a hidden hazard”. The author, Anna Cipollone, pored over the latest research to clear up the controversy. Unfortunately not all the research was accurate. In this article, I’ll discuss Anna’s findings and offer a quality control soy checklist to ensure you are purchasing the best quality product.

Why dispel the rumours around soy?

Soy products come from the soybean, a legume native to northern China. The protein in soy is a ”complete” protein – the most complete you can get from vegetable sources – and just as good nutritionally as animal protein. In fact, with animal protein there is usually more fat and water content. For example a T-bone steak is 19% protein, 43% fat, and 36% water. When you heat animal protein to temperature of 110 degrees over 50% of the bioactivity is lost and you can destroy over 50% of some of the amino acids. Soy is also easier on kidneys than animal protein.

Returning to the article, here are the points that Anna challenged.

1. Soy causes cancer specifically in the breast and prostate.

The part she had right here was to avoid heavily processed soy foods. What she didn’t find in her research was that not all soy foods are created equal. Processing makes a big difference; whenever you cook a food you de-nature it and make it into something different. Depending on the processing, some soy products have lots of isoflavones, some none at all.  Isoflavones are the phytoestrogen compounds that are considered antioxidants and prevent cancer.

Commercially processed soy is alcohol-washed leaving little nutrient value.  For instance, soy sauce and soy oil have no isoflavones left at all.  In order to make “textured vegetable protein – TVP for short”, it is put through a high temperature, high pressure steam process that causes the soy to become carcinogenic or cancer-causing. TVP is what is used in soy meat substitutes and should be avoided. Commercial soymilk, soy flour and soy cheese should also be avoided.  So if you are ingesting “overcooked” commercial soy, yes it will contribute to cancer cells being formed in the body.

The other soy is cold water washed and very few companies use this method as it is more expensive but leaves the nutrients intact.  If you are ingesting a soy product that was processed through a cold water extraction technique, you get the very best of the soybean and all of the positive things like the phytoestrogens which inhibit breast cancer and prostate cancer. The phytoestrogens in soy protect the cell receptor sites from the xenoestrogens and any unwanted estrogenic compounds.  So the bottom line is, it is important to ask how soy is processed before ingesting it if you want to prevent cancer.

2. Soy is not heart healthy.

Soy has been proven to reduce high cholesterol levels – often around 10 % – in many studies. Controlled clinical trials have found that 25 grams of soy in the diet daily can reduce levels of LDL cholesterol while maintaining HDL cholesterol. It also prevents plaque formation, slows growth of existing plaque, reduces risk of blood clot formation, lowers blood pressure, and increases elasticity of vessels. In November 2000, the American Heart Association recommended that soy protein be added to our daily diets to help reduce cholesterol and as part of a heart-healthy lifestyle.

3. Soy is genetically modified (GMO).

I know companies that are very picky about their soy protein.  They will not use any ingredients that are genetically engineered, though it would cost them less to do so. Call the company to verify if you do not see “non GMO” listed on the label.

4. Soy makes menopause worse.

Women who consume soy foods over a lifetime have fewer symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes, according to studies published in Lancet (1997) and Obstetrics and Gynecology (1998).  In preliminary clinical studies, soy increased or maintained bone density in postmenopausal women and alleviated mood swings, reduced hot flashes, sleep problems, etc.

5 & 6.  Soy makes you fat and makes your man infertile and busty.

The bottom line here again, is the quality of the soy products you are ingesting. If you are ingesting commercial soy, then you run the risk of the health challenges listed above.

7. Fermented soy is best.

This claim is comparing fermented soy with commercially unfermented soy products.  Here is a quality control soy checklist that ensures you have a good quality soy product that will give you the same benefits and more of unfermented soy.

Do not purchase soy products and expect them to produce positive health results unless you know that the following “ESSENTIAL SEVEN” quality controls have been met by the manufacturer:

1.    The beans must be organically grown.

2.    The beans must NOT be genetically engineered.

3.    Each batch must be checked to confirm that it contains the 9 essential amino acids.

4.    In the manufacturing process to produce the soy isolate, the crushed soy flakes must be water washed (not alcohol washed).

5.    The anti-thyroid/anti-growth substance MUST be removed.

6.    The process must be without heat.

7. The soy isolate in protein powders must have calcium added (when the oil is removed it becomes an acidic food - when calcium is added it makes it neutral again).

Please contact me if you want to know what I use based on my research.

Do you have a story to share? I’d love to get your feedback.  Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv.  That’s great for all bloggers out there. If you leave a comment, you can provide a link back to your own blog.  But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment; I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you!

To your good health!

Charlene

4 Types of Estrogen

The hormone story is certainly a very complicated one. Barraged by misinformation, myths and propaganda, it’s no wonder that so many women are confused about matters relating to their bodies and their health.

It is time for women to take even greater responsibility for their health, their choices and their lifestyles. The greatest weapon against compliance, ignorance and conformity is knowledge.

This blog will give greater understanding of the different types of estrogens as well as alternatives for safe, effective and natural ways of balancing estrogen.  It is hoped that you will be able to use this information to ask serious questions of your health provider, to demand answers and to willingly investigate safe alternative approaches.

4 TYPES OF ESTROGEN

There are four types of estrogen: those naturally occurring in the body, those synthesized for ingestion as medications, “xeno” or foreign estrogens from modern industrial and household chemicals, and phytoestrogens from food plants, many of which provide important health benefits.

1. NATURAL ESTROGEN

Estrogen is actually the name given to a group of hormones. There are at least twelve different estrogens, but only three are naturally present in significant quantities: estradiol, estrone, and estriol.  Both estradiol and estrone are present in large quantities in the venous blood from the ovaries, while estriol is an oxidative product derived from estrone metabolism. The conversion occurs mainly in the liver. The estrogenic potency of estradiol is 12 times that of estrone and 80 times that of estriol. As a result, estradiol is considered to be the major estrogen.

Estrogen hormones are steroids. They are synthesized in the ovaries from cholesterol or acetyl coenzyme A. It is particularly interesting that progesterone and testosterone are synthesized first, and then converted into estrogens.

2. SYNTHETIC ESTROGEN

Synthetic estrogens are made by the pharmaceutical companies. They have had their molecular structure altered so they can be patented. They tend to be more potent than the body’s own estrogens and more toxic.

The Pill: Oral contraceptives are made with synthetic estrogen and synthetic progestins (known as the combined Pill). In the early 1960s, the Pill was widely marketed as an effective, safe and convenient method of birth control. However, the initial trials were flawed and inadequate. Nonetheless, the Pill was promoted with all the enthusiasm the pharmaceutical companies could muster. Dr. Ellen Grant, author of The Bitter Pill and Sexual Chemistry, was an early researcher of synthetic hormones and their effects on health. Back in the 1960s she was shocked when synthetic hormones were not withdrawn from the market due to their known serious side effects.

So, just what are the effects of suppressing natural hormones with synthetic ones? The Pill literally stops menses, and bleeding occurs each month only because the synthetic hormones are not taken for seven days of the cycle. The bleeding that occurs would be more accurately termed “withdrawal bleeding,” not menstruation.

Estrogen Replacement Therapy (Hormone Replacement Therapy – HRT) Perhaps there’s no topic of greater confusion to woman than the highly publicized introduction of HRT for the menopausal woman. Hormone replacement therapy was the next great discovery to arrive following the advent of the Pill. The pharmaceutical companies had found another lucrative market for their synthetic hormones: the menopausal woman!  It is because HRT is given at lower doses than the Pill, the side effects are often more subtle and are slower to show up.

3. XENOESTROGENS (PSEUDOESTROGENS)

They are given the name “xenoestrogens” since, although they are foreign environmental chemicals, they are taken up by the estrogen receptor sites in the body and seriously interfere with natural biochemical changes.  These estrogen-like mimics have an uncanny ability to mimic natural estrogen. Xenoestrogens are fat-soluble, not biodegradable or well excreted, and accumulate in fat tissue of animals and humans.  They are also dangerously toxic. Remember that the principle function of estrogens is to cause cellular proliferation and growth of tissues of the sexual organs and other tissues related to reproduction. So the union of hormone mimics to receptors, triggers genes that stimulate the production of proteins that accelerate cell division. This cell division is leading to a host of health challenges. Please see the last blog for more information on this and the safe estrogens.

4. PHYTOESTROGENS – SAFE ESTROGENS

Plant estrogens, called phytoestrogens, compete with natural and xenoestrogens for binding to receptors in the body. The phytoestrogens protect us from the toxic, synthetic petrochemical estrogenic compounds. They act as weak estrogens and appear to produce estrogen effects in postmenopausal women and anti-estrogen effects in premenopausal women.  Phytoestrogens thus have this ability to act as “balancers” – by raising low levels of estrogen and by lowering high levels by replacing a strong estrogen with a weaker one.

Significant amounts of phystoestrogens are found in many foods including soy products, flaxseeds, chickpeas, cashews, oats, corn, apples, and almonds.  One of the best sources of phytoestrogens are soy products. The phytoestrogens are called isoflavones, which have been isolated in two forms: genistein and daidzein.

Reversing Estrogen Dominance

So what is happening today is that women are being exposed to too many types of estrogens and ending up with what is labeled “estrogen dominance”. Stress, nutritional deficiencies, xenoestrogens, and synthetic estrogens cause an imbalance between estrogen and progesterone.  This estrogen dominance means that estrogen has begun to overshadow the other players, creating biochemical dissonance.

There is another way to balance the estrogen-dominance effect through the use of transdermal natural progesterone cream. Natural progesterone, a cholesterol derivative, is made from wild Mexican yams or soybeans whose active ingredients are an exact molecular match of the body’s own progesterone. Make sure if a cream says “wild yam extract”, that there is actually progesterone in the cream. Supplementation with natural progesterone corrects the real problem: progesterone deficiency.  Natural progesterone is not known to have any side effects. It is non-patentable and inexpensive.

So even though there is a challenge here with over exposure, there are safe alternatives to help us get back into balance. Please take time to educate yourself and please contact me if you have any more questions.

Do you have a story to share? I’d love to get your feedback.  Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv.  That’s great for all bloggers out there. If you leave a comment, you can provide a link back to your own blog.  But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment; I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you!

In a few weeks I will write about the law of attraction in terms of what I have learned through a recent car accident.

Stay tuned,

Charlene

One Food That Can Save the Day

We are faced with numerous environmental challenges these days. This one is particularly dangerous and I wanted to inform you where you are being exposed to these chemicals and the effects it is having to our future generations.

The word “xenoestrogens” means foreign estrogens. They are man-made environmental chemicals, which are taken up by the estrogen receptor sites in the body and seriously interfere with natural biochemical changes.  These estrogen-like mimics have an uncanny ability to mimic natural estrogen and/or block natural hormones. They have distinct effects in different species and organs. Xenoestrogens are fat-soluble, not biodegradable or well excreted, and accumulate in fat tissue of animals and humans.  They are also dangerously toxic. The principle function of estrogens is to cause cellular proliferation and growth of tissues of the sexual organs and other tissues related to reproduction. So the union of hormone mimics to receptors, triggers genes that stimulate the production of proteins that accelerate cell division. This cell division is leading to a host of health challenges.

Mounting research is now revealing an alarming situation worldwide created by the inundation of these hormone-mimics. In the book, Our Stolen Future, authors Colburn, Dumanoski, and Meyers have identified 51 families of hormone mimics each able to unleash a torrent of effects such as reduced sperm production, cell division and sculpting of the developing brain. These mimics are not only linked to the recent discovery that human sperm counts worldwide have plunged by 50 per cent between 1938 and 1990 but also to altered sexual behaviour, lowered immunity, increased genital deformities, breast, ovarian, uterine, prostate and testicular cancer, and interfered with behavioral and neurological development.

For women, fibrocystic breast disease, polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, uterine fibroids and pelvic inflammatory diseases are also suspected. These may be influenced by developmental or chronic lifetime exposure to estrogen mimics.

These estrogenic chemicals are everywhere: in the air, water, food, soil, and over-abundantly in our bodies. These chemicals are mostly from the petrochemical industry and unfortunately for our health, petrochemicals are everywhere. Our machines run on petrochemicals such as gasoline and kerosene. Organochlorines are produced by chlorine gas reacting with petroleum hydrocarbons. Today there are organochlorines being used in plastics, pesticides, solvents, dry cleaning agents, refrigerants and other chemicals. Thousands more are by-products of the disinfection of water, bleaching of paper and incineration of chlorinated products.  Millions of products, including various plastics (polycarbonated plastics found in babies bottles, toys, food containers and water jugs), PCBs, microchips, medicines, even our synthetic vitamins, clothing, foods, household cleansers, air deodorizers, personal care products (such as cosmetics, antiperspirants, soaps, toothpaste and mouthwash), pesticides and herbicides (such as DDT, dieldrin, heptachlor, etc.) and perfumes, either contain or are made from petrochemicals.

Some proven environmental estrogens used as pesticides, most notably DDT, toxaphene and dicofol, have been banned in most western industrial countries but are still used in many developing nations. Averages of over 25% of all regular Canadian and imported produce show residues of pesticides. In just one example, California raisin and strawberry growers and Washington State apple growers are permitted to use DDT-laced pesticide dicofol on food crops.

Drinking water may be contaminated by other proven estrogenic compounds  (nonylphenol (NP), endosulfan) still being used in plastics manufacturing and pesticides.  NP from our liquid laundry detergent, all-purpose cleaners, soaps and shampoos also taint our water.  Airborne ash from industry or hazardous waste incinerators is often high in hormone disrupters like dioxin (one of the most virulent) as well as lead, mercury, and cadmium. The ash lands on grass or hay eaten by livestock and then is passed along, concentrated, to humans.

Our food is one of the most common pathways for these hormone-disrupting chemicals to gain entry. Processed foods now comprise 80% of our food supply. Packaging, excess sugar and hydrogenated fats, preservatives, artificial colour and flavourings may all be hazardous.  For example, Red Dye No. 3, a powerful carcinogen, is still widely used. Plastic containers, styrene cups, food packaging or can liners may contain PVCs (polyvinyl chlorides), alkylphenols, nonylphenols, bisphenol-a and phthalates. These are known xenoestrogens that migrate into food when heated or stored for long periods.

Food animals and dairy fat are a major source of hormonally active chemicals in our food and waterways. The highest concentrations are in beef and dairy products, with high residues of DDT and other chlorinated pesticides, antibiotics, veterinary drugs and growth-stimulating sex hormones. Fish from industrialized waterways are contaminated with a wide range of xenoestrogens. All Great Lakes salmon show enlarged thyroid glands in recent years.

Taking it one step further, synthetic estrogens are also being dumped into the waterways through the urine of women and enter our food chain. This has also increased our levels of estrogen exposure.

So we see xenoestrogens are everywhere and that we are being bombarded with them. Many women are considered “estrogen dominate” because of our over exposure to these foreign estrogens.  Because this is a big topic, I will deal with this subject next week. What I want to cover this week is that there is a safe alternative that can actually protect us from this over exposure.

Plant estrogens, called phytoestrogens, compete with natural and xenoestrogens for binding to receptors in the body. The phytoestrogens protect us from the toxic, synthetic petrochemical estrogenic compounds. They act as weak estrogens and appear to produce estrogen effects in postmenopausal women and anti-estrogen effects in premenopausal women.  Phytoestrogens thus have this ability to act as “balancers” – by raising low levels of estrogen and by lowering high levels by replacing a strong estrogen with a weaker one.

Significant amounts of phytoestrogens are found in many foods including soy products, flaxseeds, chickpeas, cashews, oats, corn, apples, and almonds.  One of the best sources of phytoestrogens is called isoflavones found in soy.  By eating these foods on a daily basis, we can protect the cell receptor sites from the xenoestrogens. This is an important awareness as most people do not know the benefits of these foods. Phytoestrogens are therefore the “good guys” and can counteract the bad effects of the “bad guys”. So do yourself a favour and protect your cell receptor sites on a daily basis.

Every morning I take my water washed soy protein powder and mix it with water. After I drink it, I know that I have protected my cell receptor sites for the day. I highly recommend that you do the same for increased health and wellness. Feel free to contact me for more information on the difference in the brands of soy protein powder.

Do you have a story to share? I’d love to get your feedback.  Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv.  That’s great for all bloggers out there. If you leave a comment, you can provide a link back to your own blog.  But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment; I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you!

Next week I will cover the different types of estrogens and estrogen dominance.

Stay tuned.

Charlene Day