The Myths Surrounding Soy: Part 2

by Shereen Jegtvig

With my last post, I was able to *burst the bubble* surrounding a couple of myths regarding the humble soyabean.  While a few people may be allergic or sensitive to soy, the vast majority of people enjoy some terrific health benefits associated with eating soyfoods. It is well documented that soy based foods are a terrific source of protein that’s low in fat – and of the fat that it does contain, most of it is considered good for you!! So let’s take a look at a couple more myths surrounding soy and soyfoods.

Some of the soy myths revolve around protein inhibitors found in soy and other legumes.  Some claim that eating soy will damage your pancreas and make it larger. Apparently the fear is that the protein inhibitors prevent your body from breaking down and digesting proteins, so the pancreas has to work overtime to make enough enzymes to digest proteins.  There aren’t any studies that back up this claim.  For one thing, if the protein inhibitors prevented you from digesting protein, you’d think it would be difficult to digest the protein in soy, but that’s just not the case, soy protein is very easy to digest.  Also, any kind of cooking or preparation of soy destroys almost all of those protein inhibitors long before you even eat the soy.

Another myth is that eating soy causes your red blood cells to clump together.  This sounds pretty creepy, but again, there’s no research that backs up this claim.  Soyfoods, as well as many other types of plant-based foods, contain proteins called lectins. Some types of lectins can cause red blood cells to agglutinate, or clump together, so they are also given the name haemagglutinins. That’s how the poison called ricin (made from castor beans) works.  Plus the lectins would have to be injected to cause any damage; your digestive system destroys lectins in soyfoods, as does cooking and processing.

There’s no reason to fear soy, it’s a very heart healthy food and many women believe it helps them ease menopausal symptoms.  You can add soy to your diet by drinking soy milk (comes in some delicious flavors) or substitute tofu for meat in stir fry meals or other dishes.  We have two brands of tofu in our FoodEssentials database, both are low in calories and free from additives and preservatives.

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