Posted on 01/23/2006 1:12:59 PM PST by PeaceBeWithYou
Eating veggie burgers and tofu to lower "bad" cholesterol may not help, a new review of soy's health benefits suggests.
The American Heart Association reviewed 22 randomized trials comparing soy protein and the soy component isoflavone to milk or other proteins.
The majority of the trials concluded soy led to an average decrease in LDL or "bad" cholesterol levels of just three per cent.
"This reduction is very small relative to the large amount of soy protein tested in these studies, averaging 50 grams, about half the usual total daily protein intake," the committee wrote in the Jan. 17 online issue of the journal Circulation.
Soy had no effect on HDL, or "good" cholesterol, or on blood pressure.
Soy and isoflavone also didn't seem to reduce symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes.
Its ability to slow postmenopausal bone loss showed mixed results.
As for cancer, clinical trials on whether soy can help to prevent or treat breast, endometrium and prostate cancer haven't shown that the food works or is safe, and warn of possible side-effects.
"For this reason, use of isoflavone supplements in food or pills is not recommended," the panel concluded.
The findings could lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reconsider whether food companies in the U.S. can continue to tout the cholesterol-lowering benefits of soy-based foods on product labels.
Soy-based foods could still help because of their high content of polyunsaturated fats, fibre, vitamins, minerals and low saturated fat content, the study's authors noted.
Dieticians have agreed that soy may be beneficial when eaten instead of less nutritious foods such as hamburgers or hot dogs.
Polyunsaturated Oils and Cancer
More on Polyunsaturated Oils and Healthy Alternatives
Secrets of the Edible Oil Industry(Long but good read)
Enjoy.
That's why I stick to dead animals to get my protien. Plus dead animals taste way better.
-bump-
Here's to cooking with motor oil
;-)
Just don't think too long about what they are feeding those animals, cause it's the same stuff they've been feeding us!
Not to mention soy gives me the runs.....
I love defenseless animals, especially in a good gravy.
Well, trying to lower cholestorol and finding true info on it is less than easily there... Doc says, well last test was a little high, lets watch it...
Well what does that mean? I can cut my daily intake, but what else am I really supposed to do? I exercise 5-6 days a week, have cut way way down on fats... but what else should I be doing?
This article seems to speak to soy as a supplement. But what about as a subsitute? I think if you eat veggie burgers instead of beef burgers, you'll be taking in less cholesterol, bad fat, etc.
I've got the same question. I just got my annual test results back and they recommended a low cholesterol diet. I just laughed...I have been on one for the last several years, as hubby has to be on one. I also exercise, so what's a person to do? I know hubby's has been determined to be a genetic blood disease, he is on 3 different types of cholesterol meds and his is still higher than it should be.
Hey, isn't the heart a big muscle Doc? What's up with that?
Press here and read a bit to find out.
I honestly think the goal is to get everyone on cholesterol medication. That means huge bucks for big Pharma, so its natural they would "encourage" it.
When they lowered the "reccomended" allowable serum cholesterol figures a couple of years ago, they immediately "created" a whole new batch of people who now needed life long medication.
Hey, what about Soylent Green? It's soy based, right? After a nice snack of soylent green, I fell like I'm a real 'people person'. :-)
A friend recommended lecithin (from soy), many years ago, to lose weight. I lost water like crazy. It supposed to help keep the arteries clean, as I understand it.
It worked great in a dry climate (Bakersfield). When we moved to the Coast, my skin got too oily, so I quit taking it.
:)
The soy people have told a lot of lies and used a lot of muscle to get their stuff into the marketplace.
There is an enormous group of doctors who are dead set against it.
Lots of people are deadly allergic to soy, too. Some don't know why they feel so terrible. If my grown daughter gets even a smidgen of soy flour in something she has to be taken to the emergency room.
I haven't eaten sugar in ten years as it gives me a sugar high and then I crash, even though they have classified me as hypoglycemic (low blood sugar levels). I had a real problem losing weight until I went on a hypoglycemic diet, eating a few small meals per day, then I lost 30 lbs. easily. They said I was putting my body in "starvation mode" prior to that, as I barely ate anything hoping to lose weight, but my cholesterol was above normal then too. I eat a baked potato once a week and fries maybe once a month, so that can't be the problem. Basically, my metabolism is just plain weird and a solution based on my diet other than what I am already doing just isn't going to affect it. Have to go back to the doctor on Friday to discuss the results, guess I'll see what she says.
I'm also hypoglycemic and cutting way down on the fruit and starch cleared me right up. My husband's blood lipid changed like magic.
I'm sorry you didn't have the same experience. Sometimes you really can't fight genetics.
"Well, trying to lower cholestorol and finding true info on it is less than easily there"
Red Rice Yeast.
30 points off my total Cholesterol, made the HDL better, too.
As I recall,at one time the only approved use for Soy was as a glue for cardboard boxes. The industry got hold of it and started making claims. I think that it is an extremely hard to digest protein and avoid it (goes for chick peas too!). Has hormone like substances that turns men into steers.
If someone wants to lower cholesterol eat avocados. Raises the good fats, lowers the bad. I had something like a 20% reduction in the bad after 1 month of an avocado a day. (I don't grow them, sell them, or trade them!) They also make a great baby food.
With good reason. The studies keep contradicting one another. Seems like you can't believe anyone anymore. Everyone has an ulterior motive, usually financial.
Box glue huh? That doesn't surprise me. Many of the seed oils that are touted as healthy were used in paint, before a chemist discovered a petroleum derivative that was better and cheaper.
wapf ping... also, maybe invite the initiator of this thread to join the list...
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For Those Interested in the Research of Dr. Weston A. Price |
Another whoodathunkit!
My doc suggests having a drink every night -- any kind, not just red wine. He thinks it makes cholesterol less apt to stick to the arteries -- his personal opinion, not researched.
Some people eat a lot of fatty fish or take fish oil supplements (capsules).
Some people eat foods high in anti-oxidants (I think that's it) -- blueberries are the only one I remember.
Some people eat oatmeal every day.
Once you've done the low cholesterol/low-fat diet, exercise, no smoking thing, there doesn't seem to be much else to do beyond taking cholesterol-lowering drugs.
I've had double bypass surgery, with a cholesterol level of 230 at the time & NO other risk factors. I don't wish that on anyone. IMHO, if lifestyle changes don't do the trick, it's time to try medication. My opinion is based on my experience, though, which certainly is not the norm. IOW, it's probably worth very little unless you have high cholesterol which doesn't respond to lifestyle changes.
BTTT
Eat fats, cut carbs instead.
I am hypoglycemic, which means my blood sugar levels are too low now. Lowering it even more would only complicate matters. But thanks for trying : )
Canola oil would be a good example. I think corn oil is marginal. Flax seed is supposed to be good, although it also has some female hormones in it. Stick to a quality fish oil I suppose, or avocado oil.
Mainly, soybean oil, corn oil, safflower oil, canola, sesame oil, sunflower seed oil, palm oil, and any others that are labeled as "unsaturated" or "polyunsaturated." Almond oil, which is used in many cosmetics, is very unsaturated. Chemically, the material that makes these oils very toxic is the polyunsaturated fat itself. These unsaturated oils are found in very high concentrations in many seeds, and in the fats of animals that have eaten a diet containing them. The fresh oils, whether cold pressed or consumed as part of the living plant material, are intrinsically toxic, and it is not any special industrial treatment that makes them toxic.
Since these oils occur in other parts of plants at lower concentration, and in the animals which eat the plants, it is impossible to eat a diet which lacks them, unless special foods are prepared in the laboratory. These toxic oils are sometimes called the "essential fatty acids" or "vitamin F," but this concept of the oils as essential nutrients was clearly disproved over 50 years ago. Linoleic and linolenic acids, the "essential fatty acids," and other polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are now fed to pigs to fatten them, in the form of corn and soy beans, cause the animals' fat to be chemically equivalent to vegetable oil.
In the late 1940s, chemical toxins were used to suppress the thyroid function of pigs, to make them get fatter while consuming less food. When that was found to be carcinogenic, it was then found that corn and soy beans had the same antithyroid effect, causing the animals to be fattened at low cost. The animals' fat becomes chemically similar to the fats in their food, causing it to be equally toxic, and equally fattening. These oils are derived from seeds, but their abundance in some meat has led to a lot of confusion about "animal fats." Many researchers still refer to lard as a "saturated fat," but this is simply incorrect when pigs are fed soybeans and corn.Link
Add to that, pesticides, processing, hydrogenation, dyes, perfumes, etc. - and you have a toxic soup indeed.
i'm very interested in what you've posted... do you mean only eat a lot of starch at dinner and not during other meals? or only eat a lot of start at dinner, and don't include any other kinds of food for dinner?
>>>"I love defenseless animals, especially in a good gravy."
Vegetarians, remember: plants have feelings too.
Hoppy
You might be better qualified than I to respond to post 34.
Um, by whom, exactly? I'd like to read that research.
Essential fatty acids (EFA) are, according to the textbooks, linoleic acid and linolenic acid, and they are supposed to have the status of "vitamins," which must be taken in the diet to make life possible. However, we are able to synthesize our own unsaturated fats when we don't eat the "EFA," so they are not "essential."
The term thus appears to be a misnomer. [M. E. Hanke, "Biochemistry," Encycl. Brit. Book of the Year, 1948.]
Current science disagrees with the obscure encyclopedia citation. Your link is quite interesting but isn't credible to me - this Dr. Peat does his readers a great disservice by mixing facts with half truths and coming to some wild conclusions. For instance, it is true that the body can assemble a variety of fats. Some, but not all. It can make saturates. It can make unsaturates. It can make w7's and w9's, it can make Mead acid, but it cannot make the w6's and w3's. Hence they're called "essential".
In the past, when the fatty acids were first identified they were called "essential" for normal growth and development. In today's science, the term "essential" has a much narrower definition. It means the substance cannot be synthezied in the body and must be obtained from dietary sources. Because some fatty acids can be synthesized by the body they are obviously not 'essential' by current definition. I think the encyclopedia excerpt is attempting to clarify this point and as such does nothing to refute what is settled science. To the extent that it names w3 and w6 as non-essential, it is simply wrong.
Again, I'd be very interested in reading something (fairly current) from a peer-reviewed journal that establishes the pathways for w6 or w3 synthesis in the human body. Perhaps this Dr. Peat has published such revolutionary research. I doubt it. In the mean time, I encourage you to read more widely and to challenge what you read by looking at the supporting science.
Here's a start: W.E.M. Lands (1992). Biochemistry and physiology of n-3 fatty acids. FASEB J 6: 2530-2536.
Another reference of interest is Mary Enig's "Know Your Fats" which is written as a primer to lipid chemistry. She also makes the case that unsaturated seed-oils are not health-promoting but does a far better job of it.
Thanks for your informative reply. And for those that aren't used to translating between the Roman and Greek alphabets, when you write w3, you refer to a fat that many of us refer to as omega-3.
I suspect topics like soy, cholesterol, antioxidants, alcohol consumption, etc, that go back and forth, good one day, bad the next, are never going to fit to a line or a hyperbola or anything simple. Not with genetics, metabolism, nutrition, environment, and pharmecuticals all interacting with each other. We just have to hang in there and keep learning.
And ugh. There are four names for everything in biochemistry. omega-3's, w3's, n-3's, PUFA's, It's just crazy. :0
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