Have you ever wondered about soy? It's promoted as the miracle food that will feed the world while at the same time prevent and cure all manner of diseases.
But what if all you've read about soy is nothing but a multi-million dollar marketing strategy based on scanty facts, half-truths and lies?
Most people remain unaware that soy is known to contain an array of potent chemical toxins. The modern manufacturing processes of high-profit industries make no effort to remove these potent toxins. High levels of phytic acid, trypsin inhibitors, toxic lysinoalanine and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines are all present in soy products.
Phytoestrogens that disrupt endocrine function and are potent antithyroid agents are present in vast quantities in soy, including the potentially devastating isoflavone Genistein. Infants exclusively fed soy-based formula have 13,000 to 22,000 times more estrogen compounds in their blood than babies fed milk-based formula, the estrogenic equivalent of at least five birth control pills per day. Premature development of girls has been linked to the use of soy formula, as has the underdevelopment of males. Infant soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease.
Soy is linked to infertility, breast cancer, hypothyroidism, thyroid cancer, and many other disorders.
"Imagine drugs that are known, by years of scientific documentation, to be both carcinogenic and to also cause DNA and chromosome damage being prescribed and administered through the food supply to populations of many countries around the world without the knowledge or consent of the individuals consuming these foods ... with no way to track dosage, individual reactions, or harmful side-effects ... and without any concern for some people’s increased vulnerability to these drugs, such as cancer patients. It sounds crazy, but that is exactly what is happening around the world when Soy is added to our food supply. Soy contains the scientifically documented carcinogenic and DNA damaging and chromosome damaging natural chemicals genistein and daidzein." - True Health, the magazine of Carotec Inc., Naples, Florida. May/June 2004.
"(Soyfoods) are not nutrients. They are drugs."
Dr. L. White, Honolulu Aging Study.
Recipe of the Week
Stuffed Peppers
6 green, red, orange, or yellow bell peppers
1 pound ground beef or other red meat (all natural/organic/no hormones, etc.)
2 tblsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 small can tomato paste
1 cup beef stock (all natural)
1/2 tsp. each thyme, rosemary, and oregano (fresh or dried)
2 cups brown rice (cooked)
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
sea salt and pepper
1 cup grated Parmesan or Cheddar cheese
Carefully remove stems from peppers, slice in half lengthwise and remove seeds. In a heavy skillet, brown meat in olive oil until crumbly. Add onion, tomato pste, stock, and herbs. Bring to a boil and cook until liquid has reduced by about one half. Stir in rice and pine nuts and season to taste. Set the pepper halves in a buttered pyrex dish, fill each with stuffing and top with cheese. Bake for about 1 hour at 350 degrees.
Name that Food
Answer from last week: Wish Bone Thousand Island Dressing
What is this? Skim milk, fructose, sugar, Dutch processed cocoa, gum arabic, partially hydrogenated soy oil, calcium caseinate, potassium citrate, lactic acid, artificial flavors, guar gum, soy fiber, oat fiber, carrageenan and the following vitamins and minerals: calcium phosphate, magnesium oxide, sodium ascorbate, vitamin E acetate, ferric orthophosphate, vitamin A palmitate, biotin, niacinamide, zinc oxide, calcium pantothenate, vitamin B12, manganese sulfate, vitamin D, copper gluconate, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, folic acid, potassium iodide.
Be sure to check back next week for the answer!
Ok...are you still feeding your baby formula?
FORMULA SOLD IN THE USA
In so far as we know, there has been no study of quantities of neurotoxic amino acids (glutamic acid, aspartic acid, and L-cysteine) present in infant formula sold in the USA. So we picked two cans of formula off our grocer's shelves to illustrate the fact that formula sold in the USA has its share of MSG-containing ingredients. The ingredients are shown in Table 4. Those known to contain MSG or create MSG during processing are shown in bold. L-cysteine is noted in italics because it, like glutamic acid and aspartic acid, is a neurotoxic amino acid.
TABLE 4
Ingredients in infant formula sold in the USA
Nestlé Carnation Good Start (Easy to Digest Comfort proteins): Water, enzymatically hydrolyzed reduced minerals whey protein concentrate (from cows's milk), vegetable oils (palm olein, soy, coconut, high-oleic safflower), lactose, corn maltodextrin. . .
Enfamil Nutramigen Hypoallergenic Formula: Water, corn syrup solids. . . casein hydrolysate, modified corn starch. . . carrageenan, L-cysteine. . .
SUMMARY
The Canadian Study leaves no room for doubt that ingredients that contain processed free glutamic acid (MSG) and free aspartic acid - known neurotoxins- are used in baby formula. The fact that neurotoxins are present in baby formula is of particular concern since the blood brain barrier is not fully developed in infants, allowing neurotoxins to be more accessible to the brain than is the case in healthy adults.
The amounts of aspartic acid and glutamic acid found in the formulas analyzed in the Canadian Study have been listed separately in the tables. However, in studies using experimental animals, neuroscientists have found that glutamic acid and aspartic acid load on the same receptors in the brain, cause identical brain lesions and neuroendocrine disorders, and act in an additive fashion.
You will note that the level of neurotoxins found in the hypoallergenic formula was far greater than the level of neurotoxins found in the other formulas. In reviewing the literature on hypoallergenic formulas, we have found short-term studies that concluded that hypoallergenic formulas are safe because babies tolerated them and gained weight. However, we have not seen any long-term studies on the safety of hypoallergenic formulas. We believe that well designed long term studies would demonstrate that infants raised on hypoallergenic formulas, as compared to infants who are breastfed or fed on non-hypoallergenic formulas, will exhibit more learning disabilities at school age, and/or more endocrine disorders, such as obesity and reproductive disorders, later in life. Long-term studies on the effects of hypoallergenic formulas need to be done.
To put these figures in perspective, consider that in an FDA-sponsored study dated July, 1992 entitled "Safety of Amino Acids Used in Dietary Supplements," the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology concluded, in part, that "...it is prudent to avoid the use of dietary supplements of L-glutamic acid by pregnant women, infants, and children. . . and. . . by women of childbearing age and individuals with affective disorders." (MSG is called glutamic acid or L-glutamic acid when used in supplements.)
Consider also, that a press release dated May 27, 1999, which discussed the European Commission marketing authorization for RotaShield(R) Rotavirus Vaccine (since removed from the market) stated, in part, "RotaShield(R) should not be given to infants who are hypersensitive to latex or. . . monosodium glutamate."
During the 1960s, the food ingredient "monosodium glutamate" was routinely added to baby foods. The industry "voluntarily" ceased the practice after Congressional hearings in which concerned researchers warned of serious adverse effects. However, for some years following the elimination of "monosodium glutamate," hydrolyzed proteins were used in place of "monosodium glutamate." Hydrolyzed proteins always contain MSG.
Many consumers now know to avoid baby foods with hydrolyzed proteins. Yet how many parents realize that MSG lurks in every bottle of formula given to their infants? Babies on hypoallergenic formulas receive about 1 gram of total neurotoxins per day, a level at which many MSG-sensitive individuals experience adverse reactions.
This is part of an article published on the Weston A. Price Foundation for Wise Traditions website. Visit www.westonaprice.org for the complete article by Jack Samuels.
So what is MSG?
"MSG, or Monosodium Glutamate is a salt of the amino acid - Glutamic Acid (glutamate). A salt is the chemical name for a molecule held together by opposite charges. Basically one (mono) sodium atom is "stuck" to the amino acid glutamate." Body Systems Affected by MSG
Allergic response – MSG is not a true allergen but may directly affect immune response by stimulating or damaging the nervous system. In studies done recently on animals, food allergies may be caused by a lack of Interleukin 12. This substance is made by cells in the body - oligodendrocytes, that are killed by excess glutamate. Also - Over 85% of individuals with Type 1 Diabetes have antibodies to the enzyme the body uses to turn Glutamate into GABA - glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD). Their immune system attacks the means by which glutamate is metabolized, even though it does not attack glutamate itself. Because of their immune response to GAD, Type 1 diabetics are at risk of having an excess of glutamate in their systems already. Blood Pressure - may create taurine deficiency – calcium channels stay open – causing high blood pressure and counteracting calcium channel blocking medication. Blood vessels – Glutamate is vasoactive - it changes the diameter of the blood vessels - one reason why it may cause headaches. Brain – during periods of hypoglycemia where low blood glucose levels leave the brain with low defenses, or allergy response where the blood vessels become "leaky", MSG may cross the blood brain barrier and damage brain cells by excitatory neurotoxicity. By affecting the pancreas and creating a situation of hypoglycemia, MSG may bring down the brain’s barriers, carrying it’s own key, in a sense, to get to the brain. Digestive system – may create taurine deficiency due to its effect on cysteine. Cysteine competes with glutamate for uptake. Unfortunately, cysteine is used to make taurine, and taurine is used to make bile. Bile, which is made by the liver and stored in the gall bladder is used to break up fats into managable pieces for digestion. If bile formation is compromised - diarrhea and "gall bladder attacks" may occur. Endocrine System - GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) is created by feedback mechanism from MSG. GABA may be addictive. Related to the date-rape drug GBH. GABA stimulates the pituitary to produce growth hormone. Research has shown that MSG can also overstimulate prolactin production by the pituitary and cause sterility in female animals. Nearly half of all pituitary tumors are prolactin secreting. Hearing - The hair cells of the ear use glutamate as a neurotransmitter. Over-stimulation of these cells by glutamate can result in ringing in the ears. Glutamate opens calcium channels. Heart Rate - May create taurine deficiency – (taurine regulates heartbeat) causing irregular or racing heartbeat. Hypoglycemia – MSG’s stimulation of pancreas decreases blood glucose, making hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) worse. Hypothalamus – part of the brain most susceptible to attack because it is the "sensor" of the brain, out in the open so to speak, not protected by the blood brain barrier because it needs to monitor levels of hormones in the blood. This part of the brain directs the action of the pituitary gland which directs the action of the entire endocrine system. Many MSG sensitive persons become diagnosed with thyroid disfunction and are put on synthetic hormone due to hypothyroidism. This would suggest that the hypothalamus may be compromised and unable to effectively direct the pituitary gland and consequently the thyroid. The hypothalamus also regulates hunger, and body temperature. The hypothalamus is also responsible for rage and panicas well... Lungs - Asthma - due to MSG’s stimulatory effect on the nervous system (See Johns Hopkins research) would explain why asthma is induced in some by MSG. Nervous system - MSG stimulates nerves in tongue and elsewhere directly (that’s why they use it). Glutamate in excess can overstimulate nerve cells until they die. Certain cells called oligodendrocytes which are found in the nervous system and make MYELIN are killed by excess glutamate. It is the inability to make myelin which defines the disease Multiple Sclerosis. In those patients, Interleukin 12 is low. IL 12 is also made by the oligodendrocytes - a clue that these cells are probably being killed by something. We firmly believe that something may be MSG and aspartame in the diet. Pancreas – glutamate stimulates the pancreas and may cause Type IIdiabetes, obesity, and insulin resistance. In individuals with Type 1 diabetes, it may cause an excess of glutamate since 85% of those with Type 1 diabetes have antibodies which attack GAD - the enzyme responsible for converting glutamate into GABA. Thyroid function – See Hypothalamus above Vision - There are glutamate receptors in the retina. Laboratory studies on animals have shown the retina to be damaged by MSG. Why do food companies add MSG to foods? There are several reasons: MSG tricks your tongue into making you think a certain food is high in protein and thus nutritious. It is not a "meat tenderizer". It is not a "preservative". The food industry is trying to confuse the issue by focusing on the "fifth" taste sense they call umami. Free glutamic acidis detected by the taste buds as a simple way to signal the presence of protein in a food, just as there are fat receptors to detect fats and receptors that sense carbohydrate or sweet flavors. The purpose is to help us discern real food from inedible matter. It changes your perception of not simply taste but the nutritious qualities of what you put into your mouth. However, and here is the main problem with free glutamic acid - It is the very same neurotransmitter that your brainand many organs including your ears, eyes, nervous system and pancreas in your body use to initiate certain processes in your body. MSG stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin. So many diets these days are concerned about the Glycemic Index of foods and yet none of them address the fact that MSG and free glutamic acid stimulate the pancreas to release insulin when there doesn't even have to be carbohydrates in the food for that insulin to act on. The food industry has found their own "anti-appetite suppressant". It's a convenient way to keep consumers coming back for more. The blood sugar drops because of the insulin flood. And you are hungry an hour later. Sound familiar? The body changes excess glutamate to GABA. GABA may be addictive. It is calming and affects the same receptors in the brain as valium. Cost. The illusion created by adding MSG to a food product enables the food processor to add LESS real food. The illusion of more protein in a food allows the food producer to put LESS protein in it. The consumer perceives the product - say chicken soup - to have more chicken in it than is actually there. Example: A well-known brand of dehydrated chicken noodle soup. Is that chicken in there, or a piece of confetti? This information was taken directly from www.msgtruth.org.
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