| Product: |
Soya Milk |
| Date: |
27/04/02 (21817 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Many supposedly - please see op
Disadvantages: Many supposedly - please see op
There so much hype around nowadays about the benefits of Soya and it was out of curiousity that I picked up a bottle of Soya Milk from Sainsbury's, to find out what all the fuss about.
What was this stuff that claimed to be the healthy replacement to my beloved Full Cream Milk. I just had to find out.
I put it in the fridge for a couple of hours so that it could chill a bit because I like my milk really cold. From what I saw, as I poured myself a glass, it looked like normal milk and this only increased my optimisim. As I took my first tentative sip and swallowed I had the most violent of reactions. Luckily the kitchen sink is just across the kitchen from the refrigerator and I just spat out as much as I could and promptly reached for a glass of water.
This stuff is absolutely awful. It make look similar but the difference in taste and texture is incredible. It has a somewhat chalky feel to it and it feels thick in the mouth. It also has a funny flavour that is trying to be similar to milk but just cannot.
How can this product dare suggest that it is similar to dairy milk. On what basis can this similarity be made? What is so good about this product that people were recommending that it be used in place of dairy milk?
First let me provide you with the necessary information on the product what this opinion is about.
Soya milk is made from soybeans and provide a protein that's similar to that found in dairy and meat products. One cup of soya milk contains 8 grams of protein, the same amount found in a cup of dairy milk.
Soya milk is made from whole dried soybeans. The beans are soaked in water, mashed and cooked. This process extracts the protein from the soybeans in the form of a milky white liquid. The bean residue or "okara" is removed. The resulting unsweetened soya milk is packaged and shipped to supermarkets and grocery stores.
They come in several variations and pack size
s. I picked up the Long Life, Calcium-enriched and sweetned version in the 500ml. pack for £0.65. Thank goodness I bought the 500ml and not the 1 liter pack. As for "long life" I will certainly not be able to confirm this since the stuff ended up in my dustbin about 30 seconds after I had the first sip.
I do not think that I have to give you my appraisal. I think you all know the answer.
Well thats my bit on Soya Milk be it from Sainsbury's, Tesco, Safeway or anywhere else. End of opinion? Not yet. Please read on.
In order to get the answers to my questions I decided to do a bit of research and boy was I surprised at my findings.
First let me present you with all the positive information avaialble about soya and soya products, such as Soya Milk.
- Good source of protein
- Low in saturated fat
- Low in calories
- Cholesterol-free
- Lactose-free
- Dairy-free
- Tastes smooth and rich
- Replacement for milk
- Versatile
Due to this information many people have turned to products that contain soya, such as Soya Milk, Soya foods (especially vegetarians), Soya Infant formulas etc etc. Even many of the regular foods that we eat contain soya. Infact about two-thirds of all manufactured food products contain derivatives or ingredients made from soya.
Soya it is claimed has increading health advantages. It contains high amounts of protein including amino acids. Soya is also a rich source of calcium, iron, zinc, phosphorus, magnesium, B vitamins, omega 3 fatty acids and fiber.
It is claimed to he help the heart as it contains anti-oxidants, which are known to lower LDL (bad cholesterol levels) and also have positive effects on blood clotting. Basically similar to asprin.
Soya contains elements that may lower the risks for breast cancer and studies have shown that soya consumption may reduce the chances of lung and colon cancer.
It is also clai
med to help slow down or prevent kidney damage in people with impared kidney functions.
Soya is also know to help boost the immune system.
So there you have it. You've heard all the good stuff now get ready for the rest of it.
Worldwide the evidence is starting to stack up against soya. In the United States especially they so so worried about the possible health risks that the government is funding 19 seperate research projects. These findings will be due in at the end of this year.
Priliminary findings are that Soya Infant formulas, which are the sole foods for thousands of babies, has an oestrogenic effect on rats.
Soya contains various toxic chemicals. It was understood that these would be fully destroyed after cooing but this have proved totally wrong. These toxic chemicals are; 1) phytates, which block the bodies uptake of minerals, 2) enzyme inhibitors, which hinder protein digestion, 3) haemaggluttin, which cause red blood cells to clump together and this inhibits oxygen take-up and growth.
The most startling fact is that Soya contains high levels of phytoestrogens (also referred to as isoflavones), genistein and daidzein.
Vegetarians are especially at risk of mineral deficiencies. This is because soya contains high levels of phytic acid, which blocks the absorption of essential minerals in the digestive tract.
For Soya Infant formulas the news is also bad. A newborn babies sole food is the milk that it drinks. A soya fed baby will receive the equivalent of five birth control pills worth of oestrogen every day. The levels of insoflavone levels in these babies was found to be between 13,000 to 22,000 times higher than babies on non-soya formulas.
Soya-fed babies are taking part in 'a large, uncontrolled and basically unmonitored human infant experiment', said Daniel Sheehan, director of the FDA's National Center for Toxicological Research, in 1998.
Due t
o this oestrogen overload, soya-fed babies have a two-fold risk of developing thyroid abnormalities including goitre and auto-immune thyroiditis. Boys risk retarded physical maturation, while girls risk early puberty (1 per cent of girls now show signs of puberty, such as breast development or pubic hair, before the age of three) and fertility. Last year, compounds in soya were also implicated in the development of infantile leukaemia. Current government advice is that breast is best and that soya formula should not be given to infants unless on the advice of a health professional.
Soya blocks calcium and causes a deficiency of vitamin D, both of which are needed for strong bones, say American nutritionists and soya debunkers Sally Fallon and Mary G Enig.
Infact the only soya product that you could safely eat would be fermented soya products, such as soy sauce, tempeh and miso. Due to the long fermentation process the toxins are eleminated.
Unfortunatley no matter how hard we try it is almost impossible to avoid soya products. They can be found in breakfast cereals, ice cream, convenience foods like hamburgers, fish fingers and all types of baked goods from cakes and biscuits to tortillas and bread.
Scientists are only just beginning to research and understand the harmful long-term effects that eating large quantities of soya can have on the human body. As Fallon and Enig write: 'The industry has known for years that soya contains many toxins. At first they told the public that the toxins were removed by processing. Then they claimed that these substances were beneficial.'
All of this information was obtained from a total of six different websites.
I now leave it to you to decide if Soya is good for you or bad.
From my experience with the Soya Milk I think I will be giving it a miss for a long time to come. However as indicated many foods do contain some soya products but these are mostly bl
ended in with other ingredients. Naturally it would be difficult to avoid these products and since they only contain small levels we should not have any problems.
If the adverse facts are assertained then it would be the vegetarians that are at risk as they depend on soya to a very large extent. I hope that all the negative information is not substantiated but to me the signs do not look good.
Summary:
|
Last comment:
 |
Sidney_M - 15/10/08 Before I start, note that I am NOT a soya milk super fan. I personally drink it because milk makes me ill, but that’s not to say everyone should drink it, however…
First of all, do you put sugar in your milk? Why did you expect a sweetened drink to taste anything like milk?! The unsweetened stuff still doesn’t taste like milk, but it at least has a savoury taste.
“It contains high amounts of protein including amino acids.”
- Proteins are made of amino acids, so of course if it contains proteins, it contains amino acids.
I wouldn’t get worried about a product just because the FDA are conducting research. Who’s funding the research? The Dairy Association by any chance? The FDA are the same organization that approved Aspartame use in ‘no sugar’ food and drink (such as diet coke) and the health problems that stuff is thought to cause is almost endless. It is thought that they received a little monetary incentive in approving Aspartame, since for 10 years they were adamant it was pure evil.
I don’t have children and I don’t think I would feed them soya milk anyway, but how can you try and predict health consequences on humans by comparing what happen to rats when they’re fed it? RATS ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TO HUMANS and have many adverse reactions to things (such as aspirin) that are completely harmless to humans (and vice versa).
“The most startling fact is that Soya contains high levels of phytoestrogens (also referred to as isoflavones), genistein and daidzein.”
– Considering you didn’t apparently know that proteins are made of amino acids, do you know what the above actually means? You don’t explain why that fact is ‘the most startling thing’. (I don’t know either but you can’t claim something is startling and not explain why).
“Vegetar ians are especially at risk of mineral deficiencies. This is because soya contains high levels of phytic acid, which blocks the absorption of essential minerals in the digestive tract.”
- That may be true (I have no idea), but here’s more food for thought. As I mentioned, protein is made up of amino acids (note the acid part). We are told to drink milk for the calcium (which is basic, ie alkaline), which are bones require. It is thought by some (following many years of research), that the high protein in milk can actually cause calcium to be leached from bones, which is why Osteoporosis is only found in dairy eating people. Obviously it’s more complicated than that, but that’s ‘the bones’ of it.
I could go on, but I have things to do.
I’m not saying at all that people should just accept the health benefits of soya milk (in fact I wish people would care more about what they eat), but reading a quote by one doctor (or whoever) is not proof of it’s evil status, mainly as you don’t know who’s paying them to say this stuff. |
View all
30
comments
|
