While phytoestrogens like genestein have been shown to have benefits to human health, they have also been implicated in many studies done by universities, government and industry in causing all sorts of hormonal effects. The soybean industry thinks this is a positive thing, and soy is aggressively marketed as “natural” hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women. Others point to possible negative effects from tampering with hormones, and urge caution, because many people are very sensitive to estrogens, and could develop cancers and other problems if they consume too much.

I agree with you about conventional cow’s milk, which, pumped full of genetically engineered hormones and pasteurized, is also implicated in a host of health problems. I wouldn’t eat conventional dairy products if you paid me. But conventional milk is not touted as a superfood, nor is it consumed in the quantities that soy is. Dairy is also a much smaller industry than soy. As a result of heavy subsidization with everyone’s tax dollars, soy byproducts can be found in nearly everything on grocery shelves these days, and Americans are consuming these hormone-altering foods at unprecedented rates.

While not everyone has issues with soy, like yourself, I have known many people who suffered health problems that went away with the elimination of soy from their diet. My mother, a two-time breast cancer survivor, has been instructed by her oncologist to avoid soy like the plague, including as a skin cream additive. I myself am intolerant to soy hormones, and my daughter is very allergic to soy. We are also allergic to almonds and dairy. Therefore, in our house, we use a lot of both coconut and hemp milk, which, with an abundance of fatty acids, calcium and added B12, are significantly more nutritious than soy, almond, rice or conventional cow’s milk.

Have you tried the new So Delicious coconut milk in the half gallon carton in the dairy section of the health food store? It’s amazingly yummy, has a surprisingly high nutrition profile, and is hands-down the most versatile “mylk” I’ve used to date. It goes faster than water around here!

Thank you for spreading the truth about soy.

I agree that the best replacement for soy oil is animal fats from grassfed animals, which are so healthy. Unrefined coconut oil is also an excellant substitute. I use olive oil, one of our oldest foods, where animal fat will not work, such as in salad dressing.

The only way we can counter the propaganda of the soy industry is to spread the truth, over and over again.

Thank you so much for doing so.

Stanley Fishman
Author of Tender Grassfed Meat

I agree completely with you on all accounts: palm trees, peak oil and animal fats.

I am a big fan of animal fats, and use them liberally in my home. I have also posted on making your own butter, and on the myth that saturated fats are bad for you. However, there are times when I need an oil rather than a fat that is solid at room temperature. Butter, for example, is a little tough to make salad dressing with. For that sunflower, olive or even sesame oil make better choices.

The reason why is a no-brainer when you think about it. Where does palm oil come from? Trees. By definition you have to grow trees to have a palm plantation. Where does soy come from? Annual plants, requiring full sun. You MUST cut down all the trees in the area of the field to grow soy.

Now, I do distinguish between “group of trees” and “forest,” unlike some people (Rush Limbaugh famously pooh-poohed the loss of old-growth forest in the U.S. by claiming we have more trees now than when Columbus landed in Haiti), but still, it’s better to have a group of trees in rows on a plantation than no trees at all.

I do wonder why people skirt around the issue of saturated fats from animal sources even as they admit the tropical oils are healthy. We may not always be able to obtain tropical oils in temperate climates in the future, what with the price of fuel steadily rising (and if you believe the Peak Oil alarmists this becomes even more of an urgent issue), so we need to get over the idea that butter, lard, and tallow will kill us when in fact they greatly improve our health and quality of life. They will be the saturated fat sources we can most easily access if we lose access to palm and coconut.

Thank you for this excellent summary! I really appreciate the work you put into assembling such a great array of information and resources for further research. The soy craze has bugged me for years now, and the more I learn about the motives behind the growth of the industry and the cost in health to the general public so easily swayed by advertising, the more confident I am in my distaste and distrust. Thank you for illuminating the need to return to natural foods/oils that we’ve been using for centuries…

Cheers,
Bethany