Confused About Soy?

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In response to her alert, I received a few emails asking to clarify the confusion between unfermented and fermented soy products. One of our regular readers, Jackie Smith wrote: ‘Apologies, but I'm quite confused lately regarding soy and soya products. Can you please clarify for me whether organic soya milk is a healthy product for me to drink? I'm just not at all sure now?’ Another reader wrote: ‘Does this mean that by taking soya desserts and yoghurts as a substitute for dairy products I am actually depleting my system of important and essential minerals, since the soya used in these products is not fermented?’

Soy Bad, Soy Good

Soy is a hotly debated product among those who promote and sell its nutritional value as well as consumers who eat it. The debate stems largely from the health value of unfermented soy found in a great many processed foods, in relation to those that use the much healthier alternative: fermented soy.

Fermentation is the oldest known form of food biotechnology; records of barley conversion to beer date back more than 5000 years. The traditional fermentation process serves several functions, including the enrichment of food substrates biologically with protein, essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, vitamins, polyamines, carbohydrates and numerous anti-oxidants and phytosterols.

Unfermented soy products contain high levels of phytic acid (phytate), which contains anti-nutritive properties, which has been shown in a number of studies to BLOCK absorption of vital nutrients such as calcium. Phytic acid also BINDS with certain other nutrients, including iron, to inhibit their absorption.

On the other hand, fermented soy has been shown to enhance the bioavailability of iron and copper, hence rendering the delivery of these nutrients in their most beneficial forms.

Fermented soy stops the effect of phytic acid and increases the availability of isoflavones (a class of organic compounds, often naturally occurring), which scientists say reduces the risk of cancer. Many studies have shown traditionally fermented soy helps in preventing and reducing a variety of diseases including certain forms of heart disease. The overwhelming majority of soy consumed in Asian countries such as Japan, China, Korea and Indonesia is in its cultured or probiotic form enhanced with genistein and daidzein.

The fermentation also creates the probiotics - the ‘good’ bacteria the body is absolutely dependent on, such as lactobacilli - that increase the quantity, availability, digestibility and assimilation of nutrients in the body.

What makes unfermented soy particularly unsafe? Well for starters, it's hard to avoid soy (unfermented) in processed foods such as baby formula, meat substitutes, drinks and snacks. Secondly, it blocks the absorption of key nutrients and worst of all it can be found in a many domestically-produced food products on our supermarket shelves (you may even be consuming it without knowing it).

Products using unfermented soy include:

• Fresh green soybeans
• Whole dry soybeans
• Nuts
• Sprouts
• Flour
• Soy milk (unfermented)
• Tofu (unfermented)

Good soy

The World Health Organization reported in 2000 that the Japanese, with their extensive consumption of fermented soy products, such as miso and natto, together with supplementary foods like ginger, ocean herbs and green tea, have the longest ‘healthiest life expectancy’ of any people on Earth. Americans and Britons, on the other hand, did not even appear on the top 20 of the list for healthy life expectancy. The Western diet with its undue emphasis on the consumption of ‘smart’ products that are processed or genetically altered, almost certainly plays a role.

A study of the fermentation method involved in the production of the Japanese traditional food, miso, concluded the fermentation process itself led to a lower number and growth rate of cancers. Researchers also found it was not the presence of any specific nutrient that was fermented along with the soybean paste, but the fermented soy itself that was responsible for the health benefits associated with eating miso.

Miso, a fermented or probiotic form of soybean, is particularly rich in the isoflavone aglycones, genistein and daidzein, which are believed to be cancer chemo-preventatives (agents used to lower the risk of developing cancer).

Natto has similar health benefits, according to research conducted by a Japanese scientist who found natto had the highest fibrinolytic activity among 200 foods produced worldwide. About 15 years ago, that same scientist discovered an enzyme produced in the fermentation process, nattokinase, a powerful agent contained in the sticky part of natto that dissolves blood clots that lead to heart attacks, strokes and senility.

Natto also contains vitamin K2 and isophrabon, which help to prevent diseases such as osteoporosis and breast cancer and slow down the aging process.

Products using fermented soy include:

• Natto
• Miso
• Tempeh
• Soy sauces
• Fermented tofu and soymilk

So I guess we are all back to reading the label. It’s the only way to make sure we get the health benefits we are paying for. The rule is simple:

Fermented Soy – GOOD!

Unfermented Soy – BAD!

And I would say, if the label doesn’t indicate whether it is fermented or unfermented, expect the worst...

Related Reading:

Examining Soy's Role In The Fight Against Breast Cancer

‘Fermented Soy: Aid to Cancer Prevention & Therapy’ by Dr. Vijaya Nair, & Vic Hernandez, published online, wellbeingjournal.com

‘The Pluses of Fermented Soy’ published online, articles.mercola.com

‘Healthy life expectancy (HALE) at birth (years)’ published online by The World Health Organization, who.int