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Nutrition

1. Vegetarian Sources of Omega-3s

2. How Safe is Soya? Debunking the Two Biggest Soya Myths

3. Can Soya Prevent Colon Cancer?

4. Wheatgrass Juice

How Safe is Soya? Debunking the Two Biggest Soya Myths

by Rudy Hadisentosa, Veggie123

As the popularity of soya milk, tofu and other soya products grows, so does the inevitable backlash of claims that it's somehow unhealthy. Some of it is dairy industry propaganda, but there are also avid anti-soya activists out there saying that soya is dangerous, and can lead to osteoporosis, thyroid problems or worse. I'd like to offer some facts to counter these claims.

First of all, soyabeans have been around for a very, very long time. They've been a staple food in Asia for over 5,000 years, and they've been grown in the U.S. since 1829 – in fact, Civil War soldiers brewed up soyabean coffee when they couldn't get coffee beans!

Today, people in Western nations enjoy soya milk, tofu, and fermented foods like tempeh, miso and soya sauce. Even people who don't embrace a full vegetarian lifestyle eat soya nuts and use soya protein in their morning breakfast shakes. And with soya meat-substitutes, ice cream, yoghurt and other foods, the need to understand the safety of soya has never been more important. So let's take a look at the two biggest fibs told about soya.

Soya Myth Number 1: Soya contains plant hormones that will interfere with healthy thyroid function. 

Obviously, this isn't true. If it were, then China and Japan would be populated by giants! The chemicals in soya that concern some people are called "goitrogens" and, yes, they do occur naturally in soya. But they can also be found in vegetables like broccoli, sweet potatoes and lima beans. Goitrogens interfere with the thyroid gland's ability to utilise iodine, and only cause a problem when iodine intake is extremely low – not a problem in anyone with an even moderately healthy diet.

The urban legend that soya consumption can cause hyperthyroidism comes from a period between 1951 and 1962 when several cases of goiter were diagnosed in babies who had been fed infant formula that was made from soya flour. But the formulation for soya-based baby food was changed in the 1960s, from soya flour to soya protein isolates, and manufacturers began supplementing the formula with additional iodine. Since the change, not a single case of goiter in infants has been caused by soya formula. So rest assured that soya isn't going to harm your thyroid, or your baby's.

Soya Myth Number 2: Soya increases the risk of breast cancer.

This one's also related to the belief that plant oestrogen (isoflavones) present in soya can alter oestrogen levels in the human body. To judge whether that's a danger, all you have to do is look at the breast cancer rates in countries where the residents eat a lot of soya. The fact is, they have less cases of breast cancer than in Western countries. Studies have shown that the relationship between human hormones and soya consumption is actually quite complicated – studies have shown that small amounts of soya can, indeed, increase the growth of cancer cells, but that large amounts inhibit cell growth. And the benefits appear to be greater for women who start eating soya during puberty.  The truth of the matter is that soya not only doesn't increase the risk of breast cancer, it may actually decrease that risk in some women!

Can Soya Prevent Colon Cancer?

Maybe so. New investigation from the Children's Hospital & Research Center in Oakland California suggests that molecules called sphingadienes (SDs, for short) found in soya are cytotoxic - that is, they can induce the death of cells including mutant ones such as cancer cells. This may mean that the SDs found naturally in soya foods can help prevent colon cancer and that understanding how SDs work may lead to the development of new drugs for the disease. “Soya foods have long been thought to be protective against colon cancer”, noted Julie Saba, M.D., Ph.D., who led the study. Identifying SDs could provide the scientific explanation for why this effect has been seen. More research is needed to see how SDs could be harnessed to fight colon cancer and to further explore other soya components that might also play a protective role. The study will be featured in the Dec. 15, 2009 issue of Cancer Research.

WHEATGRASS JUICE

Are We Really So Unhealthy?

Two of the most salutary trends in modern nutrition are the malnutrition of affluent society and mass dehydration - both lead to poor health. We are increasingly dependent on refined foods, low quality, mass produced meat, fruit and vegetables. We are subject to massive media exposure of the high sugar drinks and fast food outlets. There is an increasing need to add fertilisers to improve yields from impoverished soil, and to use of growth hormones and antibiotics in the production of meat.

Other factors - such as the tight margins demanded by supermarket giants - all conspire to reduce the nutritional value of our foods. The poor quality of our tap water does little to encourage us to drink the recommended daily quota.

Our reliance on high energy sugar drinks and stimulants, such as tea and coffee, combine to dehydrate our systems still further. The results can include a reduction in the efficiency of our immune systems, a lowering of reserves through the poor nutrient content of our diet and a propensity to infections . . .

IT'S NOT ALL DOOM AND GLOOM, HOWEVER . . .

An increase in the public's awareness of these issues has led to an enormous increase in the consumption of organic foods, a suspicion of GMO foods, the on-going call for adequate food labelling and increased use of water purification.

Alongside the quantum leaps in our understanding of the importance of living foods and the factors that have led to the deterioration in the quality of our food, come the welcome proliferation of the juice bar, the complementary health clinic, and the local wholefood shop. An organic, freshly prepared juice in a gym or juice bar may cost £3 or more, but an increasing number of people are looking for ways to boost their intake of fresh organic nutrients and of pure water AT HOME. What is it about wheatgrass, that leads it to feature on the menus of fashionable juice bars, to help increasing numbers of people in their fight against cancer, to boost the immune system, and to be an important element in most detox programmes? 

·     Steve Meyerowitz, known as Sproutman in the US, describes wheatgrass as "a sunshine transfusion"

·     Dr Ann Wigmore healed her gangrenous legs with it in the 1970's and later ran the Boston marathon; and

·     the UK's own Living Foods expert, Elaine Bruce, who was a student of the late Ann Wigmore, describes it as an essential ingredient of the Living Foods Programme.

SO . . . WHY DRINK WHEATGRASS JUICE?

Wheatgrass earned its reputation from people with terminal illnesses, who took it at the eleventh hour after conventional medicine left them with no hope. In the 1970s, Dr Ann Wigmore opened the Hippocrates Health Institute, in Boston, nourishing terminally ill patients back to health with fresh squeezed wheatgrass.

Dr Charles F Schnabel (1895 - 1974) chemist and agriculturalist, knew from his work with his farm animals and his research in the laboratory, that wheatgrass boosts nutrition, builds good blood and strengthens immunity. More recently, there are many studies demonstrating the efficacy and nutrition of grass foods, using both clinical evidence and testimonials.

In the US there are numerous healing centres, where wheatgrass plays a key role in the diet. There are courses run in the UK by proponents of wheatgrass and raw, living foods.

Wheatgrass has long been used like a herbal medicine - for its therapeutic and nutritional properties. Although wheat is the most popular, barley, oats and rye are equally potent.

So what's it good for?

·     Blood purification 

·     Liver detoxification 

·     Colon cleansing

·     As a food Wheatgrass is very nourishing and restorative with a complete range of nutrients.

·     Therapeutically, the fresh juice can be drunk or applied rectally using a enema implant.

·     For disease prevention, you can make powdered drinks, take it in tablet or capsule form, or drink the fresh juice as part of a long term health maintenance programme.

For those with an intolerance to gluten, do not be put off . . . The grain metamorphoses completely into a vegetable, with none of the allergic proteins common to the glutenous grains.

". . . our food is our medicine and our medicine is our food" - Hippocrates, the father of medicine.

It has long been established that the best medicine is a whole, natural food. All known nutrients were found in concentrated form in wheatgrass, including what are now known as phytochemicals. Also anti-oxidants, enzymes, 20 amino acids, vitamins including: folic acid, calcium, zinc, selenium, magnesium, phosphorous, manganese, potassium, and cellular RNA and DNA. Similar natural superfoods containing a broad spectrum of concentrated nutrients are bee pollen, spirulina, chlorella and blue green algae. They all provide the raw materials from which the body manufactures what it needs and balances its own chemistry. Grasses, along with alfalfa and these algae, are the richest sources of chlorophyll on the planet. Green plant cells are the only cells capable of absorbing the energy of the sun. The famous research scientist E. Bircher called chlorophyll "concentrated sunpower - it increases the functions of the heart, improves the vascular system, the intestines, the uterus and the lungs. It raises the basic nitrogen exchange and is therefore a tonic which, considering its stimulating properties cannot be compared with any other".

The amount of juice you drink is totally up to you.

Steve Meyerowitz says "Grass is non-toxic in any dose, but you may react to the results of its detoxifying power. All grass is a powerful purgative for the liver, and too much can release too many poisons too quickly".

EXPERIMENT! Start with small quantities. It can be mixed with other juices or taken neat. Notice the effects of a daily 1oz shot! Remember - it's concentrated sunpower! Rocket fuel! Greenpower! Living food! Whatever it becomes for you . . . have fun! If you have time let us know how you get on.

Resources:

·     Elaine Bruce Living Foods, info@livingfoods.co.uk
VIDEO - Living Foods - A Practical teach-in with Elaine Bruce, available from Living Foods

·     Karen Knowler - FRESH Network, www.fresh-network.com

·     Steve Meyerowitz www.sproutman.com

Further reading (available from Wholistic):

·     The Wheatgrass Book by Dr Ann Wigmore

·     Wheatgrass - Nature's Finest Medicine by Steve Meyerowitz

·     Living Foods for Optimum Health by Brian Clement

·     Power Juices, Super Drinks by Steve Meyerowitz

"Jennifer Aniston claims she now adds wheatgrass supplements to all her meals because she has never felt better than since she started eating it. Wheatgrass contains chlorophyll, 20 amino acids, several hundred different enzymes and 90 different minerals and vitamins including vitamin B12 & calcium. And Jen’s so keen on eating it, she’s even started growing it at home in her garden. You can buy it in tablet form from most healthfood shops or grow in a bag. + recipe for a wheatgrass smoothie – oranges, banana, lime, ice cubes & wheatgrass.

Closer Magazine July 2003