Kay (Atlanta, Georgia) on 02/22/2011:
I was an avid soy/tofu/tempeh eater & soy-milk drinker, however that changed completely in 2006. I began having extremely heavy menstrual cycles, cramping and headaches during every cycle which went from 6 days to 10 days. The final threat was an incident at work while on my cycle, I got up to walk to a colleauges office and as I stoood approximately 2 to 3 cups of blood poured out of my body. I now know that to be "flooding".
My GYN doctor immediately put me on Progesterone hormone therapy, which worked temporarily. The progesterone was to aid in balancing my hormone levels of estrogen & progesterone.
She advised that the fibroids had grown very large (the size of a 6 week pregnancy) in my uterine walls.
I learned that Soy has high traces of estrogen and this is what aided to the growth of fibroids.
Sadly, I had to have surgery in 2008. It was very traumatic and I even ended up with a large keloid scar.
After the surgery, I limited soy and replaced soy-milk with almond milk.
In December 2010, I decided to become vegan and again increased my soy/tofu/tempeh, again, my fibroids are back and my doctor has advised that I will need to have surgery again.
I am convinced that the soy products added extra dosages of estrogen which contributed to the growth and regrowth of my fibroids.
It's obvious that all people do not react the same to foods and/or drugs. But, similiar to medications and the listed possible side effects, the same should always be stated with any reference or suggestion to natural remedies or supplements.
Thank you.
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Janna (London, Uk ) on 07/21/2010:
I just wanted to comment on the dangers of soya milk for the infants. I didn't read closely about the dangers of soya milk products because as a family we do not really consume them. However, my son who is now 7 years old and who had been on soya formula since the age of 4.5 month till perhaps 22 month. At about two years of age he started drinking cow's milk with no problems. Before had terrible intolerance to it and this soya formula was the only way for me to get him fed. Well, I did listen to the doctors (sadly) and had no idea that goat milk could be a substitute. In my family we are usually all healthy with good genes. In my husband's more or less also. With this in mind, I was taken aback when my son got pneumonia at 2 y.o. Then a few month later it reoccurred. Second time he needed oxygen mask as well. And this condition reoccurred again soon after. I became desperate. In the end we got it under control with salbutamol. The diagnosis wasn't asthma. But some kind of bronkho. . . Spasms. We had been using salbutamol constantly till he was 4 y.o. Then all of a sudden this breathing problem of his was gone. But soon came a new one - heavy allergy to mold that resulted in him no longer being able to properly breath through the nose. It also made him so susceptible to developing severe cough as soon as got a cold. He is otherwise fine - intelligent, very fit and tall. But he does have very strange behavior sometimes. I even thought of taking him to see a psychologist. He likes to annoy every one in the house, cannot find occupation for himself on his own - he craves attention all the time! I've got another boy, 2y.o. who I breast-fed till he was 15 month. Of course, I compare the two often. The younger one is much healthier - no pneumonia, allergies, coughs or bronkho spasms. No attention cravings! And is just as fit, tall and strong and a clever one too. God, if I had only known then what kind of long-term harm I would cause my child with this soya formula!
Billie (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) on 05/30/2010:
i became a vegetarian and started drinking soy milk at the age of 16..i started using it in everything...i got up to the point of drinking about 1 ltr every day 1.5 days...i loved it!! i was addicted to drinking tea with creamy original soy...i had it on everything...
At the age of 25 my period started slowing down in frequency, between the age of 25-30 i was only having about 3-6 "clotty" 2day periods a year and i developed a big thick chunk in the middle of my neck "swollen thyroid", i had ultra sounds on it apparently it was "normal" "its just more visible due to your slim neck"...i saw many doctors and had tests but they all told me i was fine and to just go on the pill if i wanted to regulate my period...this was not an option for me...i started worrying about my fertility, would i ever be able to get pregnant.
Then at the age of 30.5 my mum read an article about the bad side of soy milk and she told me to get off it quickly....
So i switched to rice milk and 28 days later i got a 5 day period and 2yrs on i have been getting them every 28days..my swollen thyroid has even slimed down :-)....oh and within 5 months of stopping soy milk i got pregnant.
For me this is proof enough...the oestrogen in the soy was messing up my natural cycle...
well thats my story.
Steve (Atlanta, Georgia) on 05/09/2010:
Ted is correct in distinguishing between fermented and non-fermented soy. 93% of soy in the USA is non-organic, hence the natural confusion for consumers who don't know the difference. In fact, there are 10,000 species of soy which adds to the challenge to evaluate it properly.The National Cancer Insitute spent $20 million and concluded that soy when fermented had the most anti-carcinagenic properties.
When processed at a low temperature and hydrolyzed and nitrogenated into a beverage it has been a very effective alternative for treating advanced cancer patients as well as Crohn's disease, and other auto-immune illnesses.
It is a powerful immune booster and harnesses the body's natural healing powers more than most realize.
regards,
Steve Becker
Atlanta Ga
Meddy (Springfield, Oh, USA) on 09/26/2009:
For the past year, I have been a wreck! I am post-menopausal and the hot flashes and emotional ups and downs were making me feel like I was losing it. I wanted to edure this and go all natural, figuring this was a natural part of my body's process...I could not take this one more second. I went to see my Dr. and begged her for HRT's...anything to give me relief. She is a huge pill pusher so I was rather shocked when she told me to dring soy milk. I asked her about bioidentical therapy and her reply was, "drinking soy milk is bioidentical"... I know there will be those who disagree, I can only speak for myself. I started drinking about 8 oz of soy milk right away. For me, it has been nothing short of a miracle. I feel like a human being againl. The depression is gone and so are the hot flashes. If I do feel one coming on, I run and get about 4 oz in me and they immediately subside. I cannot tell you what a blessing this has been. I have not experienced one negative side effect. If this helps just one person who is suffering like I was, please give it a try.
Leanne (Brisbane, Queensland Australia) on 08/27/2009:
In defence of soy - I have been having some really atrocious hot flushes as I enter menopause. For the last 12 months I have simply endured them, thinking they will just go away eventually.In desperation last week, I bought a bulk pack of soy beans (non GMO)and have been making my own soy milk. The taste is absolutely terrible of course(no sweeteners or flavouring added), but frankly, I'd drink battery acid if I thought it would help.
Well, it has - no, not the battery acid! I got my first full night's sleep in over 12 months last night and the hot flushes have not recurred since the first 24 hours of drinking my home made soymilk.
I have to add however, that I am on the bicarbonate soda/ACV mix as well, and tried oil-pulling with sesame oil for the first time two days ago. The bicarb/ACV drink did help in terms of severity of the flushes, but adding the soymilk to the whole protocol really did the trick, as far as I'm concerned. The difference is amazing and I can't believe how much more energised I feel. I feel as if some heavy horror has been lifted and my outlook on life is now really positive. I find it hard to believe how much the whole menopause thing had affected my vitality and enjoyment of life. I now have my rather immature and much enjoyed sense of mischief back!
I'll keep up the soymilk along with the bicarb/ACV. Despite the taste!
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Kc (Duboise, Pa) on 08/27/2009:
Its not just anti-soy propaganda. I nearly ruined my health and destroyed my thyroid gland by eating soy foods. Not everyone can eat soy, just as not everyone can eat wheat, or eggs, or milk etc. And even though soy is helping you now, watch out for signs of "soy toxicity" in the months to come. Soy also contains a powerful enzyme inhibitor that inhibits the action of trypsin, a pancreatic enzyme that digests protein, making soy very hard on the pancreas, again, especially in some people. The bottom line is: know your body, listen to what it is saying to you, and don't let ideaology rule you. In matters of health, biology trumps ideaology every time. View Entire Thread
Beth (Miami, Florida) on 07/17/2009:
Soy no way!!I ate soy for about a month and experienced the WORST possible pms imagineable... good thing I quit and was able t osave my marriage cause trust me it was ugly...
I will never touch soy again and really think it is much more harmfull than earlier thought. I resent Teds information page and hope that those who are ill don't read it with out reading the comments below. I really think it should be removed and that a short description on soy is more suitable.
Peace and prosperity to all
Beth
Bob (Moscow, Pa.) on 06/13/2009:
I am very allergic to soy. If I consume any it causes my heart to race. Until a chiropractor had me check my pulse with each food I put in my mouth, my life was very uncomfortable. any food that affected me negatively would immediately cause my pulse to jump 15 or more points.
Rosa (Phoenix, AZ) on 05/12/2009:
Regarding the "NAY" on soy products, I would like to suggest that most adverse effects are due to allergic reaction. Over a 6 month period I took in large portions of Soy products from Milk to Edamame all in the name of good health. I too experienced irregular heartbeat, hair loss on my head, but more facial hair growth, extreme bloating, a bulge in my throat and my fingernails became brittle and had lumps. For an otherwise healthy, late 20's female, I was in shock at the changes to my body. I began to do some research on the symptoms and found that indeed these changes could be a result of the effects of soy on the thyroid. I immediately ceased my use of the products. After one year, I felt I had returned to "normal". It was then another year, after some allergy tests, that I was advised to refrain from eating anything containing soy products.
For those living in the far east, I believe a combination of the Asian diet along with the local production of soy is what allows for their tolerance of this substance.
Karina (Munich, Bavaria/Germany) on 04/28/2009:
Since I changed my lunch meals from bread to soy my metabolism seems to have been supported. I used to be so fatigued after lunch that I stopped eating lunch and just took a couple of cookies & chocolate as they gave me quick energy without draining me. Well, the long-term health effects of this idea were detrimental as it brought my hormonal balance into chaos. So I tried to find a substitute and went for tofu. This helped my overall health a lot. In between I was nearly stopping to eat soy because of the extremely bad press - so I am pleased to have read Ted's comment and stayed with my common sense as I thought millions of much healthier looking Asians can not be wrong! So thanks a lot [the only thing which I have to exclude are some sticky soy milk brands they caused within 2 days constipation and eczema - perhaps toxic soy is used or some additive which is not natural... anyhow whoever has problems with soy should try to change the brands - it might be as simple as that].
Jeanine (Traverse City, Michigan) on 03/01/2009:
hi, just wanted to share my story which developed a year ago. i went to fla for the winter to help my aunt and uncle . they eat tons of soy products and i began to eat with them. after two months my heart began to race , my skin became dry, i was constipated for the first time in my life, my hair stated to fall out, i felt like i had a lump in my throat and i had to cough every once in a while to clear it and i had pain in my neck area off and on all the time. in the summer i return to michigan because my father was ill. i went through two months of racing heart beats one day the next day feeling like a mack truck ran me over and than about a week later my heart would skip beats for 48 hours. i would feel better for a few days and than another attack of racing heart beats....etc.. this went on back and forth. when my heart was racing i felt hyper my basal temperature was 98.6. on the days my heart was skipping beats my basal temperature was 97 and i could not get warm. i became very scared and went to a doctor because i thought i had heart problems. i had a blood test done everything was normal but it showed i had both antibodies and the doctor diagnosed me with hashimoto's and said i should begin thyroid immediately. i told her i was going to try alternative first. i asked her what would happen on the days my immune system attack my thyroid if on that morning i also took thyroid med. i pictured my heart exploding. she couldn't answer that so i waited and began my own research.
first i stopped all soy products. i had to be real careful with this because i quickly realized that to ingest even a little soy that may be hidden in bread etc gave me a violent reaction.i began to read labels very carefully. by the way our food is invaded by soy. after stopping soy my thyroglobulin ab antibody became normal in two months and is stiil normal 8 months later. i decided to stopped eating all foods that decrease thyroid production know as goitrogens , to go on a gluten free diet and i also stopped dairy products because of the caseins. every day i take selenium, and because i drank reverse osmosis water all my life and wanted to get more minerals i bought a water filter from aquasana that does not remove the minerals. i had questioned hauling and storing the reverse osmosis water in plastic containers that i was filling at the heath food store. pcbs can leach into the water and pcbs damage the thyroid gland. i got rid of all my plastic containers in my house and replaced then with healthy glass containers.i also made sure i got 150 mcg of iodine a day and if i took more than that i felt heper that day. i don't have heart racing but it made me nervous, so i am careful with the iodine. i know people in japan get about 12.5 mg iodine a day .... but think about this...... hashimoto's disease was discovered in japan and japanese people eat lots of goitrogens in their diet including soy which cause the thyroid not to absorb iodine so that is why they can get away with the amount of iodine they get from eating lots of seaweed.
in any case when i stopped all goitrogens and began iodine the pain in my neck area completely stopped within 24 hours and has not returned.i had also began to feel pain in my breast which also disappeared. i felt great on 150/mcg a day. during this transition since i made all these changes my test results are all normal except my tpo ab is still a little high but every two months it drops 20 points. it was 141 and now it is 120. i am sure it will continue to drop until it is normal. i am feeling sooo much better. my basal temperature is 98.2 every morning.
finally after 10 months of this whole progress and changes i found an alternative healer in my area. he was amazed by my progress and the decisions i had taken. he suggested i add a homeopathic remedy called thyroidinum 30x 2 pills 3 times a day. i am doing this and really feel i am almost 100% healed. when i think back to those times my heart was acting up so badly i know my metabolism was really in bad shape. i feel the major cause was the soy. it turns out i am allergic to soy, but even so 1/4 cup of soy milk will cause the thyroid in an non-allergic individual to work 50% less for 24 hours. i also think if you eat a goteiren type food on those days and maybe a few days afterwards it would be wise to increase iodine but than go back to a standard dosage. every night before i retire i take 1/2 teaspoon of magnesium citrate in a glass of water this heals me sleep like a baby. i hope my experience can help someone out there. if you want more information on any change i made in my diet just go on line and look..soy and thyroid ,gluten etc.... this is a great sight to read all about it as well.
god bless you all .....jeanine.
Rajesh (Port-of -Spain, Trinidad) on 02/25/2009:
Dangerous side effects of soy products: I have been a Vegetarian for twenty years and using soy products for the same time period, i had high thyroid flow which lead to Pancreatic complications which i almost died from. Also low sperm count is a reality, I have definately stopped the use of all soy products..
Alex (Los Angeles, USA) on 05/28/2008:
Warning
Soy protein powder made my temples go bald in two months!! And I had the fullest head of hair and zero family history. It was insane. I'm trashing the rest of it. View Entire Thread
Catherine F Clark (Chicago, Illinois, USA) on 09/02/2007:
BSM [blackstrap molasses] is good stuff. However, if you wish to use milk, use raw milk. Raw cow's milk does not have the problems associated with pasturized, homogonized milk. Also, please be aware that soy is not the wonderful thing the soy industry would have you beleive! If you have hypothyroidism, unfermented soy is the worst thing you can ingest! Almond milk and any seed milks are very good. We drink goat milk when we have milk. BSM would fit in with goat milk very well.
Joella (Los Angeles) on 07/08/2007:
My husband and I started to make smoothies about 2 weeks ago every day, adding soy/green protein powder to the fruit smoothie. Well, this month I had the worst PMS symptoms ever! My breast size increased by one cup size (at least), I was terribly bloated and the bottom left side of my left breast had a constant shooting pain. As the symptoms got worse as my period approached, I realized the soy powder was probably causing the side effects. I continued to have my daily smoothies, but stopped substituted rice protein in place of the soy powder. 2 days later (but 4 days before my period) all the symptoms disappeared. I think women should be very careful with soy as there is clearly a hormonal response. The soy powder I used was Alive by Nature's Way with non GMO soy. If I kept it up, who knows about truly serious side effects like breast cancer? Perhaps organic soy wouldn't have produced the same side effects.
Donna (Bakersville, NC) on 02/14/2007:
Hello, Having spent years researching soy and it's benefits and dangers, I was offended by Ted's page on soy. Properly fermented organic soy in small amounts is very good for humans. Chemical extracted soy with residue of each chemical in your food is NOT good for humans! Considering that soy is in almost every food you put in your mouth off of the grocery store shelf..... if it did all Ted said it does.... logic states that America would be one of the healthiest places on earth. Which it isn't! After removing all non-fermented soy from our diet, our family is the healthiest it has ever been. Ted needs to do more research!
Karen (BC, Canada) on 11/22/2006:
I enjoy most soy products with no adverse effects, but find that textured soy and soy isolate affects my thinking. When I stop using products that have textured soy in them my thinking improves. This happened numerous times when I did not know there was textured soy/soy isolate in them until I read the labels.
Michael (USA) on 09/15/2006:
Do a google search for "soy toxins" and you will find info that contradicts the drumbeat in favor of soy. The true fact is that many people including me have a strong negative reaction to soy - it destroys your immune system and makes you susceptible to any germ you come into contact with - an AIDS like reaction to germs. You have an excellent website, but you have duped about soy as I was until my father discovered the problems others have had with soy - I cut soy out of my diet and got off my deathbed and started living again.
Victor (New Port Richey, FL) on 08/22/2006:
i have used soy protein in the past but have learned that soy is high in oxalates that can cause kidney stones, is this true? hope to hear your reply since i do not eat meat. thanks
Ben (Scottsdale, AZ) on 08/20/2006:
I'm glad Ted cleared this up about soy. I used to consume soy milk and other soy-based products on a regular basis, until I started reading negative press about soy and its potentially harmful effects. I realize now that it was just special interest propaganda to discourage sales of soy products. I have since gone back to eating soy in all forms.
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