Soy Milk Vs. Dairy Milk

My first experiment with a soymilk alternative.

It passed the Cornucopia Institute's Organic Dairy Rating (pdf) test, and its charitably free of lactose.

We shall see.


Update (29 Aug):
Ugh. I can barely drink this stuff. It's just too sweet for me¹. Oh well. Back to the drawing board. A woman's got to soak her cereal in something.

~~~~~~¹ One molecule in milk that some of us have difficulty digesting is lactose. Lactose is a type of sugar, one that humans' taste buds don't recognize as very sweet.

But lactose (not sweet) is a disaccharide - a sugar made up of two smaller monosaccharides - in this case a molecule each of galactose (a hint of sweet) and glucose (sweet, about half as sweet as table sugar). The lactase enzyme added to milk splits lactose into its component sugars making it sweet-tasting.
(This is the chemical reaction that people who are lactose intolerant fail to perform to any great degree, sending undigested lactose on to hungry colonic bacteria who down this stuff like they were at a tailgate party and burp up copious amounts of hydrogen gas, carbon dioxide, and methane, which all get trapped in said person's lower intestine until they decide to let one go.)

Isoflavones in Soy Foods

This is a follow-up to my previous post, Rethinking Soy. It's for Ronald, who asked a related question.

Does Fermentation Raise or Lower the Isoflavone Content of Soy Foods? ¹

I've read that soy isoflavones, polyphenolic compounds similar in structure to estrogens (called phytoestrogens), were "present in the fermented foods but not detectable in the non-fermented versions."

I've also read that "anti-nutrients" in soy, such as goitrogens, which negatively affect thyroid function - of which isoflavones are one - are removed through fermentation.

Which is it?

Are isoflavones absent from non-fermented soy foods? Or are they absent from fermented soy foods?

More importantly, do I want to eat them? (Isoflavones have a reputation for both preventing cancer and promoting cancer, depending on the source.)

Back to the fermented question - I don't understand how a complex estrogen-like molecule could be absent from the raw food but somehow materialize in the food's fermented form. I might accept the inverted claim, that isoflavones are present in the food's raw state and are somehow lost through fermentation.

The USDA did some nice analysis on the isoflavone content of food in 1999. Here's a snippet:

USDA-Iowa State University Database on the Isoflavone Content of Foods - 1999
Click chart for full report (pdf).



Amounts are listed as mg of isoflavones per 100 grams (about 3.5 ounces) of food.

From this, isoflavones exist in both fermented and non-fermented soy foods, in significant amounts.

Now That I Know What Foods Contain Isoflavones, Should I Be Eating Them?

In 1999, the year the above Isoflavone Table appeared, the FDA reviewed current research and decided to allow a health claim on foods that contained soy protein (isoflavones are often found stuck to the surface of [adsorbed to] soy proteins):

"Diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol that include 25 grams of soy protein a day may reduce the risk of heart disease."
- FDA Approves New Health Claim For Soy Protein and Coronary Heart Disease

But in February of this year, the American Heart Association (AHA), backtracking on its prior recommendation, published a review of investigations into soy protein and its component isoflavones. They concluded:

"[The] use of isoflavone supplements in food or pills is not recommended."

They also found:

• Soy protein had no significant effect on high-density lipoprotein (HDL), triglycerides, lipoprotein(a), or blood pressure.
  
  
• Soy protein lowered low-density lipoprotein (LDL) by a modest 3%. This occurred only when a large amount of soy protein was ingested: about 50g. (For comparison, a person consuming 2000 calories/day would want to get about 60g protein from all sources, 2500 calories/day about 75g. So 50g soy protein is a Big Gulp.)
  
  
• Soy protein or isoflavones were not shown to improve vasomotor symptoms of menopause (hot flashes).
  
  
• "The efficacy and safety of soy isoflavones for prevention or treatment of cancer of the breast, endometrium, and prostate are undetermined, and evidence from clinical trials is limited but suggests a possible adverse effect."
  
  Source: Soy Protein, Isoflavones, and Cardiovascular Health; An American Heart Association Science Advisory for Professionals From the Nutrition Committee

Yet, Silk Soymilk continues to blatantly advertise "7 grams Soy Protein per serving!" And my local Vitamin Shoppe continues to sell isoflavone supplements. I think I'll forego the spurious Silk. ________¹Trypsin inhibitors, phytates, etc. are other chemicals found in soy which warrant their own post.

Rethinking Soy

Melinda has been bending my ear about soy lately. Melinda is no foodie-come-lately, so every time she sends me something or I have occasion to read something about soy, I do. I can't say I'm thoroughly educated on the soy story, but I'm at least familiar with the opposing arguments.

Soy Proponents claim that the bean and its derivatives can:

• Decrease risk for heart disease (via LDL reduction)
  
• Decrease risk for osteoporosis
  
• Decrease menopausal symptoms (via isoflavones)
  
• Prevent cancer (via isoflavones)
  
• Provide a vegetable source for high-quality protein
  
• Promote fertility (via isoflavones)

Soy Detractors claim that the bean and its derivatives can:

• Promote cancer (via isoflavones)
  
• Impair mineral absorption (via phytates)
  
• Increase risk for osteoporosis (via mineral restriction)
  
• Increase risk for dementia (via mineral restriction)
  
• Interfere with protein digestion and pancreatic function (via trypsin inhibitors)
  
• Promote or exacerbate a low thyroid condition (via isoflavones)
  
• Promote infertility (via isoflavones)

These are just argument highlights. Feel free to comment with more.

I wouldn't call myself a soy promoter nor a soy detractor. That is, I don't subscribe to the idea that soy (or any single food) is a miracle worker. And I don't think soy beans alone are the harbinger of so many great ills of the 21st century.

However, I'm beginning to see that some caution about soy consumption is probably warranted. I'm not convinced that the soy bean itself is harmful - although some of its chemically-derived isolates and extracts leave a lot to be desired. The beneficial (or detrimental, whichever your take) chemicals noted above as responsible for the beneficial (or detrimental) effects (phytates, trypsin inhibitors, and isoflavones) are found naturally in a number of foods, including grains, beans, peas, nuts, seeds, tomatoes, potatoes, herbs, etc. But since soy's presence is now just about ubiquitous in our food supply ...

"By 2004, 80 percent of all vegetable oils would come from soybeans, and almost every single processed food would contain soy."
- James Nestor, Too Much of a Good Thing? Controversy rages over the world's most regaled legume, San Francisco Chronicle, August 13, 2006

... it wouldn't be a bad idea to curtail consumption when and where I have a choice. The levels at which our bodies are being exposed to these compounds, regardless of how "natural" they are, predisposes them to acting like pharmacological agents. I'm sure my folks would have an eye-roll in their graves to think their daughter succumbed to a soybean-related overdose.

PS - I feel this way about wheat too, and corn. Humans did not evolve consuming large quantities of the particular foods, especially grains, we find ourselves consuming today - which sets humans' guts up for a digestion and metabolization challenge. Such is the case with wheat proteins (gluten) and corn extracts (high fructose corn syrup).

PS₂ - Visit my post on Isoflavones in Soy Foods for a little more in-depth.

~~~~~~Photo compliments of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau.

Folate: Latin folium, "leaf"

The answer to the question in the previous post is folate. You might be more familiar with it as folic acid¹, the version of the vitamin included in supplements.

Before I leave the folate topic, I wanted to say just 3 things - 500 words or less, I promise.

How Much is Too Much

The established safe upper limit (UL) for folic acid is 1000 micrograms/day (1000 mcg/d, same as 1 mg/day). Intakes above this amount have been associated with mental changes, sleep disturbances, gastrointestinal problems, hypersensitivity, and neurological damage - especially when folic acid intake masks a vitamin B₁₂ deficiency.

Most multivitamin or B-complex supplements (folate is a B vitamin) contain at least 400 mcg/pill, the current DRI for folate for most adults.

The amount contributed by those now-fortified grain products can range from 100 mcg/d to, well, it depends how much flour (bread, rolls, buns, bagels, cakes, pretzels, cookies, crackers, breakfast cereals, pasta, macaroni, noodles, etc.), rice, corn grits, corn meal, farina, et al., you eat. A cup of Cheerios (or a serving of most breakfast cereals) contains 200 mcg.

Neither the supplement nor the fortified grain product accounts for the amount of folate provided by a healthy diet - one high in fruits, vegetables, beans², and whole grains - which contribute several hundred micrograms more (about 250 mcg folate average).

You can see how easy it would be to reach the upper limit, especially if you take a supplement.

The Ethics of Fortification

I get a little antsy when the government decides to add chemicals to the food supply. Granted, in the case of thiamin, riboflavin, and niacin, the benefit to large groups of people has been undeniable. However, enriching processed flour with those 3 nutrients is more a case of adding back in some of what is lost when the bran and germ are removed during processing of the wheat kernel. But inclusions of iron, calcium, vitamin D, folic acid, etc. to flour ... it gives the term "wonder" in Wonder Bread new meaning.

I'm not an advocate of heavy supplement use. Curiously, the authors of the vastly popular 1982 book Life Extension, Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw, who are advocates of the liberal use of supplements made their position known to the FDA back in 1993 before the fortification regulation passed:

"Pearson, Shaw, and quite likely the entire medical profession in the free world, consider it unethical to medicate a conscious and mentally competent adult without first obtaining that adult's informed consent."
- Suzanne White Junod, Writing for the FDA in Folic Acid Fortification: Fact and Folly.

Ten years ago, folate deficiency was a real concern. Now, at least among certain groups, folate intake has possibly overshot the optimum mark.

Fortification Debates Elsewhere

Ireland, the UK, Australia and New Zealand are all wrestling with the idea of fortifying their flour with folic acid. None have passed the regulation yet. I don't believe that any country in the EU currently mandates fortification. Citizens' groups lobby against it because they claim it interferes with consumer choice. Some manufacturers are also fearful. A spokesperson for George Weston Foods, a top Australian baker, expressed concerns about the risks of overconsumption:

"Legal opinion shows that if government gets it wrong, industry will be liable."
- Folic Acid Debate Rages in Ireland and Australia

~~~~~~¹ Folic acid vs. folate: Folic acid does not occur in nature in significant amounts; however it is more bioavailable than folate which occurs naturally in unprocessed foods.
² Besides liver, cooked beans are probably the best natural source of folate. A cup of cooked black-eyed peas provide about 360 mcg folate, almost the day's requirement.

The Government Designs a Functional Food

Question:

It's 1996. Can you name one of the most, if not the most, prevalent vitamin deficiency in the US?

Here are a few vitamins to pick from:

• Vitamin C
  
• B Vitamins:
  Thiamin
  Riboflavin
  Niacin
  B₆
  B₁₂
  Folate
  Biotin
  Pantothenic acid
  
• Vitamin A
  
• Vitamin D
  
• Vitamin E
  
• Vitamin K

No Googling. I'll be right back with some clues.

Clue #1:

It's probably the most common vitamin deficiency among people who drink lots of alcohol. (Alcohol reduces its absorption and increasing its excretion.)

Clue #2:

It's significant that the year is 1996 and the country is the US.

Clue #3:

Populations that moved away from plant foods in favor of animal foods for their calories increased their risk for this deficiency.

Clue #4 (And Beauty Tip):

Without enough of this vitamin, cell division slows because its needed to make new DNA. So, wherever there's a high cell turnover - skin, hair, red blood cells, cells that line the intestine, immune cells, neurotransmitters - there's a bigger need for it. Inadequate amounts result in skin inflammations, thinning hair, sallow (anemic) complexion, sallow (depressed) mood, sore tongue, intestinal grief, and insomnia.

Clincher Clue:

A deficiency of this vitamin leads to defects in the development of the neural tube in human embryos that were conceived, like, a few days prior.

Clincher Clue Addendum:

It's because young women in this country were engaging in conception activities and not happening upon the very tangible uterine outcome of such activities until after the vital few post-egg-fertilization, vitamin-requiring days had passed¹ that the FDA in 1996 required all enriched grain products to be fortified with this vitamin.

That food-fortification requirement took effect in 1998. In light of supplement use in the US:


Source (pdf): NIH Office of Dietary Supplements,
Who Is Using Dietary Supplements and What are They Using

Some people, it was found, are now getting too much ... folate.

~~~~~~¹ Since a missed period often prompts purchase of a pregnancy test, it's more likely that a woman will go weeks, not days, before considering the distention of her abdomen.

Gravatar

Some people have asked how I attach a picture to my comments. I use a Gravatar, a globally recognized avatar (image).

It's currently that apple there, but I think it's time for a change.

It's free and easy to set one up. Try it!
(Click the pic for the link.)

Gush

To everyone who emailed or commented in the last few days, thank you. Your feedback and kind support have been, well, exhilarating. When Google's Blogger listed me as a Blog of Note, my daily hits went from several hundred to several thousand. As there was a commensurate spike in communiqué, I'm a little (but shapely) behind in my replies. Rest assured, if you emailed me, I will respond - if just to gush some more.

While I'm whittling away at the backlog, help yourself to the sight of a chunk of ginger root I haphazardly poked into a pot that once contained a nice spray of parsley - until the parsley bugs gorged themselves.


I suspect the green spike next to the root may be related to it. They wiggle in unison when nudged. Maybe someone with a little horticulture know-how could weigh in. (If so, I'd be pleased to know if ginger can be grown in a pot, indoors, in the winter.)

If I haven't already mentioned, ginger is, among other things, one terrific analgesic (pain reliever).¹ A great Vioxx-alternative for hard-working, whittling fingers!

~~~~~~¹ Biological Basis for the Use of Botanicals in Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Review

Nutritional Analysis

Let it be said, I haven't been employing bomb calorimetry to arrive at the number of calories in 223 dry-roasted soybeans. Although I've used a calorimeter, and the thrill of exploding food in the kitchen to measure potential calories is almost irresistible to me, the FRE wouldn't have it. When you have ownership of clean-up¹, and you (sometimes) walk in to find bits of dried yam stuck to impossible-to-reach places in the oven, you put your foot down on things like converting the dining room to a laboratory, especially when reactions involving high pressures and temperatures would be ... at play.

So, to answer one of the questions I'm often asked, most recently put forth in an email from Kurt:

Q. How do you determine the nutritional content of your recipes?

A. I use a software program called Nutritionist Pro™ by Axxya Systems. No diet analysis tool is satisfyingly accurate (a deficiency that lies not so much with the database but with the gap in information between what's on the plate and what gets input to the program as being on the plate), but it can reveal areas of deficiency or overindulgence. Although I like Axxya's product, I don't mean to plug it. It just happens to be one I use.

A very good, free (paid for by your taxes), online source for nutrient data can be found on the USDA's food look-up site. Of course, you'll need to do a little math if you're working with a recipe - or a meal that contains more than just 1 medium banana. But their database is reliable and a LOT easier to use than the books of tables I used years ago.²

~~~~~~¹ I am forever indebted, FRE.
² Just because some of my functional adulthood was spent during a time before PCs does not make me old. It doesn't.