Chocoholics have finally been matched or overtaken by Soyaholics – people who look for soy in every product and sprinkle it over any products that do not contain any. Women eat soy like it is the Holy Grail of food. It has become America’s favorite “health” food.Nothing could please the soy industry more. Over the past decade, advertisements and newspaper articles have proclaimed soy foods as the answer to all of America’s nutritional problems. The soy industry formed more than 65 associations to lobby state and federal governments to recommend higher consumption of its product – under an ad campaign called, the “joy of soy”.

Now soy can be found in almost every product on your grocery store shelves. You can find it in simple Doritos corn chips, ice cream, caned tuna and every packaged food you can think of under names like yeast extract,soy protein, soybean oil, soy lecithin and soy flour.

It lurks in nearly 90% of the foods sold including infant formulas, McDonald’s hamburgers and almost all frozen foods. Imagine the savings from diluting real hamburger beef with, for example, 10% soy mix?

But, is it a “wonder health food” or is it just another industry hoax to promote the sales of one of its unhealthy genetically modified products?

In 1999, Big Food lobbyists were successful in getting the FDA to approve a health claim for soy protein. The claim states that, “25 grams of soy protein a day, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease.”

The additional campaigning touting the possibility that soy would prevent heart disease, fight cancer, eliminate menopause flashes and build strong bodies was very seductive approach to selling soy.

But the industry ignored the fact that soy is one of the top eight allergens that cause immediate hypersensitivity reactions such as coughing, sneezing, runny nose, hives, diarrhea, difficulty swallowing and anaphylactic shock. Delayed allergic responses are even more common and occur anywhere from several hours to several days after the food is eaten.

Cheap genetically modified soy created an opportunity for biotech companies to develop cheap meat substitutes, to dilute products to achieve greater profits, to formulate soy-based pharmaceuticals, and to develop a renewable resource that could replace petroleum-based plastics and fuels.

But, despite their efforts, this is the same genetically modified Bt soy (Bacillus thuringiensis – an insect-killing bacterium ) that Europe and Japan refuse to permit imported into their countries. The reality of Bt toxin soy is summed up in a study by The Cornucopia Institute, “When GM soy was fed to female rats, most of their babies died within three weeks.”

Big Food does not make much profit from any food that people eat in moderation. The continual push seems to be that if the recommend daily allowance (RDA) of any food is good for you, then ten times the RDA must be better. In America, a little or moderate amount of anything is never enough. More is always better for their pockets.

But the FDA health claim for soy protein recommends that consumers incorporate four servings of at least 6.25 grams of soy protein into their daily diet, for a total of at least 25 grams of soy protein each day. The high consumption of soy in Asian countries is an American myth. The fact is that, in Asia, the RDA of organic soy is limited to a mere 39 grams per day. Japan refuses to allow GMO Bt soy to be sold in its country because of its dangers.

To make matters worse, instructing anyone to eat the same thing everyday is dangerous to your health. The repeating of the same thing day after day will cause delayed food intolerance/allergy. So, even if you start out not having allergic/intolerance illnesses, you will eventually. The soy becomes toxic to the body which can not broken down properly. The toxic element starts a cycle of the body craving the soy. Eventually, this will result in over eating and weight gain. It is very unhealthy.

As we say in our other blogs, the same can be said with the corn products and by products that are now in almost everything, including your medicines. Yes, your Intravenous I.V. have corn and medicines sometimes soy. So much of everything in our daily diet are the same but with different flavor enhances. Repeat eating will result in immune system problems, silent chronic inflammation and future diseases, including sudden heart attack.

Initially, people turned their nose up at the sound of soy. Full Psychological profiling reports were accumulated on how to get people to buy into their program of eating lots of soy. The governmental programs and university’s such as Cornell have plenty of marketing savvy. Like corn and MSG, soy became other names hidden in ingredients to sell the GMO soy products.

The soy industry advertisers claim that by simply eating soy for your protein daily you can prevent a heart attack and lower your cholesterol. The vast multi-million dollar campaign worked. Despite the FDA recommendation of only 25 grams per day, some Americans eat as much as 250 grams or 1 cup or more of soy per meal. Dieters who consume energy, breakfast drinks and tofu meatless meals consume even more.

According to the Whole Soy Story - The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food by Kaayla T. Daniel, “There’s nothing natural about these modern soy protein products. Textured soy protein, for example, is made by forcing defatted soy flour through a machine called an extruder under conditions of such extreme heat and pressure that the very structure of the soy protein is changed. Production differs little from the extrusion technology used to produce starch-based packing materials, fiber-based industrial products, and plastic toy parts, bowls, and plates.”

To make soy more appetizing, the manufacturers added sugar, synthetic sweeteners, genetically modified high fructose corn sugar, refined salt, artificial flavorings, colors and MSG. So the soy isn’t really soy. It is a Frankenfood created for the sole purpose of making a profit from health conscious people trying to live a healthier life.

We know many vegans and vegetarians who consider their meatless diets safe. Many, thinking they are mirroring a healthy custom in Asian countries, eat genetically modified soy in amounts their bodies cannot digest. But Americans on a genetically modified (GMO) Bt soy based diet are in as much danger of heart attacks and cancer as red meat eaters.

That is because the process of making soy protein isolate begins with defatted soybean meal, which is mixed with a caustic alkaline solution to remove the fiber, then washed in an acid solution to precipitate out the protein. The protein curds are then dipped into another alkaline solution. But vitamin, mineral, and protein quality are sacrificed in the process. And levels of carcinogens such as nitrosamines are increased to a dangerous level.

In 1979, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology said that the only safe use for this type of soy was for sealers for cardboard packages.

Literally thousands of studies have linked all forms of soy to many diseases, including malnutrition. Many of these studies have also linked soy to digestive distress, immune-system breakdown, thyroid dysfunction, cognitive decline, reproductive disorders and infertility. Now studies are linking soy to even cancer and heart disease.

More than 70 years of human, animal, and laboratory studies show that soybeans put the thyroid at risk. Infants, whose main source of nutrient is soy-based formula, are at the highest risk of illness and disease because of their size and organ developmental.

In 1998, scientists attending the Working Group of biosafety of The UN-Concention on Bilogical Diversity warned the group about soy stating “. . . all governments to use whatever methods available to them to bar from their markets, on grounds of injury to public health, Monsanto’s genetically manipulated (GM) ‘Roundup-Ready” soybeans.

Make no mistake about it, the differences between organic soy and genetically modified soy are dangerous to your health. If you are pregnant or have an infant, then the dangers increases exponentially. If you are going to eat soy, eat organic soy in moderation and never above 25 grams per day. Don’t be fooled by industry claims said for the sole purpose of selling you more soy and increasing their profits.

Mannie Barling and Ashley F. Brooks, R.N., are the authors of two books – Arthritis, Inflammation, Gout, Crohn’s, IBD and IBS – How to Eliminate Pain and Extend your Life and Mannie’s Diet and Enzyme Formula – A Change of Lifestyle Diet Designed for Everyone available at HowToEliminatePain.com, Amazon, Barnes&Noble and other booksellers around the world. The authors’ latest book, It’s Not Your Fault! Weight Gain, Obesity and Food Addiction will be available in early December 2010.