I'm not going to go through and attribute every single blogpost I make, but I agree that when learning about something, you want to see different points of view, facts, and the research studies that back them up. When I became allergic to soy I wanted to know everything about it- the good and the bad, and I read A LOT of articles. What I found is that most of the articles that say good things about soy ONLY say good things about soy and a lot of the ones that tell you the bad things about soy ONLY tell you the bad things about soy. I learned to take everything with a grain of salt, but I've broken down a lot of it here for you. A lot of these articles are biased one way or the other- but at least they're available.
Start here:
*If it says "Pro" or "Anti", it's a biased article.
Pro v. Con: http://thyroid.about.com/cs/soyinfo/a/soy_3.htm
Pro-Soy: http://www.soyinformation.org/benefits.html#SoyHealthNutritionResearch
Pro-Soy: http://www.soynutrition.com/category/soyfacts/ *site sponsored by Silk
Unbiased: http://www.ivillage.com/verdict-soy-good-bad-and-questionable/4-b-422288#422287
Unbiased: http://chinesefood.about.com/od/healthconcerns/a/soy.htm
Unbiased: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/soya-good-or-bad-for-you-1678930.html
Unbiased: http://evelynparham.com/2012/01/18/is-soy-good-or-bad-for-you/
Anti-soy: http://www.altmedtoday.com/17/soy_good_or_bad/
Anti-Soy: http://www.optimumchoices.com/Soy.htm
Anti-Soy: http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/soy.htm
Anti-Soy: http://www.naturalhealthstrategies.com/dangers-of-soy.html
To summarize:
Are there health benefits to soy? What are they?
-Soy is an alternative source of protein high in iron, fiber, calcium, and vitamins
-Soy is offers a source of nutrition for those with dairy allergies and alternative lifestyles (ie. vegans)
-Some studies show that soy may be beneficial to heart and bone health, as well as prevent certain forms of cancer (like childhood leukemia)
Okay, so these good things are generally acknowledged by everyone, what about the bad things?
-While soy is high in iron and calcium, it can actually block your ability to absorb nutrients including calcium and iron.
-Soy contain hemagluttinin which makes your red blood cells cluster together
-Over 90% of soy is genetically modified and it's already in over 60% of American pre-packaged foods
-The soy that Americans eat is processed differently than the soy that Asians eat (and most of the studies showing health benefit trends of soy were conducted on the Asian population)
-Soy has been linked to malnutrition, digestive distress, immune-system breakdown, thyroid dysfunction, cognitive decline, reproductive disorders and infertility.(though supportive evidence is minimal for these claims as it is also minimal for the beneficial claims)
