This "Miracle Health Food" Has Been Linked to Brain Damage and Breast Cancer

I have tried all of the products above listed in the article.

Soy milk, cheese, burgers.... All taste like cardboard.

I hear the claims about fiber and how it makes people ~ Regular.

Diarrhea is not regular. If I am not passing a firm turd, there is a problem.

I eat everything that I enjoy eating, I am not fat. I also don't jog and engage in lots of sports and the difference between me in my 40's and my athletic friends is quite obvious ~ I don't have arthritis and all of my joints work correctly.

Really, it is not about whether you live to be 80 or not. If you eat normal foods you will live to be 80 too. The real question is, how crappy do you want your food to taste?

Ahh, nothing better than a good old turd bomb to start the day.

I am a omnivore. I like meat. I like vegetables and fruits too. I love Chinese food because they use so much of both for one low ~ low price. I could survive on the Happy Family. Just about every animal from the animal kingdom mixed together with lots of savory vegetables in a gelatinous brown sauce of unknown origin.

The fact is you get all of the nutrition you need by eating normal foods. No one needs to go off the deep end with nutrition. There is no reason to believe that eating strictly "Not bad for you" items is any better than eating what nature already provides.

Give me soy (fermenten and un-) and other natural products over meat and animal by-products, every time. One of the benefits of soy, which wasn't mentioned here, is that it is less harmful than all the things that it is replacing.

Meat is bad for the person, the environment, and the animal...soy products are healthier, more sustainable, and doesn't require treating a living being as a commodity.

Faux-meats and -dairy products have a reputation for not tasting like the original, somewhat earned. Soy, and the other meat-alternatives, are just beginning to develop products and a market; every year they are getting better and are being accepted by more people. People are also changing their tastes to appreciate a wider range of flavors and textures; just as previous generations grew up learning to enjoy the rank flavor and tough texture of meat, this generation is learning to appreciate a milder, healthier flavor and texture.

Almost nothing we eat benefits us more than the risks, that is the nature of life. There are a few super-veggies (like celery and onions and garlic) that help us more than they harm, and there are a few diets (the radically Reduced Calorie and an Organic Fruits and Nuts) that have been shown to significantly effect health and longevity, but they don't fit well into our society. For most people in the Western culture, it is a matter of finding the most convenient and acceptable alternatives to a unhealthy and destructive lifestyle.

btw: This whole article, and the tone of the comments, sounds so much like the "Global Warming Deniers." It's as if you are looking for any excuse to turn back the clock to the 1950s, eat big hunks of dead animal three times a day, drive your fuel wasting, polluting cars, and discriminate against various groups because of who they are. Sorry to lump you in with the Deniers and the anti-civil rights people, but you all seem to have the same arguments--"the new way isn't perfect, so we should go back to the old, bad ways."

#1.1: Diarrhea is not regular. If I am not passing a firm turd, there is a problem.

Right on! There was a time that I was terrified of all products from bovine sources so I tried soy milk... and, oh, boy, did I get the runs!!!! Real milk never affected me that way! So, reluctantly, I gave up my anti-bovine practices and am still an omnivore. No more runs, either.

Give me soy (fermenten and un-) and other natural products over meat and animal by-products, every time. One of the benefits of soy, which wasn't mentioned here, is that it is less harmful than all the things that it is replacing.

Not if you are concerned about estrogen-fueled cancer.

My oncologist gave me the hard-word about soy products. Stay clear.

soy milk does not bother me, real milk can. And if soy is so bad for you then whi do the asian population eat so much of it?

i see tofu in there markets and them buying it up like nobody's business. have seen travel shows where they make tofu and eat it fresh.

eapeau

Give me soy (fermenten and un-) and other natural products over meat and animal by-products, every time. One of the benefits of soy, which wasn't mentioned here, is that it is less harmful than all the things that it is replacing.

Watch 'Food Inc', and reconsider.

Yes, eating meat is worse than driving cars. But there are other alternatives.

Best advice EVER given on food:

'Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants': Michael Pollan.

Soy has become a nastly business in the U.S. - right up there with corn. Eating local, organic, and seasonal is best.

Soy has become a nastly business in the U.S. - right up there with corn. Eating local, organic, and seasonal is best.

Well, isn't that really the point, eat good and healthy foods and vary your diet. When we start investing too much in any single food source, whether it be meat or corn or soy, we are damaging ourselves, the environment, and society.

The US, especially, really likes the "one source/one solution" methods; we like the "magic bullet," the single source, for our food, our medicine, our education, and everything else we do; and we like the "magic bullet," one solution, when it comes to getting rid of the waste, solving the problems caused by having a single source, and curing the diseases cause by mono-cultures. We need diversity in how we live our lives, where we get our food and energy, and how we dispose of the waste we create.

I agree, Gozo - the Asians use soy as a condiment, primarily, not as a food.

Imo, we are meant to be omnivores. I think the main point in that regard is to point out that the unsaturated fats we consume are converted to saturates by the body. It is said that when we think we are craving a certain food for its other substances, ie..sugar or protein, we are actually craving/wanting the fat content. (I don't know, just repeating)

One of the main problems with meat is the very high space, food, and processing cost associated with it. It is very expensive relatively compared to other foods to raise an animal and kill it and process it without it becoming contaminated. The cost is one that is becoming increasingly burdensome on space scarce countries and areas that have a hard time dealing with the amounts of water usage and pollution it creates, the land runoff effects, the methane/poo issue. I have no problem with eating some in moderation, but the typical American 3x a day meat diet is not healthy and is going to become extremely expensive in the coming years.

Imo, we are meant to be omnivores.

We are omnivores and make no mistake about it. If an herbivore is starving to death with other herbivores, they will all die together.

If a carnivore or omnivore is starving with other animals; the other animals become food. Our bodies are designed for a wide variety of protein sources and meat is a primary source.

When I am on a farm and see a chicken I might say, "oh that's cute" but I also have no problem considering ways to prepare it for supper. I would gladly eat that cute chicken.

Anyone that says Meat is bad for you is insane. You can live on meat alone, without much variety in your diet. We do have the ability to be completely carnivorous. We have much less ability to be herbivorous. We require complex amino acids and proteins which are readily available in meat sources and not in vegetable sources.

• You can quit eating vegetables and not die or become ill.
• You cannot eat strictly vegetables without the risk of malnutrition or organ failure.

And here is some food for thought;

If people eating soy hate meat so much then why do they want their soy-burgers to mimic beef flavor? Why should soy cheese taste like cheese?

I think I know the answer, because they are the misunderstood people on our planet who want to save the cows from extinction. They are the sensitive, caring, guardians of our planet sent here with a divine purpose.

HAHA! Bull@!$%#. They are in denial of the fact that their bodies want meat, dairy and if all they can muster is a beef flavored soy-burger it is better than the taste of a carrot.

Give me a 1" thick, nicely marbled Rib Eye and don't trim the fat. Sprinkle it with Garlic powder, Salt & Pepper and Grill that baby to a nice pink Medium Rare (preferably over mesquite). Give me a baked potato, sour cream, real butter and crumpled bacon.

While you choke down your fermented plant cubes ~ smell my steak and wish you were me.

I like my comment so much I turned it into an article....

Soy is nasty and vegetarians are probably insane.

I agree with your points, AK.

Many plant foods are naturally poisonous to us, possibly all of them as a defense mechanism for survival. Yet, animal protein, to my knowledge, isn't poisonous to us in its natural form (we can have allergies to proteins from both plants and animals, though.). So, I can see how man could survive on animal foods alone. Also, science doesn't know everything, yet. I often wonder if the body is capable of producing many of the additional substances needed to compliment animal proteins on its own.

We eat herbivores. They eat plants and store the nutrients in their fat. To be vegetarian you must mix several plant products to complete the amino acid chains to get proper nutrition.

Skip the guess work and eat an 8 oz. piece of meat and a glass of milk. You just got all of the vitamins, minerals and amino acids your body needs to survive and be healthy. Have some bread, rice or potato with that and you added starch to your diet which is good for metabolizing the carbohydrates and keep good body mass.

Meat with anything is a complete meal.

Although if you eat nothing but meat you will die at 50 of a heart attack. I think moderation in all things is the best way to do just about everything.

@Stu-4803409

I don't disagree. But I say to hell with Soy.

There was an article by someone that made a point about being in their 40s and didn't like plant foods and rarely ate them. Their medical check-ups/analyses always show their levels of the primary nutrients in their system to be normal. I thought that was interesting.

Kevin... rib eye steak is on the menu tonight... with cremini 'shrooms, fresh asperagus, and some form of startch... you in?

Do you realize how uncommon it is for many Mexican people to have anything more than onions, lettuce, tomatoes in their diet accompanied by meat?

And many hardly have much more than meat. They live to be very old, they are thin, healthy.

Eat a pound of lettuce. Your stomach will demand more food quickly.

Eat a half pound steak. Your stomach will not complain for many hours.

We just aren't designed to be 100% plant eaters. We never have been.

@Brite

I am on my way. I love asparagus. Truth is, I have eaten some interesting stuff on my travels.

I love all sorts of fruits ad vegetables and tofu when mixed with something good. But my point is really that some people are just insane and think meat is bad for you. It is not bad for you.

And yes, I know tofu is soy curd.

So have I, Kevin... So have I... comes from being a military brat...

I did a bit of searching, it appears that if you eat nothing but meat you will probably get kidney problems pretty fast as a result of trying to digest nothing but nonstop proteins, although there are a lot of nutrients that are hard to find in only vegetables.

This is pretty interesting, something to think about:

http://www.nealhendrickson.com/mcdougall/030700pumeatinthehumandiet.htm

Apparently some scientists tried eating nothing but meat, seems that it helps if you eat the entire animal including brain, intestines, organs, etc... Generally works for higher demand lifestyles where you need a lot of calories and can burn em quickly, but again what are the long term effects on your health? Cooking meat causes cancer causing molecules and it also gives a heavy dose of cholesterol, fat, etc to your body without a lot of vitamins.

Anyway, I think the ideal diet is the Mediterranean with lots of olive oil, some meat, and a lot of veggies.

"They eat plants and store the nutrients in their fat."

no? http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fats-and-oils/482/2

To be vegetarian you must mix several plant products to complete the amino acid chains to get proper nutrition.

Wow, I thought that myth went out in the 70s. This is completely untrue. I have NEVER worried about "food combining" as it used to be called (I'm vegan). I eat a variety of plant foods (whole grains, veggies, fruits, beans, nuts and seeds) but never pay attention to what I eat with what. I get PLENTY of protein. I also work for a laboratory and get a very detailed blood work up every year, so I know for a FACT that I am getting all the nutrients I need.

You seem to be forgetting that the large, muscular steer you GET your meat from got all its nutrients from plants.

Skip the guess work and eat an 8 oz. piece of meat and a glass of milk. You just got all of the vitamins, minerals and amino acids your body needs to survive and be healthy. Have some bread, rice or potato with that and you added starch to your diet which is good for metabolizing the carbohydrates and keep good body mass.

If you eat only meat, milk and bread you will NOT be healthy. Most Americans are NOT healthy. Heart disease and type 2 diabetes are preventable diseases. They are caused by the Standard American Diet of meat and starch.

People seem to think we evolved to eat meat and it is therefore our optimal diet. But evolution doesn't care if you drop dead of a heart attack at 40. You've already produced offspring and evolution is done with you. Most people don't WANT to die at 40...right? So we are more concerned with long term health than our meat-loving ancestors. Eat your meat if you want, but please do some research into nutrition.

kaviiaq do you use amaranth for protein or just qionoa?

i love quinoa at first it was different in taste and texture but after a few times it was love.

physicist_retired

Thanks for bringing up Food, Inc. and the pervasiveness of soy and corn in our food supply today. Everyone should take just one week to see if they can remove soy / corn based ingredients from their food. It is extremely difficult. If you eat processed foods, you are eating soy or corn or both.

As for the quote from Michael Pollan's book, In Defense of Food, I agree wholeheartedly. I highly recommend that book as well as The Omnivore's Dilemma.

I am a Crohn's patient. which is digestive in nature. all of you are focused on what you eat and not what's been done to it.. which is more important. todays mass ready to eat food, has so many things added to prevent it from spoiling or fermenting. (breaking down into simplier compounds) and then we wonder why our bodies have a difficult time breaking the food into simplier compounds. DUH.. it's the MSG.. which is why fermented soy is better... nature has done half the work of digestion.. for example, I can eat homemade chicken noodle cassarole. and it digests fine. but Hormel makes a "top shelf sealed unfrozen heat and eat" that makes me sick within an hour... what the difference?? preservatives... which prevent enzymes from breaking down the food.. I once asked a yahoo question about where to get foods rich in enzymes.. and someone replyied " the food would digest itself" my answer was... that the goal... what I did learn... the enzymes to digest fruits and veggies are found in meats.. and the enzymes needed to digest meats are found in fruits and veggies... highlighting the need for a well balanced varied diet... free from preservative, mold inhibitors (packaged beef jerky and such )

we are born with the enzymes to digest milk.. so as you get older, your abilty to drink it decreases... the key is eating yogurt with active lactobacillis cultures.. so they do the milk digesting for you.. ( maintaining your natural intestinal bacteria is also key.. taking antibiotics can kill them off... and until they re-colonize, your digestion will suffer, and you risk bad bacterial, moving in, before the good bacteria does...

Believe me, I am very focused on what has been done to the food. Avoiding processed foods and achieving balance in the diet is one of the best things anyone can do to improve the quality of what they eat. Having said that, however, I still believe that we eat far more meat than is really necessary for a healthy diet. I do eat meat but not every day and never at every meal anymore.

kaviiaq do you use amaranth for protein or just qionoa?

I haven't cooked with amaranth yet, but I get cereals with it. I too love quinoa...that "pop/crunch" it makes when you chew it. I probably get most of my protein from beans. I've been lifting weights lately and use protein powder in my green smoothies (brown rice, hemp, and pea protein). I usually avoid soy protein powder because I use soy for other things (soy milk, tofu) and I don't want to overdo it. Some people develop a sensitivity to soy and it is always best to eat a wider variety of foods.

One of my favorite things to bring for lunch art work is a mix of beans, quinoa, and veggies. I usually use canned beans and tomatoes and then chop up lots of fresh veggies with onions and garlic. I saute the veggies and add veggie broth and canned tomatoes and add the quinoa I cooked separately. It works well with any bean/grain/veggie combination. Good basic food. A piece of fruit on the side and I'm all set.