Soya, a Waste Product of Tofu - as Healthy as a Waste Product can be
Soya, a Waste Product of Tofu - as Healthy as a Waste Product can be
By Viola Woolcott
Originally Soya milk was a waste product of tofu and to be honest, it is just as healthy as you expect a waste product to be. It is no more than bean juice with some added flavouring to make it tastier!
Having always been a processed food, Soya milk doesn’t exist naturally in nature. Soya beans have to be soaked, ground, cooked and strained to produce the lactose-free dairy substitute. Concentrating rather on taste than health, the manufacturers are marketing this imitation food.
In nearly everything we eat, Soya is an invisible ingredient – from mayonnaise and margarines to breakfast cereals and pork pies. Soya is no longer the preserve of the vegetarian or even the Asian food junkie.
To bulk out and bind Soya is added to many processed foods - for an example to lasagne, sausages, chicken nuggets and beef burgers. Researchers estimate that the Soya content is present in more than 70% of all supermarket products as well as used by most food chains.
Every little fragment of the bean is used. As a source of fibre, the husk is used in breads, cereals and snacks. The most consumed vegetable oil in the world is the oil extracted from Soya. It is being used in margarines, salads and of course as a cooking oil. On food labels Soya will SIMLY be listed as ‘vegetable oil’.
The bean also produces a substance called ‘lecithin’ during the extraction of the oil, which is a ‘valuable’ emulsifier that helps fat mix with water and which is therefore a very important ingredient in the baking and confectionary world. Adding Soya prevents ingredients in food from separating. Lecithin will be a listed ingredient on many of our favourite chocolate and muesli bars, biscuits and cakes without linking it to Soya.
Soya milk has been an important option to those who suffer with strong allergic reactions to cow’s milk or who are following a vegan diet. Some drink it as less fattening substitute to cow’s milk and it is not realised that it gives you an injection of a chemical that mimics oestrogen, which in return alters the menstrual cycle of a woman if she drinks just two glasses of Soya milk a day over a period of a month.
Just one more thing - Feeding infants on Soya formula exclusively receive an equivalent amount to five birth control pills every day. That raises the question in a growing number of Scientists what the effect on humans regularly eating or drinking products made from the bean?
“What more is there to say?”
Please read the related link:
Soy Sorry
Filed under: Dare 2B Aware on January 21st, 2008
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