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 Soy
and Osteoporosis: Not a Leg to Stand On
By Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN
Soy as the all-natural solution for osteoporosis? The latest ploy of
the soy industry is to fan women's fears about bone loss and distract
them from recent news that soy does not prevent heart disease, and that
it worsens cardiomyopathy, impairs fertility and may increase breast
cancer risk.
Myth Exploded
Consumers who bone up on the issue, however, will find that the research
is inconsistent and contradictory at best and that soy truly does not
have a leg to stand on. A recent study that the industry has chosen
not to promote came out of Yale New Haven Hospital in July and compared
calcium bioavailability in women eating soy versus those eating meat.
The researchers concluded in the Journal of Nutrition, "These
data indicate that when soy protein is substituted for meat protein,
there is an acute decline in dietary calcium bioavailability."
This finding explodes a myth widely propagated by vegetarians, namely
that meat and eggs cause a loss of calcium, leading the body to strip
calcium from storage in the bones, ultimately resulting in osteopenia
or osteoporosis.
Sulfur Study
The study most often cited to justify this claim came out in 1988
in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism and
involved 15 healthy young people, divided into three groups. All three
groups ate foods that contained identical amounts of sodium, potassium,
calcium, phosphorous, magnesium and protein, but differing amounts of
sulfur. The first group (least sulfur) consumed soy products; the second
(moderate sulfur) consumed soymilk, texturized soy protein, cheese and
eggs; and the third (most sulfur) consumed animal protein from meat
and cheese. Those who got their protein from the animal products lost
50 percent more calcium from their bodies than did those who had only
soy protein. The soy, egg and dairy people were in the middle. The researchers
concluded, "The inability to compensate for the animal protein-induced
calciuric response (meaning calcium in the urine) may be a risk factor
for the development of osteoporosis."
What is never mentioned when this study comes up--as it does in soy
industry spokesperson Mark Messina's The Simple Soybean and Your
Health and Earl Mindell's Soy Miracle among other books--is
that the 15 subjects spent a grand total of 12 days testing each type
of food. This was just enough time for their bodies to react to unexpectedly
high levels of sulfur proteins, but not enough time for the body to
normalize and handle the sulfur load. Calcium homeostasis is normally
well regulated so that increased calcium loss through the urine results
in increased calcium absorption from the gut. This adaptive process
may fail to occur during short-term studies but the human body is more
than capable of adjusting to the sulfur load of real foods, given a
proper time frame.
As for the recent study in the July European Journal of Nutrition,
the evidence that soy isoflavone supplements stem bone loss was based
on the results of bone density tests. These tests measure bone quantity
but not quality, and fail to acknowledge that thin bones can be strong,
flexible and healthy while thick bones can be brittle and friable. If
soy isoflavones, in fact, stop bone resorption, the result could be
chalky big bones that crumble. This is exactly what's happening with
some women whose bone mass has been "preserved" with drugs
like Fosamax.
The Vitamin B6 Connection
Sulfur is not a problem provided our levels of vitamin B6
are adequate. Pyridoxal-5-phosphate (the most active form of vitamin
B6) is the coenzyme for cystathionine synthetase, the enzyme
needed for proper conversion of sulfur-containing amino acids. This
nutrient is short supply in most American diets. The most obvious solution
is to optimize vitamin B6 levels, not to cut back on foods
containing sulfur. Best and most available sources of vitamin B6
are raw animal foods, such as raw meat, raw milk and raw cheese.
The fallacy of most other studies linking sulfur-rich animals foods
to high calcium excretion is equally easy to find. The majority of the
experiments feature overdoses of the isolated amino acids methionine,
cysteine and cystine without providing adequate levels of vitamin B6
and the extra hydrochloric acid needed to process this high amino acid
load. Notably, people and animals fed real food have not experienced
the same problems, so cutting back on sulfur-rich foods is not the solution
to osteoporosis.
Malnutrition in Children
Evidence that soy milk does not promote healthy bone growth in children
has even begun to appear in the mainstream press. A May 8 Newsweek article
entitled "Does Milk Hurt Kids?" warned readers that children
given rice and soy-based milk substitutes were showing rickets and other
signs of malnutrition once found almost exclusively among the famished
in third world countries. Soy milk, of course, contains phytates, which
block the proper absorption of calcium, zinc and other minerals needed
for proper bone growth.
Although calcium supplements are added to soy milk to compensate for
theft by phytates, the cheap powders are hard to absorb or not swallowed
at all because of the powder's tendency to either clump at the bottom
or stick to the walls of the container.
More Hazards
Commercial soy milks also contain vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol), the
ineffective vegetarian form of vitamin D that offers few of the benefits
of true vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) and has been linked to hyperactivity,
coronary heart disease and allergic reactions. Even the cheapest dairy
milks sold in supermarkets use vitamin D3, but soy milk manufacturers
use D2, the only form accepted by soymilk-swigging vegans.
Finally, soy milk is high in sugar, a well known bone hazard. Most
brands add between 1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon per glass.
Vitamin K and the Bones
To date, only one study convincingly suggests that soy might prevent
osteoporosis, which was published in Journal of Nutrition,
May 2006. It pertains, however, to natto, a fermented Japanese
soybean product rarely sold in the US--and the bone building probably
doesn't come from the miracle bean itself. Rather, natto is
high in vitamin K, a fat-soluble vitamin that is manufactured by the
bacteria involved in the fermentation process. Vitamin K is crucial
for bone health and conspicuously absent from soy milk or any other
modern soybean products. But don't expect to find natto in
the stores anytime soon as few Americans are likely to appreciate its
sticky coat, cheesy texture, musty taste, sliminess and pungent odor.
Butter and lacto-fermented foods like sauerkraut are the best sources
of vitamin K in western diets.
The Thyroid Risk Factor
Other than the vitamin K found in natto, soybean products
have little to offer our bones and much to harm them. More than 70 years
of studies link soy to thyroid problems, manifesting most often as hypothyroidism
with its symptoms of weight gain, fatigue, malaise and lethargy. Low
thyroid is not only a leading cause of midlife misery but a known risk
factor for osteoporosis. Yet soy phytoestrogens are widely marketed
to midlife women.
Not Good for Menopause Either
The US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality issued a report
last fall in which it concluded that the studies on soy and menopause
are inconsistent, contradictory, of poor design and too short duration
to warrant any meaningful conclusions from them. Furthermore, the Israeli
Health Ministry, French Food Agency and Cornell University have warned
that women diagnosed with--or at risk for--breast cancer should exercise
caution in terms of soy consumption. The soy industry has responded
by switching its message to midlife women--trumpeting claims that soy
is at least the answer to the osteoporosis epidemic.
While it's true that researchers have found estrogen receptors in
bone, soy phytoestrogens won't reliably activate them. In any case,
the key hormone for bone health is not estrogen but progesterone. In
that American women most often suffer from estrogen dominance and progesterone
deficiency, soy protein powders or phytoestrogen supplements aren't
likely to help.
Sidebars
Not So Friendly Skies
Fly United Airlines and you'll be offered a "Savory Snack Mix"
that bills itself as "A premium blend of pretzels, BBQ corn sticks
and garlic & onion soy nuts." And that's not all folks. The
complete ingredient list is as follows:
Pretzels: Enriched flour (wheat flour, malted barley
four, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin and folic
acid), salt, corn syrup, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, baking
soda and yeast.
BBQ Corn Stick: Corn masa, soybean oil, seasoning
(salt, sugar, chili pepper, spices, natural flavor, paprika, maltodextrin,
garlic powder, onion powder, natural smoke flavor, oleoresin paprika,
Red #40).
Onion Garlic Soybean: Soybeans (roasted in canola
oil), salt, onion, garlic, sugar and no more than 2% silicon dioxide
added to prevent caking.
Why the pretzels and corn sticks are manufactured with soybean oil
but the soybeans with canola oil is not explained.
Soy and Thyroid Function
While our government continues to deny that soy is a cause of endocrine
problems, a report from the Institute of Endocrinology in the Czech
Republic correlates markers of thyroid disease with soy phytoestrogen
levels. High levels of soy isoflavones in the blood of 268 children
without overt thyroid disease correlated with high levels of thyroglobulin
autoantibodies and small thyroid gland size. While "only modest
association was found between actual phytoestrogen levels and parameters
of thyroid function," the researchers warned that "even small
differences in soy phytoestrogen intake may influence thyroid function,"
ending with the disclaimer, "which could be important when iodine
intake is insufficient" (Clin Chem Lab Med. 2006;44(2):171-4).
Another recent report found that "Soy formula complicates management
of congenital hypothyroidism." Infants fed soy formula were found
to have prolonged increase of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) compared
to infants fed non-soy formula (Arch Dis Child. 2004 Jan;89(1):37-40).
Soy Updates
FACTORY FARMING IN CHINA: Surprisingly, one of the
biggest importers of soy is China, but the reason is not because the
Chinese are eating more soy. No, with new-found prosperity, the Chinese
want more chicken and pork--consumption of meat has increased threefold
in the past decade. Chinese farmers traditionally fed their pigs and
chickens with leftover food and ground grains. According to the Wall
Street Journal, "The old method wasn't fit for mass production,
which is why farmers are moving to soybean-based feed." The Chinese
are also using soybeans to feed fish and make soybean oil, ensuring
that the Chinese will no longer get the nutrients they need from animal
fat (August 21, 2006).
LOST HIS COOL: "Is this the beginning of the
end for the 'soy revolution'?" asks journalist James Nestor in
an article that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle (August
13, 2006). After listing all of soy's problems and quoting from The
Whole Soy Story by our own Kaayla Daniel, PhD, Nestor shows that
super-smooth soy promoter, Dr. Mark Messina, is losing his cool. "Shame
on you for even talking to her!" snaps Messina. "Here is a
person with a mail-order PhD. . . trying to promote a book of quasi-science.
. . that's just , it's, reprehensible!" In fact, Union Institute
and University, where Daniels received her PhD, meets the gold standard
of regional accreditation. Messina's attack represents a new tactic,
which is decidedly a step up for our soy campaign--the soy boys have
moved from ingoring Daniel's book, hoping it will go away, to slandering
her rather than debate the issues. Last fall, Messina refused an invitation
by editor Larry Dossey to debate her in the magazine Explore.
"It's the thousands of positive trials that never get attention,"
Messina whines, "only the ones that are different from everything
else that the media clings to." Translation: Soy promoters aren't
happy that the public is hearing the other side of the story after years
of favorable press for the soybean.
NEW PRODUCTS: Pepsi has introduced a Tropicana orange
juice product containing "cholesterol-lowering" plant sterols,
similar to the isoflavones in soy. These sterols are actually a toxic
waste product of the lumber industry; they cause female characteristics
in male fish. Ma-Me! The Tasty Snack Bean made its national debut at
Natural Products West in February. A product of Bright Future Foods,
the edamame snack is packaged in a down-home brown paper bag and is
marketed as "high in fiber, with zero trans fat and zero cholesterol."
A portion of the profits from Ma-Me! will go to the Bright Future Adoption
Foundation, established by the company CEO to provide counseling and
financial grants to prospective adoptive parents. Will promotion of
soy foods be part of that counseling? Just asking.
About the Author
 Kaayla
T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, earned her Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences and Anti-Aging
Therapies from the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati and is board-certified
as a clinical nutritionist (CCN) by the International and American Association
of Clinical Nutritionists in Dallas. She is the author of The Whole Soy
Story: The Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food published in March
2005 by New Trends Publishing. She designs diet, supplement and lifestyle plans
for private clients and is a dynamic speaker and seminar leader who challenges
and entertains her audiences with leading-edge information on clinically proven
ways to prevent and reverse disease and attain optimum health and maximum longevity.
For more information, answers to frequently asked questions or to contact Dr.
Daniel, visit her two websites www.wholesoystory.com
and www.soyfreesolutions.com.
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