Letters to the Editor

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, April, 2001

Mr. Sardi is welcome to trust the FDA if he wants to but we do not. FDA reviewers dismissed the concerns of many well qualified scientists without discussion. Soy consumption may lower cholesterol under certain circumstances but the FDA ignored the vast body of evidence refuting any claims that cholesterol-lowering can prevent heart disease. The FDA has routinely hired food industry lawyers to write its policy; and routinely sends its scientist to work for the industry it was set up to regulate. In fact, the FDA is a paradigm of the axiom that any agency established to regulate a segment of the economy will be subverted to support that segment. It is not in the consumer's best interests to trust the FDA, any more than it is in the consumer's best interest to trust the miracle claims for soy.

Yes indeed, soy is being overpromoted. When Mr. Sardi is not misquoting us, he almost makes our case. And yes, the conflicting claims about soy are very confusing, especially confusing when the soy proponents speak out of both sides of the mouth. Dr. Holt admits privately that he would not feed soy formula to his grandchildren but advocates soy foods for children in his book. Dr. Messina promotes a vegetarian diet based on soy to prevent cancer in his book The Simple Soybean and Your Health, but recently stated on the Deborah Ray Show that soy does not protect against breast cancer in adult women. And Earl Mindell, who actively markets a soy protein product, stated at the January, 1996 National Health Federation convention that soy should only be eaten in fermented form.

For those who are confused, we suggest the principles of traditional diets as a touchstone. In Asia, soy was traditionally consumed as a fermented condiment in small amounts and not as a replacement of animal foods like seafood, pork, chicken, beef, eggs and duck. These diets provided excellent support for the thyroid gland in the form of fish, shellfish, seaweed and unrefined salt. Soy was not used for infant feeding in Asia. Buffalo milk, cows' milk or mares' milk were given to babies whose mothers were unable to nurse and a wet nurse was unavailable.

Products based on isolated soy protein are completely new to the human diet. Advances in food technology make it possible to eat soybean-based foods in quantities far greater than was ever consumed in traditional societies and various groups are promoting soy foods as the major source of protein in a vegetarian or vegan diet.

If soy does not contain toxins, as Sardi states, then why has the industry invested so much time, effort and money to get the toxins out of soy? No, soy is not hemlock. Soy is more insidious than hemlock because its effects are often not immediately apparent. Children often exhibit normal growth patterns on soy formula, with the damage manifesting years later.

"Overuse can be troublesome," he says. Our sentiments exactly.

Sally Fallon

Mary G. Enig, PhD

Email: SAFallon@aol.com

Sally Fallon is the author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and The Diet Dictocrats, Second Edition 1999 (New Trends Publishing 877-707-1776 or 219-268-2601; www.newtrendspublishing.com) and President of the Weston A Price Foundation, Washington, DC, www.WestonAPrice.org