Study shows risky chemical levels in soy higher than we thought
Our farmland nightmare just got worse
You walk into your local supermarket and a wave of anxiety washes over you. The shelves are mostly picked clean. Cereal, bread, condiments, mixes, jars, cans — nearly everything is gone.
This is what your supermarket would look like if your grocer removed all food products that contain soy. And while it would look like a disaster, a soy vanishing act would be a blessing in disguise.
Soybeans are bad nutrition. They contain a substance that promotes red blood cell clotting, and another substance that inhibits enzymes needed for protein digestion.
These effects are switched off when soy is fermented. So miso, natto, and tempeh don’t cause the same problems. But if you check ingredients panels, you’ll find soy, soy, and more soy — all unfermented.
And if “soy” isn’t listed, don’t think for a minute that it’s not there. If the ingredients list includes vegetable oil, it’s probably soybean oil.
This “vegetable” oil has a high omega-6 content, which promotes inflammation. And like other unfermented soy, soybean oil contains an acid that makes it harder for your body to absorb key minerals like calcium and magnesium.
But this nutritional train wreck isn’t even the worst thing about soy.
A new study shows just how completely soy production has been hijacked by the chemical industry. In a way, it’s the plant world version of factory farming.
Researchers analyzed three types of soybeans; organic, GMO, and conventionally raised. By “conventionally” I mean the crops weren’t GMO, but they were still treated with chemical weed killers.
No surprise: organic soy contained significantly more protein, more minerals, and less omega-6 than the other two. But you probably won’t be shocked to learn that organic soy is about as rare as hens’ teeth with gold caps. Less than one percent of U.S. soy is organic.
But nutrition (or lack of it) isn’t our main concern with soy.
The bigger damage is caused by glyphosate. And by now you might recognize that word. It’s the plant-crushing chemical in Roundup weed killer. It’s made by Monsanto and it’s dumped by the mega-gallons on GMO soy crops — grown from seeds that Monsanto genetically engineered to survive a constant downpour of Roundup.
Now, there’s always been speculation (and fear) about how much glyphosate actually finds its way into the makeup of the soybean. This is a big deal because if it’s in the bean, then it’s in the food products that contain soy. And that’s a LOT of products. In the U.S., more than 90 percent of soybeans are GMO.
You can see the disaster taking shape here. And the study confirms it. Researchers discovered levels of residue that were HIGHER than the level that even Monsanto scientists consider “extreme.”
I’ll bet a paycheck that most of those scientists won’t touch soy products with a ten foot fork. They know what’s going on. I’m sure they’re aware of how wretched this stuff is. Just last year, an MIT study dropped a bombshell, finding that glyphosate’s negative effect “manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body.”
And THAT’S the miserable stuff that everyone is eating every day — all those grocery shelves, filled to the ceiling with soy products.
So far, 2014 is shaping up to be another big year for the GMO issue. Vermont just took the bold step to require clear labeling on all GMO products. If this turns out to be one of the first big tremors of a nationwide groundswell, then once those labels start showing up, and once it starts to sink in just how bad this stuff is, GMO soy’s days will be numbered.
You can check this link to get a better idea of the potential dangers of GMO foods, as well as the extreme actions that anti-label corporate fat cats take to keep us in the dark.
Sources:
Compositional differences in soybeans on the market: Glyphosate accumulates in Roundup Ready GM soybeans: (sciencedirect.com)
Monsanto GM Soy Is Scarier Than You Think: (motherjones.com)
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