Soy foods like tofu, tempeh, and miso have been part of the diet in Asian countries for centuries. William Shurtleff, co-author of The Book of Tofu and director of the SoyInfo Center, points out that Okinawa, Japan, has the highest consumption of tofu in that country, and its people have the longest life-span compared to other regions.

Many experts believe that the lower incidence of heart disease in Asian countries is connected to high consumption of soy.

Food is Medicine:

The SoyInfo Center, which promotes soy foods as a healthy, environmentally friendly, and humane alternative to meat products, has a database of approximately 1,000 scientific, peer-reviewed, published studies showing health benefits of eating soy foods.

When the whole food is consumed you get a very different effect than if you consume the concentrated constituents individually.

In its 2009 report, “Behind the Bean: The Heroes and Charlatans of the Natural and Organic Soy Foods Industry, the Social, Environmental, and Health Impacts of Soy”, the Cornucopia Institute discovered:

“Soy foods such as tofu and soy milk from many companies that are rated highly in our scorecard are only minimally processed, soaked, heated, ground, strained, curdled, and pressed and are not processed more than other traditional foods such as cheese and yogurt produced from cow’s milk.”

The Tofu Shop agrees that minimally processed, whole foods are healthier and more wholesome choices than foods with soy protein isolates or concentrates.

 

More information:

• Behind the Bean

• SoyInfo Center

• UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, 2002

• What About Soy?