What's Soy wrong?

No that isn't a typo.  Soy hasn't gotten a bad reputation over the years and this post is to clear up any misunderstandings. 

Actually soy has been long valued as a healthy vegetarian source of protein, recent research has discovered important compounds in soy called isoflavones provide potentially powerful health benefits of their own beyond the simple delivery of healthy nutrients in soy, from protein to minerals.

For 50 years, Shaklee scientists have recommended soy protein consumption as part of a healthy diet. However, today we are also well aware of the great confusion among consumers and even health professionals about the health benefits of soy, because of a few very limited studies on soy that have received much attention on the internet.

Mark Messina, PhD, is an adjunct associate professor at Loma Linda University and the Executive Director of the Soy Nutrition Institute. Dr. Messina, an acknowledged leader in soy research, has made studying the health affects of soy his focus for over 20 years and has published more than 60 scientific papers and given more than 500 presentations on soy foods to health professionals around the world.


From his comprehensive scientific white paper prepared exclusively for us, Dr. Messina produced a two-part summary update on soy. In a previous blog, was the content from part one.  Here is part two.

Now in Part 2, Soy and Your Health: Dispelling the Myths, linked to this letter, Dr. Messina addresses the misleading and inaccurate rumors about soy circulating on the internet. According to Dr. Messina’s careful review, many of these studies incorrectly link soy to adverse effects. So now it’s time to learn the truth about the so called “anti-nutrients” in soy, how soy really affects the thyroid, breast health, and brain function and the real differences between unfermented and fermented soy. Dr. Messina’s detailed investigation also includes reference citations of published scientific research studies he analyzed to reach his conclusions.

Thank you Dr. Jamie McManus for providing this enlightening information.

Want to speak with a person who has used soy protein for 14 years and has side benefits vs. side affects?  Contact Mary Beth at marybeth@mamabearproductions.net

Mary Beth Potrykus
Mama Bear Productions
Keeping Health in Focus

Antioxidants and Cancer

Although the internet can be a good resource for information, there are times when it provides false information and/or inaccurate information.  For example "Do antioxidants actually increase your risk of cancer?"

The source of this question and answer is a meta-analysis of 66 antioxidant clinical trials published in 2007 by Bjelakovic in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.  Although their data suggested that taking extra vitamins A, E and Beta Carotene, increased cancer by up to 16% the study excluded over 400 clinical trials because no deaths were reported in those trials.  Only trials with a significant  number of deaths were included.

So another group of scientific experts re-analyzed the data.  Their meta-analysis showed that 36% of the antioxidant clinical trials had a beneficial outcome, 60% showed no effect of supplementation and only 4% had a negative outcome. 

Just this past month the data were published from a very large clinical trial in Europe.  In this study 23,943 adults from Germany were followed for a total of 11 years.

The participants who consumed antioxidant supplements at the beginning of the study had a 48% decrease in cancer mortality and a 42% decrease in all cause mortality compared to those who did not take any supplements.

Dr. Chaney states "like most other reputable scientists, I am not yet ready to promise you that antioxidant supplements will decrease your cancer risk.  However, I think you can pretty much forget this nonsense about antioxidant supplements increasing your cancer risk."

Be selective about what you put into your body.  Not sure what supplements are right for you?  Email Mary Beth at marybeth@mamabearproductions.net to set up a Personal Confidential Nutrition Consultation.

I am passionate about helping people.


Mary Beth