No Joy Soy?

For a while now I've been enjoying organic soy milk in my coffee, shakes, healthy dessert breads, muesli, and in a few other applications to substitute for skim milk. I started drinking soy to get away from some of the lactose in my diet and liked the taste and texture and also the extra protein. Also I have been using organic to get away from the "Round-Up Ready" soy bean fiasco. (Watch "Food Inc." if you don't have any idea what I'm talking about). Anyway, a friend recently commented on this aspect of soy, and I thought I'd elaborate more in other areas.

According to some info from Michael Pollan's book "In Defense of Food", cultural preparations of various foods and food pairings have more to do with our diet, health, and digestion than scientific numbers and theories. There was some interesting info on soy and some of the implications, and here is how the actual text reads:

"The context in which a food is eaten can be nearly as important as the food itself. The ancient Asian practice of fermenting soybeans and eating soy in the form of curds called tofu makes a healthy diet from a plant that eaten almost any other way would make people ill. The soybean itself...contains a whole assortment of "antinutrients"--compounds that actually block the body's absorption of vitamins and minerals, interfere with the hormonal system, and prevent the body from breaking down the proteins in the soy itself."

Wow. I thought I was doing my body good when I actually might be doing more harm. Who knows? What's certain is that soy products are more a result of the agriculture industry pushing products made from a bean that they have a surplus of than a result of the pursuit of healthy alternatives. Also, it is a processed product, and I might be better off with a little lactose from the milk of an actual animal (preferably a pasture and farm-raised cow instead of one confined in a milk factory) than even almond milk or any other alternative. There are also some implications for hormonal imbalances and possible health risks! Is it as bad as smoking? No most likely not, but even so, do we want to take chances? I'm no expert, but here's more info from the same book on that:

"Soy isoflavones, found in most soy products, are compounds that resemble estrogen, and in fact bind to human estrogen receptors...it is unclear whether these so-called phytoestrogens actually behave like estrogen in the body or only fool it into thinking they're estrogen. Either way the phytoestrogens might have an effect (good or bad) on the growth of certain cancers, the symptoms of menopause, and the function of the endocrine system...the FDA has declined to grand GRAS ("generally regarded as safe") status to soy...a senior scientist at the FDA's National Center for Toxicological Research wrote, 'Confidence that soy products are safe is clearly based more on belief than hard data.'"

Again, I'm still learning more and more as my diet and understanding of health evolves, and I'm no expert. Please comment and put your two cents in regarding this topic as I'm sure more insight will help all of us. Have a great day everyone, and thanks for reading!