This is Part 2 in my series, Soy – The Unhealthy Health Food. If you haven’t already, please read Part 1 in this series, where I discuss the dangers of consuming unfermented soy products.
Importance of Fermentation
The soybean has been around since the beginning of time and has been a major food source for humans for millennia. The earliest mentions of the soybean date back to 3,000 B.C. by the Emperor of China. In Asian cultures, soy is a major part of their diet, and study after study has shown the low rate of Western diseases in these traditional cultures. However, the important difference is that the products they consume have been fermented.
The fermentation process of soy eliminates the dangers that I discussed in Part 1 of this series. Fermentation is important because:
- It increases the digestibility of the soybean, because the enzyme inhibitors have been broken down so that the digestive system can more easily assimilate the legume.
- It increases the nutrition of soy by converting specific minerals (like zinc, copper, magnesium, etc.) into soluble forms that are easily absorbed by the body.
- It allows beneficial bacteria to flourish and helps increase the flora of the intestines, which not only assists with the digestion of soy, but the overall health of your digestive system.
- Fermentation adds Vitamin K2 to the food. This is probably one of the most important benefits of fermented soy (and other foods), as Vitamin K2 is critical to preventing diseases like dementia, osteoporosis, certain forms of cancer, as well as heart disease. Vitamin K is usually forgotten about, yet it holds some of the most important benefits of all the vitamins.
What Soy Products Should I Eat?
There are some very healthy soy products that you can add to your diet in moderation. The most common forms of fermented soy products are:
Miso - a very salty, fermented soybean paste that is most commonly used in miso soup, but it is also used for Japanese foods like sauces, spreads, and for pickling meats and vegetables.
Natto - a popular Japanese breakfast food, created from fermenting soybeans with a specific bacteria called bacillus subtilis. It is very rich in good bacteria and protein. It is definitely an acquired taste (I’m not there yet), as the texture, smell, and flavor is quite different from anything that most Americans are accustomed to.
Soy Sauce or Tamari – The most common fermented soy product. It is created by fermenting soybeans with specific molds -aspergillus oryzae or aspergillus soyae – and is used as a condiment in both China and Japan.
Tempeh - A fermented soy food that originated in Indonesia. It comes in a cake-like form and is made by fermenting and culturing soybeans through a natural process that yields a high-protein, high-fiber, and high-vitamin product with strong flavor.
Sweet Bean Sauce – This is a Chinese sauce that is made from salt, sugar, wheat flour, fermented yellow soybeans, and mantou (a steamed bread).
Yellow Soybean Paste – a fermented paste, much like sweet bean sauce, that is made out of fermented yellow soybeans, salt, water, and sometimes wheat flour. It is used in China, mostly in Beijing and Northern China.
You might be wondering why tofu is not on this list. There is some debate over tofu, which is probably, after soy milk, one of the most widely consumed soy products in the US. Most tofu that you buy in the grocery store is not fermented. It is simply coagulated soy milk that is pressed into curds. I would not recommend eating normal tofu that you find in the store.
However, there are a couple of fermented tofu products that can be safely consumed in moderation.
Fermented Bean Curd – This is usually eaten as a condiment with breakfast. It is made by taking chunks of dried tofu that is air-dried and then allowed to ferment from the bacteria and fungus in the air. It is then soaked in a brine and sold in little glass jars.
Stinky Tofu – Sounds delicious doesn’t it? Of all the fermented soy products, I find this one the most fascinating. This form of tofu has a very strong odor and is generally eaten as a snack in East and Southeast Asia. The interesting thing about this form of tofu is that it is typically homemade, which means that there is no specific formula for a starter bacteria. So, depending on what region you are in, the stinky tofu will vary with that region. While modern technology has allowed factories to produce this product, true stinky tofu can only be found it in roadside stands, small village markets or in someone’s home, as the fermentation process can take several months (and there’s no set starter bacteria formula). Any stinky tofu that you would find in the store has not been truly fermented – factories usually only let it sit in brine for a day or two before packaging.
I hope that this series has been beneficial in helping you understand the truth about soy. Like most products that are sold to us in the grocery store, we have been fed a line of clever marketing to disguise a dangerous food as a miraculous health food. One of the things that we must all do, if we want to take complete control of our health, is to understand what our food is and where it comes from. Understanding the dangers of common commercial soy products is one step closer to our “enlightenment”.
Sources:
Dr. Mercola – The Whole Soy Story and The Truth About Soy
NaturalNews.com – Fermented Soy is Only Soy Food Fit for Human Consumption
WikiPedia – Fermented Soy Products
The Weston A. Price Foundation – Soy Alert!
Image courtesy of Palindrome6996 and CreativeCommons.org
This post is part of Fat Tuesday |
Delicious Obsessions was founded by Jessica Espinoza in 2010. Jessica is passionate about real food, natural living, and more. She helps people see how to eat nourishing food, without breaking the bank. Her motto is "baby steps" -- making small, lasting changes, one at a time, is the best way to ensure long-term success. This website contains "affiliate links" where appropriate, on which, I may earn a small commission or referral fee on your purchase. This has no effect on your price. The monies earned help maintain and support this website's hosting, maintenance, and the development of free content. The content shared on this site is for informational and educational purposes only. Statements/products discussed have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease or illness. Please consult your own health care practitioner before making changes to your current diet or before beginning any herbal or vitamin supplement regimen or exercise program.
Was never a fan of soy or tofu products. I do use some organic tamari and miso every so often though.
Me either – I very rarely eat any specific soy products, but I am always shocked when I read labels and see just how much stuff has soy in it. Things you’d never expect!
Thanks so much for this series of posts. I knew soy was a danger, but mostly because of GMO’s and the Estrogen levels, much of the other information was new to me. I’m bummed about the tofu. Though we don’t eat it often, I do like it baked in items as a meat substitute. But we use miso, soy sauce and tamari more frequently. I’ll have to be more careful about the veggie burgers we buy as well. We like to have some of these around for a lazy/quick dinner night, lol. Though I can make my own and freeze them too. Thanks again!
T
Hi Tanya – Thanks for taking time to read and comment. I’m glad that the information was useful to you and your family. The other frustrating thing is that soy is in EVERYTHING! You really have to be careful what you buy, because it may have soy in it. More reason to move away from any pre-packaged food!
For some reason my comment was posted before i finished it. Anyways, I came across your blog on pinterest when a friend of mine pinned the link about CO. I love CO so I was excited to read that but then I came across this and was bummed out. I’m a vegetarian so soy is one of my main food sources. I’ve heard a lot lately that it was bad for you and I’ve always known it wasn’t the greatest, but now I don’t know what to do.
Hi Sarah – Thanks for stopping by. Unfermented soy is definitely not good to eat, especially in larger amounts like vegetarians and vegans would consume. Have you looked into quinoa? It is a great source of protein and I know a lot of vegetarians who use that as a replacement for soy. It’s really high in amino acids and protein. It’s actually a seed, rather than a grain. Here’s the write-up on it from the World’s Healthiest Foods website: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?dbid=142&tname=foodspice.
There are lots of recipes out there for quinoa burgers and the like, so perhaps that might be a good option for you. This one looks tasty: http://eatingwelllivingthin.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/love-my-quinoa-burger/
You might want to read this and rethink using a whole lot of quinoa.
Best practice is to eat local.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/16/vegans-stomach-unpalatable-truth-quinoa
Hi Candace – I have read that article before. I don’t eat quinoa anymore actually, for a variety of reasons. I do agree, it’s best to eat local as much as possible!
I’m not commenting on the merit of the whole article, just want to point out one piece of information that is not accurate. It states: “In Asian cultures, soy is a major part of their diet, and study after study has shown the low rate of Western diseases in these traditional cultures. However, the important difference is that the products they consume have been fermented”. I don’t know about other Asian countries, I’m from China, what I know for a fact is that the majority of the soy products we consume in China is NOT “fermented”. We do consume fermented soy as well, but it is in no way as much as the unfermented ones, such as tofu.
Thanks for stopping by Flavia. While they may eat a lot of unfermented soy today, I think the difference lies when you look at the traditional culture versus the modern culture (hundreds of years ago versus now). In the last 100 years, soy has become a major industrialized crop and is now in everything. Clever marketing has also increased consumption of it. The soy marketing campaign is one of the most successful marketing campaigns in advertising history and our future generations will pay the price for it. When it comes to whether a food is healthy or not, I like to look a what people were eating hundreds and even thousands of years ago. If they were eating that food, then I would consider it a traditional food. If they weren’t, then I most likely won’t eat it. If you go back hundreds and hundreds of years, Asian cultures were not eating tofu, soy milk, soy ice cream, etc. No one was. Those are all modern “foods”, brought on by the proliferation of soybean crops and clever marketing. JMT.
I have just commented on Part 1 of this series, along the same lines as Flavia, regarding the consumption of unfermented soy in Asia. It IS consumed in large quantities, and HAS BEEN for a LONG time. Bean curd, doufu, dofu, tofu, whatever… it is NOT a modern food brought on by clever marketing (if we take a global view). It may well be a modern fad in the US but the origin of it as a food in China goes back to before written records began. Why won’t you accept this? Is it because accepting that a large population have been eating it as a reasonably substantial part of their diet without a problem for a LONG LONG time would directly contradict the central tenet of your article?
Like I said in my other post, I agree with you on the pre-packaged “food” issue, with soy derivatives, protein isolates, etc. being in just about everything. However, most of those “foods” contain much worse things and should be avoided in any case as part of the Real Food philosophy, which I support wholeheartedly – but I think having a crack at tofu as this pair of articles does is really barking up the wrong tree. It shouldn’t be vilified as some kind of evil food to be avoided at all costs because that simply isn’t backed up by any credible evidence. For most of us (except those who happen to have a bad allergy or intolerance, obviously) tofu can play a perfectly decent role as part of a balanced diet.
Hi Jim – Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I still stand by my belief, and my research. that soy is not the “health” food that it has been touted to be. I have quite a bit of new research that I have done since I first published this post years ago. I will be writing a revised and updated post on the subject in the near future.
I am not the only person who believes that soy is dangerous, so it’s not like I am just making things up for the sake of having a controversial blog post. Quite the opposite, actually. I want people to eat well and be well. I have personally seen and read too much to the contrary. I know from personal experience how much soy can mess up your hormones and cause other health issues, and I have spoken with countless others who have experienced the same thing. If you can tolerate soy and believe it to be healthy, then by all means, enjoy it as part of your diet! I believe that the dangers of soy far outweigh any benefits you may get.
One thing to keep in mind is that much like the wheat that we have today, the soy consumed 2,000 years ago is going to be very different than what is consumed today. The industrial revolution changed the entire landscape of our food and what may have once been healthy, may now not be. Another thing to keep in mind is that no one single food is the be-all end-all when it comes to health issues. To go along with corrupted food supplies, we also have GMOs, horrible chemicals and toxins, pollution, heavy metals, etc. Many times it is a combination of different factors that lead to poor health.
Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!
To Tanya who says “I’m bummed about the tofu” and anyone else who feels the same way. Please don’t be, and this is why.
So a couple of recent studies have suggested tofu is unhealthy – two of the claims being that it can cause breast cancer and fertility problems. Well sometimes scientific studies and experiments yield results that whilst appearing reasonable in the context of the experiment, contrast wildly with what the scientist can observe in the real world around them. In this case a good scientist will look again at their study, realising that it must be flawed in some way.
So what do we see with tofu in the real world? Well, it was invented in China over 2,000 years ago and has been a part of the Chinese diet ever since then, and still is today. And what is the outcome of all that tofu consumption, specifically with regards to the supposed dangers we are looking at here? Well, China is now the most populous country in the world, so widespread fertility problems?? I guess not. And breast cancer? This charts shows breast cancer per capita rates around the world.
http://www.worldwidebreastcancer.com/learn/breast-cancer-statistics-worldwide/
And China is the lowest on the planet by the looks of it. The rest of south-east Asia where tofu is also eaten widely is a little higher but still well below average.
So, the real world is suggesting STRONGLY that the studies referenced in this article are flawed, is it not? Enjoy your tofu Tanya, along with fermented soy products, vegetables, fruit, nuts, grains, seeds – all that good stuff – and don’t worry about scaremongering that can’t be backed up by GOOD science
Hi Barry – Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I still stand by my belief, and my research. that soy is not the “health” food that it has been touted to be. That said, it is up to all of us to do our own due diligence and make a decision that we believe is right. If your research has led you to believe something different regarding soy, then that’s great! That is what this journey of life is all about! If you can tolerate soy and believe it to be healthy, then by all means, enjoy it as part of your diet. I believe that the dangers of soy far outweigh any benefits you may get. I want people to eat well and be well. I have personally seen and read too much information for me to believe that consumption of much soy is at all healthy. I know from personal experience how badly soy can mess up your hormones and cause other health issues, and I have spoken with countless others who have experienced the same thing.
One thing to keep in mind is that much like the hybridized wheat (which I also do not believe should be consumed) that we have today, the soy consumed 2,000 years ago is going to be very different than what is consumed today. The industrial revolution changed the entire landscape of our food and what may have once been healthy, may now not be. Also, most soy is going to be GMO, so perhaps it is actually the GMOs causing all the health problems and not the soy itself? They certainly didn’t have GMOs 2,000 years ago. All in all, the foods that we have now are nothing like the foods that traditional cultures were eating. Just because a culture was eating something thousands of years ago, does not necessarily mean that we should be eating it in common times. The other thing to take into consideration is that various cultures will have foods that are unique to that culture. Does that meant that people in other cultures should eat it? I personally think that different people are designed to eat different ways, so what one culture eats may not be right for another. Just my thoughts.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!