Soy Protein

Soy Protein

Textured vegetable protein (TVP)found in vegetarian “Not Meat” products and Soy protein isolate found in most processed foods.

No matter what side of the fence you sit on the great soy debate, TVP or textured vegetable protein made from de-fatted soy flour is so processed that it hardly qualifies to be called a food anymore.

It is a highly processed and unhealthy food, it is NOT a health food.

If you want to include soy in your diet, use the whole bean or foods made from the whole bean – fermented of course!

TVP is used by many vegetarians and vegans to increase protein in their diet and is also used by meat eaters keen to reduce meat in their diets due to budget or health reasons but don’t want to miss out on essential protein.

According to an article on the Savvy Vegetarian website, if you’re currently using TVP or other forms of soy protein you might want to find an alternative:

• Having most of the fats and carbohydrates removed means that it’s no longer a whole food.

• Food grade soy protein was originally used as animal feed, which didn’t pay all that well. So it was re-invented as a human food, and then as a health food, which was much more profitable. Think about the price of protein shakes, veg sausage, or veggie burgers, and you get the picture

• The world’s biggest manufacturer of TVP is the world’s second largest chemical company – DuPont. This same company funds much of research and telling us how healthy and safe texturised soy protein and soy powder is.

• Soy protein is used in a variety of foods such as salad dressings, soups, vegetarian foods, meat imitations, beverage powders, cheeses, coffee whiteners, frozen desserts, whipped toppings, infant formulas, bread and rolls, cereals, pasta products, oriental foods and pet foods. It is not used in these foods to enhance nutrition, it is used emulsify (combine oils/fats and water) and add texture to food - it’s used for the convience of food manufacturers, not to make it healthier for you.

• Most soy these days comes from genetically modified soy beans (soy beans are genetically modified to make them resistant to pesticides, so they don’t die when the weeds growing around them are sprayed).

Researchers, writers and healthy food campaigners Sally Fallon and Dr. Mary Enig outline several more reasons why soy protein is such an unhealthy food in their article Newest Research Why You Should Avoid Soy

“SPI (soy protein) is not something you can make in your own kitchen. Production takes place in industrial factories where a slurry of soy beans is first mixed with an alkaline solution to remove fiber, then precipitated and separated using an acid wash and, finally, neutralized in an alkaline solution.” “Acid washing in aluminum tanks leaches high levels of aluminum into the final product. The resultant curds are spray-dried at high temperatures to produce a high-protein powder. A final indignity to the original soybean is high-temperature, high-pressure extrusion processing of soy protein isolate to produce textured vegetable protein (TVP).”“But high-temperature processing has the unfortunate side-effect of so denaturing the other proteins in soy that they are rendered largely ineffective. (23) That’s why animals on soy feed need lysine supplements for normal growth.” Nb. Denatured proteins are hard for your body to digest and often cause bloating and wind.

“Nitrites, which are potent carcinogens, are formed during spray-drying, and a toxin called lysinoalanine is formed during alkaline processing. 24 Numerous artificial flavorings, particularly MSG, are added to soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein products to mask their strong “beany” taste and to impart the flavor of meat. (25)”

“In feeding experiments, the use of SPI increased requirements for vitamins E, K, D and B12 and created deficiency symptoms of calcium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, copper, iron and zinc.26 Phytic acid remaining in these soy products greatly inhibits zinc and iron absorption; test animals fed SPI develop enlarged organs, particularly the pancreas and thyroid gland, and increased deposition of fatty acids in the liver. (27)”