Soy What?

Personally, I've always been a fan of soy. It made sense to me that there would be an alternative protein source that was not animal protein. But Inever really knew what or how much soy was good for me. I just used it from time to time or once a week instead of meat.



Then there was some kind of study about soy and cancer. Great! Now what, I used to think.



Well, currently as happens with many of these medical studies, the connection between soy and cancer is so not what it appeared to be and more and more articles are being written to prove that. I have excerpted one such article from the September 2007 issue of Oprah's, O Magazine, written by David L. Katz, MD.

The evidence linking soy intake with breast cancer risk is mixed.

When researchers compare the Japenese, who eat a lot of soy, to Americans, who eat very little, they find lower rates of breast cand other cancers in the soy eaters. However, they've found that in a test tube, soy's plant estrogens can speed cancer cell growth. Why the discrepancy? It may be that soy behaves differently in the body than it does in test tubes. Or soy may have both positive and negative influences on breast cancer. . .. . . Replacing steak with soy could be protective. ... A recent National Cancer Institute workshop on soy and breast cancer risk concluded that we still don't know enough to recommend soy for cancer prevention. and a solid answer, based on research, is still years away.

So, in other words, the jury is still out. And my first thought is: "Who lives in a test tube anyway?"

I like soy. Reliv Classic and some other products are soy-based. I found an interesting thing happened when I started taking Reliv. Not only did my pain go away (see My Story in the archives), and I stopped craving sugar, caffiene and fast foods, but I noticed I didn't eat as much chicken either!! In fact, I was still eating fish, but even more frequently and didn't have chicken for almost a whole month before I noticed it. (I'd stopped eating beef and pork some years ago, and only occassionally included them in my diet).

So, I'd rather see myself in my life, than in a test tube and I know the results Reliv has produced. After all, isn't that the most important thing???

Questions, comments always welcome. Are you ready to Re-Live??

Sandy