| Since there is no evidence that North American or European tofu contains formaldehyde (apparently formaldehyde-laden tofu is tough on the outside and brittle on the inside), this study’s findings are likely irrelevant for those outside Indonesia.
You certainly wouldn’t know that if you only read the headlines.
Taking Scare Tactics to New Level
The popular magazine, Men’s Health, led its June 2009 issue with a story on soy, part of their “Eat Like a Man” series. Splashed across the front cover was the headline, “Is This the Most Dangerous Food for Men?”
The teaser text on the cover beckoned, “The unassuming soybean has silently infiltrated the American diet as what might just be the perfect protein source. It’s cheap and vegetarian, and could even unclog our hearts. But there may be a hidden dark side to soy, one that could undermine everything it means to be male.” Subtle, don’t you think? I am guessing that many men saw the cover, skipped the story and resolved on the spot never to eat anything containing soy.
In a classic example of taking one highly unusual case and distilling its message into a recommendation for all males on planet Earth, the author tells the truly disturbing story of a manly man in Texas who heard that soy milk was better for one’s health than cow’s milk and switched his beverage of choice accordingly.
As the months went by, his beard growth slowed, he lost hair from his arms, developed breasts, and generally displayed a wide range of feminized characteristics. His doctors couldn’t make heads or tails of it, until he went to an insightful physician who inquired about his diet and figured out that soymilk was the culprit.
Three Quarts of Soymilk a Day
How much soymilk was the man drinking? Three quarts a day!! This is, needless to say, extreme. To condemn soy milk (and by extension, all soy products) because of what happened to one man who drank three quarts a day is similar to rejecting all use of vitamin B-complex tablets because someone self-prescribes thousands of milligrams (mg) a day (the recommended daily amount for most of the B-complex is under 10 mg, and the typical supplement pill contains 50 mg) and as a result develops widespread neuropathic symptoms including numbness and tingling in his arms and legs. (A patient in my practice actually did this.) It would also be similar to rejecting all uses of a particular prescription medication (e.g., an antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, etc.) because a poorly informed patient decided that if one pill at a time is good, seven pills at a time would be wonderful.
But to frame the story from a reasoned perspective would require respect for readers’ intelligence, along with a willingness to forego the sales that scare headlines bring. For now, that appears to be too much to expect from much of the popular press.
There is a solution to this problem. Since you are an intelligent reader, use your intelligence. Look more deeply at claims in the popular press, seek out both pro and con views, and don’t jump to hasty conclusions. The ride may be a bit less exciting but it’s far better for your health.
Daniel Redwood, DC, is an Associate Professor at Cleveland Chiropractic College – Kansas City and Editor-in-Chief of Health Insights Today. |
