Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/31819
How Healthy is Soy? From the Editors of Environmental Magazine Dear EarthTalk: How healthy is soy? I heard that, despite its healthy image, most soy is grown using chemicals like other crops and is even being genetically modified. — D. Frinka, Syracuse, NY Food products made with soy have enjoyed great popularity in the U.S. and elsewhere in recent years. Two decades ago, Americans spent $300 million a year on soy food products; today we spend over $4 billion. More and more adults are substituting soy — a great source of protein — for meat, while a quarter of all baby formula contains soy instead of milk. Many school lunch programs nationwide have added soy-based veggie burgers to their menus, as have countless restaurants, including diners and fast food chains. And there are hun- dreds of other edible uses of the legume, which now vies with corn for the title of America’s most popular agricultural crop. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration promotes the inclusion of soy into other foods to cut down on heart attack risk. Clinical studies have shown that soy can also lower the risk for certain types of breast and prostate cancer. But there may be a dark FEDERAL LIFELINE NOTICE Verizon Wireless customers may be eligible to receive reduced-rate telecommunications service under the Federal Lifeline and Link Up programs. Qualifying customers will save at least $8.25 per month. Service activation fees may also be waived if you qualify for Link Up assistance. Additional discounts are available for eligible residents of Tribal lands. You may be eligible for Lifeline and Link Up assistance if you currently participate in a qualifying public assistance program or otherwise satisfy the federal income requirements. These requirements vary by state. To receive further information about the Lifeline and Link Up program, call Verizon Wireless at 800-924-0585 or go to verizonwireless.com/lifeline. Verizon Wireless only offers Lifeline/Link Up assistance in areas where the company has been designated as an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier. Toll included. Taxes, surcharges and fees, such as E911 and gross receipts charges, vary by market & could add between 6% & 39% to your bill; 83¢ Administrative/line/mo. is not tax, is not pro-rated & is subject to change. IMPORTANT CONSUMER INFORMATION: Subject to Month to Month Customer Agreement and Calling Plan, 45¢/min after allowance. Customers eligible for Link Up assistance will receive a 50% discount on the Activation Fee, and Verizon Wireless will waive the remainder of the Activation Fee. Limited-time offer. Offer not available in all areas. Restrictions may apply. Network details at verizonwireless.com. © 2011 Verizon Wireless NATLQ2 Americans today spend upwards of $4 billion yearly on soy food products. Although the versatile soybean pro- vides many health benefits, some 90 percent of the U.S. crop is grown using genetically modified seeds, engi- neered to withstand repeated dousing with Monsanto’s herbicide, glyphosate (popularly known as RoundUp). Credit: Timothy Valentine, courtesy Flickr. side to soy’s popularity and abundance. “Many of soy’s health benefits have been linked to isoflavones — plant compounds that mimic estrogen,” reports Lindsey Konkel in Environmental Health News. “But animal studies suggest that eating large amounts of those estrogenic compounds might reduce fertility in women, trigger premature puberty and disrupt development of fetuses and children.” But before you dump out all your soy foods, note that the operative phrase here is “large amounts” which, in laboratory science, can mean amounts substantially above what one would consume in real life. Also at issue is that upwards of 90 percent of the U.S. soybean crop is grown using genetically modified (GM) seeds sold by Monsanto. These have been engineered to withstand repeated dousing with the herbicide, glyphosate (also sold by Monsanto and marketed as RoundUp). According to the nonprofit Non GMO Project, this allows soybean farmers to repeatedly spray their fields with RoundUp to kill all weeds (and other nearby plant life) except for the soybean plants they are growing. The U.S. government permits the sale and consumption of GM foods, but many consumers aren’t so sure it’s OK to eat them — given not only the genetic tinkering but also the exposure to so much glyphosate. Due to these concerns, the European Union has had a moratorium on GM crops of all kinds since 1998. The fact that genetically modified soy may be present in as much as 70 per- cent of all food products found in U.S. supermarkets means that a vast majority of Americans may be putting a lot of GM soy into their systems every day. And not just directly via cereals, breads and pasta: Some 98 percent of the U.S. soy- bean crop is fed to livestock, so consumers of meat, eggs and dairy are indirectly ingesting the products of scientific tinkering with unknown implications for human health. Since GM soy has only been around and abundant for less than a decade, no one yet knows for sure what the long term health effects, if any, will be on the populations of countries such as the U.S. that swear by it. Natural foods stores like WholeFoods are your best bet for finding non-GM foods of all sorts. CONTACTS: Environmental Health News, www.environmentalhealthnews. org; Non GMO Project, www.nongmoproject.org. EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/ subscribe. Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM MAY 18-24, 2011 UCW 17 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Kick off those “work shoes” and kick up your heels! Come enjoy the “third Thursday” entertainment, May through September, with music, food and fun for all – at this year’s Fayetteville After Five events. Opening acts kick off the evening, followed by popular headliners (on stage at 7 to 7:30). FREE ADMISSION • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Corn Hole Tournament • 50/50 Raffle • Giveaways Prizes • Food & Beverage • Vendors • Kids’ Activities Festival Park (downtown Fayetteville) • Gates open at 5:00 pm No outside food or beverages are allowedwithin the park. The event serves as a fundraiser for the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival. faydogwoodfestival.com