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iVegetarian2: The Eating Disorders of Steve Jobs

Posted by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN on December 27, 2011

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Steve Jobs died October 5, and the animal rights organization PETA  stepped right up to honor him as a vegetarian who was deeply committed to animal welfare and the environment.  PETA, of course,  has yet to acknowledge the role that Jobs’s near vegan diet may have played in his death, and continues to maintain that their particular brand of “right eating” will virtually guarantee freedom from cancer and other major health problems.

When I blogged about this topic in October,  I promised I would follow up once I learned more about Jobs’s dietary habits from Walter Isaacson’s biography Steve Jobs (Simon & Schuster, 2011).   This column delivers on that promise.

The bullet points below include every reference to diet in the entire book, followed by page numbers.  My brief comments are found at the very end.

  • Jobs came to appreciate organic fruits and vegetables as a teenager when a neighbor taught him how to be a good organic gardener and to compost. (14)
  • Between his sophomore and junior hear of high school, he began smoking marijuana regularly and by his senior year was dabbling in LSD as well as exploring the mind bending effect of sleep deprivation. (18-19)
  • Toward the end of his senior year in high school, he began his “lifelong experiments with compulsive diets, eating only fruits and vegetables so he was as lean and tight as a whippet.”  (31)
  • He attended the love festivals at the local Hare Krishna temple, and went to the Zen center for free vegetarian meals. (35)
  • During his freshman year at college he went to the Zen center for free vegetarian meals and was greatly influenced by the book Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe.   At that point, he swore off meat for good and began embracing extreme diets, which included purges, fasts or eating only one or two foods , such as carrots or apples for weeks on end.  (36)
  • For awhile at college, Jobs lived on Roman Meal cereal.   He would buy a box, which would last a week, then flats of dates, almonds and a lot of carrots.   He made carrot juice with a Champion juicer, and at one point turned “a sunset-like orange hue.”  (36)
  • His dietary habits became more obsessive when he read the Mucusless Diet Healing System by Arnold Ehret.     Jobs then favored eating nothing but fruits and starchless vegetables, which he said prevented the body from forming harmful mucus, and determined to regularly cleanse his body through prolonged fasts.   That meant the end of his consumption of Roman Meal cereal — or any bread, grains, or milk.     At one point, he spent an entire week eating only apples, and then began to try even purer fasts.  He started with two-day fasts and eventually stretched them out to a week or more, breaking them with large amounts of water and leafy vegetables.    “After a week, you start to feel fantastic,” he said.  “You get a ton of vitality from not having to digest all this food.  I was in great shape  I felt I could get up and walk to San Francisco anytime I wanted.”   (36)
  • As a $5 an hour technician at Atari, he was known as “a hippie with b.o.” and “impossible to deal with.”   He clung to the belief that his fruit-heavy vegetarian diet would prevent not just mucus but also body odor.   As Isaacson writes “It was a flawed theory.” (43)
  • “He was doing a lot of soul-searching about being adopted .  . .  (with) the primal scream and the mucusless diets, he was trying to cleanse himself and get deeper into his frustration about his birth.”  (51)
  • He was a fan of the Whole Earth Catalog and particularly taken by the final issue, which came out in 1971 when he was still in high school.   On the back cover it said “Stay Hungry.  Stay Foolish.” (59)
  • The name Apple Computers came to him when he was on one of his fruitarian diets.  “I had just come back from the apple farm.  It sounded fun, spirited and not intimidating.   Apple took the edge off the word ‘computer.’”  (63)
  • His mother Clara Jobs didn’t mind losing most of her house to piles of computer parts and house guests, but she was frustrated by her son’s increasingly quirky diets.  She would roll her eyes at his latest eating obsessions.  She just wanted him to be healthy, and he would be making weird pronouncements like, “I’m a fruitarian and I will only eat leaves picked by virgins in the moonlight.”  (68)
  • He was still convinced against all evidence that his vegan diet meant that he didn’t need to use a deodorant or take regular showers.   .  .  .   At meetings people had to look at his dirty feet. Sometimes to relieve stress, he would soak his feet in the toilet.  (82)
  • A colleague who recommended he bathe more often was told that “in exchange” he  would have to read fruitarian diet books.  “Steve was adamant that he bathed once a week, and that was adequate as long as he was eating a fruitarian diet.” (82-83)
  • In 1979 or so he “put aside drugs, eased away from being a strict vegan, and cut back the time he spent on Zen retreats.”   (91)
  • He decreed that the sodas in the office refrigerator be replaced by Odwalla organic orange and carrot juices.”   (118)
  • The kitchen was stocked daily with Odwalla juices (142)
  • At the launch of the Lisa computer in 1983, he ate a special vegan meal at the Four Seasons restaurant.  (152)
  • He had edged away from his strict vegan diet for the time being and ate vegetarian omelets. (155)
  • In 1984 in Italy, Jobs demanded a vegan meal and became extremely angry when the waiter very elaborately proceeded to dish out a sauce filled with sour cream.  (185)
  • The menu for his 30th birthday day celebration included goat cheese and salmon mousse. (189)
  • He had a lot of mannerisms.  He bit his nails.   His hands were “slightly and inexplicably yellow” and in constant motion. (223)
  • At a meal with Mitch Kapor,  the chairman of Lotus software, Jobs was horrified to see Kapor slathering butter on his bread,” and asked, “Have you ever heard of serum cholesterol?”   Kapor responded, “I’ll make you a deal. You stay away from commenting on my dietary habits, and I will stay away from the subject of your personality.”  (224)
  • At a 1988 NeXT product launch, the lunch menu included  mineral water, croissants, cream cheese, bean sprouts. (233)
  • Jobs was a vegetarian and so was Chrisann, the mother of his daughter Lisa.  Lisa was not vegetarian, but Jobs was fine with that.   “Eating chicken became her little indulgence as she shuttled between two parents who were vegetarians with a spiritual regard for natural foods.”  Jobs’s “dietary fixations came in fanatic waves,” and he was “fastidious”  about what he ate.  Lisa watched him “spit out a mouthful of soup one day after learning that it contained butter.” (259-260)
  • “Even at a young age Lisa began to realize his diet obsessions reflected a life philosophy, one in which asceticism and minimalism could heighten subsequent sensations.  “He believed that great harvests came from arid sources, pleasure from restraint.  He knew the equations that most people didn’t know:  Things led to their opposites.”   (259-260)
  • Once he took Lisa on a business trip to Tokyo and they stayed at the Okura Hotel.   At the elegant downstairs sushi bar, Jobs ordered large trays of unagi sushi, a dish he loved so much that he allowed the warm cooked eel to pass muster as vegetarian.    Lisa later wrote, “It was the first time, I’d felt with him, so relaxed and content, over those trays of meat; the excess, the permission and warmth after the cold salads, meant a once inaccessible space had opened.  He was less rigid with himself, even human under the great ceilings with the little chairs with the meat and me.”  (260-261)
  • Jobs had hired a hip young couple who had once worked at Chez Panisse as housekeepers and vegetarian cooks (264)
  • At his wedding to Laurene Powell, the cake was in the shape of Yosemite’s Half Dome.  It was strictly vegan and more than a few of the guest found it inedible.  (274)
  • “Since his early teens, he had indulged his weird obsession with extremely restrictive diets and fasts.  Even after he married and had children, he retained his dubious eating habits.   He would spend weeks eating the same thing — carrot salad with lemon, or just apples — and then suddenly spurn that food and declare that he had stopped eating it.  He would go on fasts, just as he did as a teenager and he became sanctimonious as he lectured others at the table on the virtues of whatever eating regimen he was following.”  (477)
  • Jobs’s wife ,Laurene Powell, had been a vegan when they first married, but after her husband’s first cancer operation, the partial Whipple procedure, she began to diversify the family meals with fish and other proteins.  Their son, Reed, who had been a vegetarian, became a “hearty omnivore.”  They knew it was important for Steve to get diverse sources of protein. (477)
  • In early 2008, Jobs’s eating disorders got worse.   On some nights he would stare at the floor and ignore all of the dishes set out on the long kitchen table.  He lost 40 pounds during the spring of 2008.
  • Dr James Eason “would even stop at the convenience store to get the energy drinks Jobs liked.” (485)
  • He remained a finicky eater, which was more of a problem than ever.  He would eat only fruit smoothies and he would demand that seven or eight of them be lined up so he could find an option that might satisfy him.  He would touch the spoon to his mouth for a tiny taste and pronounce  ‘That’s no good.  That one’s no good either.’”   His doctor  lectured him: “You know this isn’t a matter of taste.  Stop thinking of this as food.  Start thinking of it as medicine.” (486)
  • Early in 2010, Jobs went to dinner and ordered a mango smoothie and plain vegan pasta.  (505)
  • At the launch of the  iPad2, Isaacson reported “For a change he was eating, though still with some pickiness.  He ordered fresh squeezed juice, which he sent back three times, declaring that each new offering was from a bottle, and a pasta primavera which he shoved away as inedible after one taste.   But then he ate half of my crab Louise salad and ordered a full one for himself followed by a bowl of ice cream.”  (527)
  • Jobs’s eating problems were exacerbated over the years by his psychological attitude toward food.  When he was young, he learned that he could induce euphoria and ecstasy by fasting.   So even though he knew that he should eat — his doctors were begging him to consume high-quality protein — lingering in the back of his subconscious, he admitted was his instinct for fasting and for diets like Arnold Ehret’s fruit regimen that he had embraced as a teenager.  Powell kept telling him it was crazy. ‘I wanted him to force himself to eat,’ she said ‘and it was incredibly tense at home.’”  (548-549)
  • Bryar Brown, their part-time cook would produce an array of healthy dishes, but Jobs would touch his tongue to one or two and then dismiss them all as inedible.  One evening he announced, “I could probably eat a little pumpkin pie,” and the even-tempered Brown created a beautiful pie from scratch in an hour.  Jobs ate only one bite, but Brown was thrilled.”  (549)
  • During the final years of his life, Powell talked to eating disorder specialists and psychiatrists to try to get help, but her husband shunned them.   (549)

That’s it.    Not a lot to work with, but more than enough to show a longstanding pattern of eating disorders.

On the plus side, Jobs’s diet seems to  have been consistently organic and high quality.    He employed chefs who’d worked at Chef Panisse, and his wife Laurene Powell founded Terravera, a company that produces ready-to-eat organic meals for stores in northern California.    Jobs does not appear to have ever been a junk-food vegan who indulged in all-American junk foods such as soda, chocolate, cookies and crackers.

Soy is not mentioned at all in Isaacson’s biography.   Although the Apple culture was soy friendly with soy milk readily available in vending machines and at coffee stations, Jobs himself may well have rejected it.   Jobs had a longstanding fascination with the book The Mucusless Diet Healing System by Arnold Ehret (1866-1922), who claimed the human body is an “air-gas engine” that runs well only on fruits, starchless vegetables and edible green leaves.   Soy and other legumes, according to Ehret’s way of thinking, were to be disdained as mucus-producing forbidden foods.   Ehret not only condemned protein and fat as “unnatural” but said they could not be used by the body.   Inspired by such theories, Jobs appears to have eaten a diet low in both fat and protein for most of his life.  And what did he eat instead?  Carbs high in fructose.

Whether or not Jobs was in one of his fanatic fruitarian phases, he favored a lot of fruit and fruit juice.   These are not only high on the glycemic index, but loaded with fructose.   Fruits and fruit juices greatly stress the liver and pancreas, contribute to diabetes and many other blood sugar disorders, and have been linked to pancreatic cancer.   Jobs suffered from a type of pancreatic cancer known as islet cell carcinoma, which originates in the insulin-secreting beta cells.

Research published in the November 2007 issue of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded there was “evidence for a greater pancreatic cancer risk with a high intake of fruit and juices but not with a high intake of sodas.”   More recently, in the August 2010 issue of Cancer Research, Dr. Anthony Healy of UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center proposed that aberrant fructose metabolism — and not just aberrant glucose metabolism — might be involved in the pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer.   Seems fructose provides the raw material cancer cells prefer to use to make the DNA they need to divide and proliferate.    Although the UCLA findings are preliminary and more research needs to be done, the Reuters headline “Cancer Cells Slurp Up Fructose” is fair warning to all of us addicted to fruit and fruit juices.

Clearly Jobs broke away  from strict veganism from time to time and indulged in a few eggs, salmon and unagi sushi.   The words of his daughter Lisa (quoted above) provide a moving testimony to how well Jobs’s body and mind responded to eating eel, a fish rich in protein and fat.   That said, vegans who would like to think Jobs became sick because he failed to be “perfect vegan” now have evidence to support that belief.

Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, is The Naughty Nutritionist™ because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths. A popular guest on radio and television, she has appeared on The Dr Oz Show, ABC’s View from the Bay, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy and numerous other shows. Dr Daniel is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, a popular speaker at Wise Traditions and other conferences,  Vice President  of the Weston A. Price Foundation and recipient of its 2005 Integrity in Science Award. Her website is www.naughtynutritionist.com and she can be reached at Kaayla@DrKaaylaDaniel.com.

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Soy, Sex and Naughty Bits: A Case Study in the Journal Nutrition

Posted by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN on October 13, 2011

Can soy be used as an aid to celibacy?    Is it true that Zen monks eat soy because naughty behavior goes down when tofu consumption goes up?  Do Japanese wives feed unfaithful husbands extra helpings of soy?    Could politicians with the “zipper problem” better control their errant behavior if they consumed enough soy?

Anecdotally, the answer is, yes, and a fair amount of science backs it up.  To date, many studies show that soy’s estrogenic isoflavones interfere with the production and usage of testosterone in the body.   Some evidence points to soy as a feminizing influence that can lead to  gynecomastia (man breasts).   And there’s massive evidence of reproductive toxicity.

The latest news is a case study in the journal Nutrition.  The subject is a 19-year-old heterosexual man who become vegan, began consuming a lot of soy,  and, soon after, experienced loss of libido and erectile dysfunction.   Prior to adopting veganism, he had an active sex life with no reported problems.

Lab assessment revealed low levels of free and total testosterone with increased levels of DHEA.   During the year prior to this workup, the young man’s diet had packed a whopping punch of soy isoflavones, averaging 360 mg per day, from soy milk, soy crisps, tofu, soy sauce, soy nuts and edamame.   This level of soy consumption is far above average, yet increasingly common these days as people quit meat and dairy products for soy substitutes.   Prior to becoming vegan, the man had been on a Standard American Diet (SAD).  After discontinuing his vegan diet and eliminating soy foods altogether, he noticed a gradual improvement in  sexual function over the course of a year and his lab tests revealed  gradual normalization of testosterone and DHEA levels.

The researchers conclude with the usual caveat “more studies are needed.”  Yes, indeed, and as soy consumption increases, doctors and other health practitioners will most likely report many such cases.   Let’s hope future studies focus on women as well as men, and include a study on the link between sex, soy and vulvodynia.   What to do now?   The science may not be entirely in, but the message is already clear:  “If you love and respect your Naughty Bits, Practice Safe Soy.”

To read the study:

Siepmann T, Roofeh J, Kiefer FW, Edelson DG. “Hypogonadism and erectile dysfunction associated with soy product consumption.” Nutrition. 2011 Jul-Aug;27(7-8):859-62. Epub 2011 Feb 25.

For more about soy and reproduction, including citations, read chapter 29 of  The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food. For information on how much soy is safe to eat read my article “Sex and the Soybean www.naughtynutritionist.com/naughtynutritionist.com/Practice_Safe_Soy.html

Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, is The Naughty NutritionistTM because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths. A popular guest on radio and television, she has appeared on The Dr Oz Show, ABC’s View from the Bay, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy and numerous other shows. Dr Daniel is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, a popular speaker at Wise Traditions and other conferences,  Vice President  of the Weston A. Price Foundation and recipient of its 2005 Integrity in Science Award. Her website is www.naughtynutritionist.com and she can be reached at Kaayla@DrKaaylaDaniel.com.

Posted in Dr Kaayla Daniel, Kaayla T. Daniel, Naughty Nutritionist, soy, Uncategorized, vegans | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

iVegetarian: PETA Honors Steve Jobs

Posted by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN on October 9, 2011

Steve Jobs died this week, and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is lifting a tall glass of carrot juice to his memory.   That’s what Jobs gave out to trick or treaters one Halloween, and PETA reminds us not only of that, but of some of the many  other positive steps Jobs took for health and the environment.   Jobs played a role in Disney’s 2006 decision not to renew its Happy Meal toy deal with McDonalds, for example, and more recently decided to “green up” Apple’s manufacturing operations in China and elsewhere.

Sadly PETA and other vegetarian groups have chosen to honor Jobs’s commitment to animal welfare and the environment without acknowledging the role that his vegan or near vegan diet may have played in his death.

I say “may have played” because none of us knows what caused the  pancreatic cancer that led to Steve Jobs’s  death.   Diet doubtless played a role, but lifestyle factors, environmental toxicity and genetic proclivities would have contributed as well.  Certainly, Jobs was exposed over the years to massive bombardment from WiFi and other electromagnetic fields (EMFs).   Medical treatments involving radiation, chemotherapy, a modified Whipple surgery, a liver transplant and immuno-suppressive drugs may also have contributed to his demise.

It’s human nature to look for something, or someone, to blame whenever someone dies too young, but the answers are rarely clear cut.   At best, blaming provides simplistic answers, and at worst can be a juvenile “I told you so.”   Not long after Jobs’s death on Wednesday, readers began asking me to comment on Jobs’s death and how his diet — and especially soy — might have contributed to it.  In fact, I never met Jobs and have no first hand knowledge of what he ate.

Based on media reports in Forbes and Fortune, however, Jobs seems to have favored organic foods and a plant-based diet.   A Google search turns up lots of claims that he was “vegan,” one reference to “fruitarian leanings,” the possibility that he tried healing through macrobiotics, a few people saying he was “pescatarian,” and a satire of his vegan ways on www.MacComedy.com.   A posting this week on www.scienceblog.com by “Mike” says:  “There might be some truth to Jobs being a vegan .  .  .   I was at Apple during the time Jobs came back to Apple in 1996/1997.  The company cafeteria within weeks of his returning dramatically expanded and improved its vegetarian and vegan menus.”   Finally, Jobs was often reported dining at The Greens restaurant in San Francisco with Dean Ornish, MD, bestselling author and promoter of extremely low-fat, plant-based dietary regimens.

None of the articles and websites I’ve seen talk about Jobs’s soy consumption, but Sean Glazier, a programmer from the Netherlands, who often consulted in the Silicon Valley, contacted me Thursday.   Glazier reports that the Apple environment was extremely vegan friendly, with soy milk flowing freely at coffee stations, Silk soymilk for sale in vending machines, and soy meats served up in company cafeterias.  Jobs ordered catered meals for meetings and there were always soy options.   “During the 90’s especially, I am sure Steve ate plenty of soy products.”

With the timely release by Simon and Schuster of Walter Isaacson’s authorized biography Steve Jobs on October 24, we may learn more about Jobs’s dietary and lifestyle preferences.

Presuming Jobs ate a fair amount of soy, the question is, how might it have affected his health?   Again, hard to say, given our  lack of information about dose and duration.  If we look to science, the studies on soy and cancer development are inconsistent and often contradictory.  Soy sometimes prevents cancer but also can cause, contribute to or accelerate the growth of cancer.   Soy isoflavones have been proven to be mutagenic, clastogenic and teratogenic, and are listed as “carcinogens” in many toxicology textbooks, including the American Chemical Society’s 1976 Chemical Carcinogens. In addition, modern industrial soy processing techniques used to make soy protein isolate, textured vegetable protein and other modern soy products create toxic and carcinogenic residues   Finally, soybeans naturally contain goitrogens, allergens, protease inhibitors and other antinutrients and toxins that damage the digestive, immune and neuroendocrine systems, putting consumers at increase risk for many health problems, including cancer.   These facts led the Solae Company in 2005 to withdraw a petition to the FDA, in which the company had requested  a soy/cancer health claim.  (To read WAPF’s request for denial, go to: http://www.westonaprice.org/2004-action-alerts/2004jul11). Yet the soy industry and vegan proponents persist in touting soy as a safe, proven and all-natural cancer answer.

In terms of pancreatic cancer, the protease inhibitors in soy protein interfere with protein digestion, put stress on the pancreas and cause hyperplasia and hypertrophy.   Animal studies indicate soy-heavy diets can cause the type of pancreatic cancers known as adenocarcinomas that begin in the exocrine cells that produce digestive enzymes.  About 95 percent of pancreatic cancers are exocrine cancers, the type that felled actors Michael Landon and Patrick Swayze.   Steve Jobs, however, suffered from a much rarer, neuroendocrine form of pancreatic cancer.    Known as islet cell carcinoma, this type represents only about five percent of pancreatic cancers, and originates in the insulin-secreting beta cells.

Soy couldn’t possibly have helped Jobs, and it may well have contributed to his cancer’s development, but without additional information it would inappropriate to blame his cancer on soy.  But it is fair to say that years before diagnosis he would probably have suffered from subclinical malnutrition if, in fact, he’d been on a low-fat, plant-based diet that included a lot of soy.   Lab testing likely would have turned up deficiencies in vitamins A, D, K, B2, B6 and B12; the sulfur-containing amino acids, methionine, cysteine and taurine; DHA and EFA fatty acids; and calcium, zinc, carnitine and CoQ10.  Such deficiencies are commonly found in vegan and near-vegan clients.  They neither build the body nor allow detoxification, and so  set the stage for the development of cancer and other chronic illnesses.

Most alternative MDs and health practitioners find serious illness among vegans in their clinical practices, yet PETA and other vegan groups dismiss the idea that non-junk food vegan diets cause nutritional deficiencies and blame animal products alone for the ills of civilization.   PETA also wildly, nakedly and bloodily — many would say crudely and offensively — promotes the myth of healthy, sexy vegans.

Similar ideas — more soberly presented — come from the  Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine,  an organization with strong ties to PETA, whose “Cancer Project” promotes cancer prevention via a low-fat, high-soy vegan diet.   The fact that this perfect prescription didn’t work for Jobs, Linda McCartney or many other prominent vegetarians does not seem to stop these “responsible physicians” from continuing to make irresponsible health guarantees.

Could anything have saved Steve Jobs?   No way to know, but I think he would have had his best shot at recovery with Nicholas Gonzalez, MD, in New York City.   Dr. Gonzalez has an impressive track record of helping people recover from pancreatic and other cancers.  He prescribes specific diets and supplement programs based on extensive interviews and labwork.    To hear a fascinating interview with Dr Joseph Mercola and Dr. Gonzalez, http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/10/09/dr-nicholas-gonzalez-on-steve-jobs.aspx?e_cid=20111009_SNL_Art_1

Would Jobs have been well served by a diet that contained ample amounts of fat, cholesterol and even red meat?   Would a more modest amount of animal foods have better suited him?   Might he have been one of the  few people who thrives on a carefully designed diet high in fruit and vegetables and low in animal foods?    Had he been a patient of Dr. Gonzalez, Jobs would have learned the code to a well-designed, high-functioning iJobs diet.   As it stands, the  one thing we know for sure is Steve Jobs is dead.   Sadly, his diet did not save him.

*  *  *  *  *

This blog was written on my iMac desktop.   I am deeply grateful for its sleek and functional design as well as for my  iphone and  ipod.     Steve Jobs has also inspired me over the years.   My favorite quote is:  

For more great quotes from Jobs visit:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/05/the-best-steve-jobs-quote_n_997300.html#s338869

Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, is The Naughty NutritionistTM because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths. A popular guest on radio and television, she has appeared on The Dr Oz Show, ABC’s View from the Bay, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy and numerous other shows. Dr Daniel is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, a popular speaker at Wise Traditions and other conferences,  Vice President  of the Weston A. Price Foundation and recipient of its 2005 Integrity in Science Award. Her website is www.naughtynutritionist.com and she can be reached at Kaayla@DrKaaylaDaniel.com.

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Do Plant-Based Diets Protect Against Heart Disease? Not Likely!

Posted by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN on September 27, 2011

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 16.7 million deaths occur worldwide each year due to cardiovascular disease, and more than half of those deaths occur in developing countries where plant-based diets high in legumes and starches are eaten by the vast majority of the people.

Yet “everyone knows” plant-based diets prevent heart disease.  Indeed this myth  is repeated so often that massive numbers of educated, health-conscious individuals in first world countries are consciously adopting third world style diets in the hope of preventing disease, optimizing health and maximizing longevity.   But if the WHO statistics are correct, plant-based diets might not be protective at all.   And today’s fashionable experiment in veganism could end very badly indeed.

A study out August 26 in the journal Nutrition makes a strong case against plant-based diets for prevention of heart disease.  The title alone  –  “Vegetarianism produces subclinical malnutrition, hyperhomocysteinemia and atherogenesis” — sounds a significant warning.   The article establishes  why subjects who eat mostly vegetarian diets develop morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease unrelated to vitamin B status and Framingham criteria.   The authors are Drs. Kilmer S. McCully and Yves Ingenbleek.

Co-author Kilmer S. McCully, MD, “Father of the Homocysteine Theory of Heart Disease,” is well known as a winner of the Linus Pauling Award, the Weston A. Price Foundation’s Integrity in Science Award, and author of numerous articles published in peer-reviewed journals as well as the popular books The Homocysteine Revolution and The Heart Revolution.  Dr. McCully teamed up with Yves Ingenbleek, MD, of the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France, which funded the research.   Dr. Ingenbleek is well known for his work on malnutrition, the essential need of sulfur along with nitrogen, and sulfur deficiency as a cause of  hyperhomocysteinemia.

To  learn more, read my article “Heart of the Matter:  Plant-Based Diets Leads to High Homocysteine, Low Sulfur and Marginal B12, ” posted at http://www.naughtynutritionist.com/naughtynutritionist.com/Heart_McCully.html

I promise, this is just what you need when all your vegan friends say their diet will protect them from heart disease.

Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, is The Naughty NutritionistTM because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths. A popular guest on radio and television, she has appeared on The Dr Oz Show, ABC’s View from the Bay, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy and numerous other shows.  Dr Daniel is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, a popular speaker at Wise Traditions and other conferences, Vice President of the Weston A. Price Foundation and recipient of its 2005 Integrity in Science Award. Her website is www.naughtynutritionist.com and she can be reached at Kaayla@DrKaaylaDaniel.com.

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Dr. Douglass on Why the Food Pyramid Crumbled!

Posted by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN on September 2, 2011

Who does The Naughty Nutritionist read for entertainment?  Why Dr.  William Campbell Douglass II, of course!   He and his team regularly provide very naughty, very funny and very caustic commentaries.    This one’s destined to become a classic.

Food Pyramid Finally Crumbles

by William Campbell Douglass II

USDA replaces the symbol — but not the advice

The USDA “food pyramid” is finally being torn down — not because of the horrible advice it contained, but because it was a bit “too confusing.”

So they’ve traded in a triangle for a circle: a multicolored dinner plate with a glass of milk off to the side.

Cost to you: Just $2 million, a bargain when you consider how that fee includes… well… a multicolored dinner plate with

a glass of milk off to the side.

The USDA unveiled its first food pyramid in 1992, and then replaced it with MyPyramid just a few years ago. The latest version had a little man running up the side, presumably to collect the prize of “fats, oils and sweets” (yes, the three were lumped together) locked in the top.

Now the little man is gone, and it’s unclear what killed him. I suppose it could have been all that running up the pyramid… but maybe he binged on those sweets and died of diabetes and heart disease.

RIP, pyramid man. We hardly knew you.

The USDA, on the other hand, we know only too well. This agency’s bad advice, carefully negotiated with help from Big Food’s big-money lobbyists, has turned us into the fattest, sickest, weakest people on the planet.

But that advice won’t change — just the symbol, as the new dinner plate will be loaded with the same crapola that caused the pyramid to topple over: vegetables and sack after sack of grains.

Nothing on earth leads to obesity quite like a grain-based diet — and if you need any proof of that, just take a tour of a factory farm.

The animals in those hellholes are given the same foods the feds want you to eat — grains and soy — to fatten them up as fast as possible.

Throw in some antibiotics, and you’ve got a giant cow… or a giant human. And does it even matter which is which anymore?

We are what we eat — and if we eat cow feed, we’ll turn into cows, waiting for our own demise in the not-too-distant future.

Moo.

*  *  *  *  *

Thank you, Dr. Douglass.   If I ever meet you in person, I would like to honor you with this Pork Ribbon as my mentor and Lard Lord.

To receive Dr Douglass’ reports, take this  link:  http://douglassreport.com

 Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, is The Naughty NutritionistTM because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths. A popular guest on radio and television, she has appeared on The Dr Oz Show, ABC’s View from the Bay, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy and numerous other shows.  Dr Daniel is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, a popular speaker at Wise Traditions and other conferences, Vice President of the Weston A. Price Foundation and recipient of its 2005 Integrity in Science Award. Her website is www.naughtynutritionist.com and she can be reached at Kaayla@DrKaaylaDaniel.com.

Posted in Dr. Kaayla Daniels, Kaayla T. Daniel, Naughty Nutritionist, USDA | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Not Taking the EWG Pledge

Posted by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN on August 2, 2011

The Environmental Working Group has asked Americans to go meatless once per week and “Take the pledge to eat less and greener meat!”   Chef Mario Batali and other celebrities have gone on board to help EWG enlist 100,000 people who will sign the pledge, commit to eating a more “veg centric” diet, and “build awareness” of how much our food choices impact the planet.

I personally am not about to take that pledge though EWG’s slogan “Reduce your impact, improve your health” sounds like a “win/win.”    EWG tells us, for example, that Americans who skip meat and cheese just one day a week — such as with a “Meatless Monday” –  can cut carbon emissions equal to taking 7.6 million cars off the road.   And it promises that reducing meat consumption will lower our risk of obesity, heart disease, stroke and cancer.

Sadly, EWG’s proposal will do very little for the environment.   Worse, it will encourage people to feel “feel good” about their growing green consciousness while distracting them from exploring and adopting genuine, sustainable solutions.  While it is certainly good that EWG recommends “greener” meat and not just “less meat” or even “no meat,” the catchy “Meatless Monday” slogan perpetuates the myth that meat is evil and that  plant-based diets are the key to personal and planetary health.

Here’s why I’m not taking the EWG pledge:

  • The true threat to our environment is not animals — which have been covering the earth with manure and emissions for tens of thousands of years — but the globalization and industrialization of agriculture with its unconscionable, factory-farming practices, toxic use of pesticides, herbicides and commercial fertilizers, plundering of natural resources, draining of the water table, and bankrupting of small farmers and cottage industries.  EWG’s nod to “greener meat”  suggests they actually understand this, but the overriding message  is to stop eating meat of any type.   As for all that climate-warming gas,  animals emit far less when they eat natural, grass-based diets and not unnatural, hard-to-digest feeds manufactured from soybeans, corn and other grains.
  • Plowing pastures and rangeland in order to plant crops is not sustainable and won’t do much to feed the hungry or save the environment.    Only about eleven percent of the land on planet earth can be farmed, a percentage that cannot be increased without deforestation, irrigation, chemical fertilizers, and other destructive ecological practices.  Old-fashioned organic mixed-use farms are the answer.   And animals are essential, not optional, for healthy farms.
  • America’s top soil has been devastated by mono cropping, lawns and other unsustainable practices.   While mixing, rotating and composting plants is a start, land cannot be restored without the help of animals.  They are needed not only for their rich manure but for rotational grazing.   Animal waste is truly a horrific problem with factory farming but is valuable and collectible on small, mixed-use farms.  Overgrazing has certainly damaged much of America’s land, but the solution is sustainable grazing practices.   And that solution, properly handled, serves the land far better than leaving it alone for “conservation.”    As Joel Salatin has described so well in The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer, Everything I Want to Do is Illegal and other books, diversity, interdependence and layering are the keys to honoring and restoring our land.  Salatin also argues cogently for putting our trust in local farmers and not in the official certification programs EWG recommends.   How many more exposes of pseudo organic does the Cornucopia Institute need to make before EWG comprehends that certification can — and often has been –  co-opted and corrupted.?  As Salatin explains so well, “transparency” between consumers and farmers is the answer.  That means thinking globally and acting locally by getting “up front and personal” with your food source.
  • EWG blames animal foods for the diseases of modern civilization, including cancer and heart disease.  But the 20th century saw a decline in the consumption of meat, dairy and butter consumption, but a sharp increase in the consumption of sugar, corn syrup, white flour, liquid and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, artificial flavorings, preservatives and other known health hazard of processed, packaged and fast foods.   Contrary to popular belief, science does not support the idea that saturated fat and cholesterol found in animal products contribute to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.   All health problems associated with animal products lie with factory farming and other commercial and non-sustainable farming and food processing practices.   As for plant-based diets,  vegan diets especially can lead to vitamin, mineral, fatty acid and amino acid deficiencies and imbalances, contributing to myriad health problems, including cancer and heart disease.
  • EWG recommends low-fat dairy because “less fat will mean fewer cancer causing toxins in the body.”  That’s nonsense, of course, when we are talking about the health-giving fat found in the milk of cows and goats who spend their lives out in the sun on pasture.  This recommendation further fails to recognize that not all toxins are fat- soluble, many are water-soluble, and commercially grown fruits, vegetables, grains, beans and seeds are often loaded with toxins, including the dioxins that EWG erroneously states are found “entirely” in animal products.
  • The idea that eating lowfat could be eco-conscious also defies common sense.   The lowfat gospel is a key reason why factory farms — including so-called organic factory farms — grow freakish hens with size DD breasts.  Big Agra’s goal with such chickens is to minimize the less-profitable dark meat and maximize the lowfat white meat preferred by “health conscious” consumers.   The lowfat message pleases Big Pfood immensely because it profits mightily when whole foods are divided into several different products — which is to say multiple profit centers.   All of these, of course, will require manufacturing, packaging and long distance hauling   As for the skim milk recommended by EWG, nature put fat in milk for a reason, and that reason was not to kill us.  When people drink skim milk, their bodies need and crave that missing cream, leading to compensatory bingeing on ice cream and other unhealthy treats high in both fat and sugar.   Lowfat thus leads to increased consumption, more packages, more products, higher profits,  ill health and environmental destruction.
  • Yet another problem with EWG’s lowfat recommendation is it encourages people not to cook.  How so?   Because fat is what gives food flavor.    Cooks who choose lean cuts and prepare vegetables without butter or other tasty fats, often think they are lousy cooks.   Making lowfat foods tasty, after all, requires complicated spicings and other gourmet tricks.   This drives people to eat out often or to dine at home on lowfat packaged foods.   Out or in, the manufacturers have ramped up flavors with with MSG and other additives.
  • EWG’s tips for eco-conscious consumers include reducing food waste by buying “right size portions.”    What’s wrong with that?   It buys into the idea that meat comes in little packages.   Boneless, skinless chicken breast, for example, instead of the entire chicken — white meat and dark, tough cuts and tender, organ meats like liver, and skins, bones, tendons and cartilage in old-fashioned broth.   EWG is right to point out the cost to the environment of food that goes bad and ends up in landfills, but recommends a “solution” that means more packaging, not less.  How about some emphasis on old-fashioned thrift?   Using leftovers, freezing and, most important of all, valuing and using the entire animal?
  • EWG reports that buying vegetables locally helps the environment, but buying eggs, milk, fish, poultry and meat locally has only a minimal effect.  This is one of the primary reasons EWG recommends we cut back on all meat and adopt a more “veg centric” diet.   Such a bizarre finding could only be the case if the researchers evaluated the environmental impact of buying animal products from factory farms — including “Big Organic” operations — located close to home.  It furthermore fails to take into account the role animals play in restoring our soil and growing nutrient-dense vegetables and fruits.  Without animals nearby, farmers must use fossil fuel fertilizers and/or compost and manure transported from far away.   Not good for the environment!
  • Finally, if  people give up or minimize meat, what will they eat instead?    EWG suggests grains, beans and tofu.   In other words, vegetarian foods that are most likely grown and transported from a distance.   Furthermore,  the mistaken goal of eating less meat  will drive many consumers to buy processed and packaged vegetarian entrees full of soy protein isolate, corn syrup, MSG and other excitotoxins, “natural” or artificial colorings and flavorings as well as other dubious and non-green ingredients.   Clearly not an option for wellness seekers or environmentalists.

What to do instead?   How about committing to one day a week  in which the menu includes nothing that comes in a package?   How about eating nothing with a label or a barcode?   How about 100 percent local, preferably from farmers who use only locally obtained feeds, fertilizers and workers?   In other words, boycott supermarkets and Join the ranks of the Non Barcode People.

Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, is The Naughty NutritionistTM because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths. A popular guest on radio and television, she has appeared on The Dr Oz Show, ABC’s View from the Bay, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy and numerous other shows. Her own radio show, “Naughty Nutrition with Dr. Kaayla Daniel,” launched recently on World of Women (WOW) Radio. Dr Daniel is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, a popular speaker at Wise Traditions and other conferences, a Board Member of the Weston A. Price Foundation and recipient of its 2005 Integrity in Science Award. Her website is www.naughtynutritionist.com and she can be reached at Kaayla@DrKaaylaDaniel.com.

Posted in Big Agriculture, Dr. Kaayla Daniels, fresh and local, grass fed beef, Kaayla T. Daniel, Naughty Nutritionist, soy | Tagged: , , , , , | 7 Comments »

The 2010 Soyfoods Market

Posted by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN on June 22, 2011

“Soyfoods: The US Market Report” has come out and and it reports a “protracted slide” in soy milk sales as well as “lackluster performance in sales of tofu and soy infant formula” in the year 2010.

The industry blames three factors:

  • Competition from almond, rice, coconut, hemp and other non dairy milks
  • “Premium pricing” for many soy products
  • “Widely distributed information about the impact of soy on health.”

That last makes me proud.   Seems the decade-long campaign by the Weston A. Price Foundation is finally paying off.   We’ve also been greatly helped in the past year by Dr. Joseph Mercola, who has reached millions through his website  www.mercola.com, the world’s leading health and dietary website.   The Liberation Wellness team and many others have also  helped the message go viral.    The soy controversy even aired on The Dr Oz Show on October 5 in a segment that featured Dr Oz, Dr Mark Hyman and me.

Despite growing concerns about modern. industrial soy processing techniques,  meat analogue sales saw a four percent growth in 2010 compared to 2009.   The largest growth was in the soy-protein energy bar category with a whopping 18 percent increase in just the one year of 2010.   According to Joe Jordan, Content Director of Soyatech, “Marketers of soy-based foods have been finding success in developing delicious meat alternative products with sophisticated flavor profiles.  In addition, 14 energy bar brands appeared among the top 50 soyfoods brands in 2010, indicating that this broad market affords many opportunities for creative food manufacturers to reach their key target markets.”

What are the “current market drivers”?   Soyatech thinks it’s fueled by three things:  the consumer focus on convenience; widespread interest in meat-free foods; and new USDA food guidelines that “affect consumer understanding of — and interest in — the added value of foods made from the nutritious soybean.”

In short, the good news is that soy sales are slumping, and the bad news is they are not plummeting.   And it’s very good news of course that soy infant formula sales may have finally peaked.  Meanwhile, we  will continue to do our best to alert people to the risks of  “convenience” foods that sooner or later create inconvenient health problems, and the malnutrition and health risks associated with vegan diets and soy-based and other meat substitutes.

c copyright 2011 Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN

About the Author

Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, is The Naughty NutritionistTM because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths. A popular guest on radio and television, she has appeared on The Dr Oz Show, ABC’s View from the Bay, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy and numerous other shows. Her own radio show, “Naughty Nutrition with Dr. Kaayla Daniel,” launched recently on World of Women (WOW) Radio. Dr Daniel is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, a popular speaker at Wise Traditions and other conferences, a Board Member of the Weston A. Price Foundation and recipient of its 2005 Integrity in Science Award. Her website is www.naughtynutritionist.com and she can be reached at Kaayla@DrKaaylaDaniel.com.

Posted in Dr. Kaayla Daniels, Kaayla T. Daniel, Naughty Nutritionist, soy, vegans | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Soy and Sugar Tie to Bee Die Off?

Posted by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN on May 24, 2011

Honeybees are going missing from their hives and no one knows why. The missing bees are presumed dead though investigators have yet to find bodies to autopsy. The phenomenon—labeled Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)—has appeared in at least 22 states and Canada, and to a lesser extent in Germany, Switzerland and India. Beekeepers have reported losses as high as 70 percent on the east coast and in Texas, and as high as 60 percent on the west coast. The U.S. beekeeping industry—and the farmers that depend on bees —are in turmoil as bees are desperately needed to pollinate fourteen billion dollars worth of crops, mostly fruits, vegetables and nuts. Major media from the NY Times to the BBC have been abuzz with bad news of future food shortages and economic ramifications that will “sting.”1-7

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

As the name Colony Collapse Disorder suggests, this is not a slow die off but a rapid collapse—often occurring with no warning in just two or three weeks. As California beekeeper David Bradshaw told the NY Times, “I have never seen anything like it. Box after box after box is just empty. There’s nobody home.” What’s happening is clearly different from the 20 percent die off typically reported by beekeepers during the off season or from disease-related regional losses.8

Although the bees may be falling prey to disease, they aren’t dying in or in front of the beehives. They are either dropping dead from exhaustion in the fields or becoming disoriented and dying from exposure. What’s clear is they aren’t taking off in search of new adventures—or greener pastures; bees are hardwired with strong social ties to their queen bee and offspring.

What’s To Blame?

Pathogens, pesticides, signals from cell phone towers, GM (genetically modified) crops, MSG in plant-growth promoters (see sidebar, page 49)—and combinations of these factors—have all been blamed for Colony Collapse Disorder. But the evidence is inconclusive at best. Pathogens and pesticides have long been implicated in the world’s decliningbee population, which has dropped in half since 1971.9 The Varroa destructor mite, an import from Asia, feeds like a tick and is a known bee killer. Accused—but never proven guilty—of causing the “Vampire Mite Scare” of winter 2004-2005, the mite is blamed for weakening the bees but not killing them off in Colony Collapse Disorder.10,11

The aggressive insecticide usage of commercial agriculture has also led to weakened bees. Poisoning is one problem; acres of monocrops coupled with destroyed native vegetation is another. Without the opportunity to forage for a rich variety of nectars, bees cannot stay healthy and strong.12 The question is whether insecticides are triggering the sudden, catastrophic losses of Colony Collapse Disorder.

Many insecticides kill with neurotoxins which at low doses could impair the bees’ ability to navigate home to their hives. A likely suspect is the neonicotinoid imidacloprid, which has been banned in many European countries but which is widely used in the US. This type of pesticide is applied to the soil and taken up into the plant’s tissues, including pollen and nectar. Imidacloprid can cause symptoms in keeping with CCD. Termites, for example, have suffered immune system breakdowns and disorientation. The problem is proving it. Today’s bees are transported from one crop to another and exposed to so many different insecticides that it’s nearly impossible to establish cause and effect.13,14

Signals from cell phone towers may also be throwing off the bees’ navigation systems. This theory has led to lots of buzz about whether cell phones are wiping out our bees. However, investigators have not found increased beedisappearances near the towers.15,16

Perhaps it’s the GM crops. The Sierra Club’s Genetic Engineering Committee sent a letter to Senator Thomas Harkin expressing serious concerns about the bees’ “exposure to genetically engineered crops and their plant-produced pesticides.”17

German researchers have shown that exposure to corn pollen containing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) genes may weaken the adult bees’ defense against infectious agents such as Nosema. Add in the fact that the Colony Collapse Disorder Working Group found weakened bees harboring Nosema infections and it’s no wonder people are pointing the finger at GM crops. However, the group found the high levels only in samples of bees from Pennsylvania, not everywhere else. Furthermore, CCD has occurred in areas where no GM crops have been planted.18

Speaking to a reporter for the German publication Der Spiegel, Walter Haefeker of the German Beekeepers Association said: “Besides a number of other factors, the fact that GM insect-resistant plants are now used in 40 percent of cornfields in the US could be playing a role. A research project conducted at the University of Jena from 2001 to 2004 examined the effects of pollen from a maize variant called Bt corn on bees. A gene from a soil bacterium had been inserted into the corn that enabled the plant to produce an agent that is toxic to insect pests. The study concluded that there was no evidence of a toxic effect of Bt corn on healthy honeybee populations. But when, by sheer chance, the bees used in the experiments were infested with a parasite, something eerie happened. According to the Jena study a significantly stronger decline in the number of bees’ occurred among the insects that had been fed a highly concentrated Bt poison feed.”19

Hans Hinrich Kaatz, a professor at the University of Halle and the director of the Jena study, explained that the bacterial toxin in the GM corn may have “altered the surface of the bee’s intestines, sufficiently weakening thebees to allow the parasites to gain entry—or perhaps it was the other way around. We don’t know.” Der Spiegel reported that Kaatz would like to continue his study, but lacks necessary funding. “Those who have the money are not interested in this sort of research and those who are interested don’t have the money,” he said.20

No Type B Bees

What else might be triggering CCD? Stress and weakened immune systems. The Colony Collapse Disorder Working Group—a group of researchers, extension agents and regulatory officials that have teamed up to investigate—found that colonies experienced “extraordinary stress” prior to the collapse and this was the only factor present in all cases. Pesticides, GM crops, cell phone towers, etc. are all sources of stress, and the Working Group also pointed to frequent moving of colonies, poor nutrition (from pollinating commercial crops with little nutritional value) and drought.21

Investigators have found so many infectious agents in surviving adult bees that many have diagnosed “immunosuppression” from an unknown toxic agent. Because this could make bees more susceptible to what ultimately kills them off, Dennis Van Engelsdorp, a bee specialist with the Working Group, warned that it “could be the AIDS of the bee industry.” Autopsies of surviving bees revealed extensive viral and fungal coinfections. Commercial bees could also be suffering immune system depression because of routine and heavy antibiotic and miticide use.22,23

Sugar Blues

In bees, as in humans, diet would play a key role in immunosuppression. Bees transported from one commercial monocrop to another lack access to nourishing nectar and pollen from wild flowers and other natural vegetation. To keep them alive, active and profitable, beekeepers feed commercial bee feeds made primarily out of two ingredients—sugar (usually in the form of high fructose corn syrup) and soy protein. The sugar is used to “stimulate” breeding, pollen collection and “improve the morale of the colonies generally.”24,25 But if sugar affects bees the way it does humans, the initial “sugar high” leads to a low characterized by anxiety and “brain fog.” No wonder so many bees are sick and disoriented!

Sugar is a notorious health destroyer that adversely affects every system in the body, including the immune system. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is even worse.

Soy protein—and its estrogenic isoflavones—could also weaken the bees’ immune systems and harm their brains. In mammals, soy has been shown to damage the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved with learning and memory. In the insect brain, mushroom bodies serve similarly and might also be adversely affected by soy.26-28

Animal studies have linked increased phytoestrogen levels to decreased brain calcium-binding protein (needed for protection against neurodegenerative disease) and decreased brain neurotrophic factor (essential for the survival and genesis of brain cells).29,30 Clearly it’s time for some studies on sugar, soy and bee brains and bee health. Many of the bee feeds use soy flour, a low-tech product that is nonetheless high in phytoestrogens. Bee feeds made with textured vegetable protein or other modern soy products are not only high in phytoestrogens but excitotoxins and other neurotoxic residues that are byproducts of fast and cheap modern processing methods.31

Common sense tells us that bees malnourished on sugar and soy have a poor chance of fighting predators such as mites. Likewise, they are ill-equipped to survive poisoning from insecticides whether these are applied to soil or plants or incorporated into the very fabric of GM crops. What’s more, the corn syrup and soy protein ingredients found in these new bee feeds are both likely to come from GM crops, throwing GM toxins, antinutrients and residues into the brew. Unfortunately, the soy-sugar feeding theory is open to challenge—at least as the primary cause of DDC. The Working Group’s investigators claimed that some beekeepers fed their bees, but not all.32

Years ago, Albert Einstein warned: “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”

REFERENCES

  1. Barrioneuva, Alexei. Honeybees, Gone With the Wind, Leave Crops and Keepers in Peril, New York Times, February 27, 2007: http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10B1FF8355A0C748EDDAB0894DF40448
  2. Bee Vanishing Act Baffles Keepers, BBC News, Feb 27, 2007.
  3. The Case of the Vanishing Bees, CBS Evening News, Feb 13, 2007.
  4. Colony Collapse Disorder, Wikipedia. April 18, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder
  5. Armas, Genaro. Mysterious Ailment Killing Off Honeybees. Feb 14, 2007. Fox News. www.foxnews.com
  6. Across the U.S., Keepers Say Their Bees Are AWOL. Talk of the Nation, March 9, 2007 National Public Radio, March 9, 2007. www.npr.org.
  7. Bee sickness investigated in California. February 14, 2007. USA Today. www.usatoday.com
  8. Bee Vanishing Act Baffles Keepers, BBC News, February 27, 2007.
  9. Colony Collapse Disorder Working Group. Preliminary Report.http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/pressreleases/FallDwindleUpdate0107.pdf
  10. Wikipedia
  11. Bee mites suppress bee immunity, open door for viruses and bacteria. May 18, 2005. (Adapted from a press release from Penn State) www.sciencedaily.com
  12. Levy, Sharon. The Vanishing. OnEarth, Natural Resources Defense Council, Summer, 2006.
  13. Wikipedia
  14. Colony Collapse Disorder Working Group.
  15. Winter, Michael. Are Cell Phones killing off honey bee?. USA Today, April 16, 2007. www.usatoday.com
  16. Lean, Geoffrey and Harriet Shawcross. Are mobile phones wiping out our bees? Independent, April 15, 2007. http://independent.co.uk
  17. Sierra Club Genetic Engineering Committee. Laurel Hopwood, Chair. Letter to Senator Thomas Harkin. Published in GE and bee Colony Collapse Disorder – science needed! Environmental Update, Sierra Club,www.sierraclub.org/biotech/whatsnew/whatsnew_2007-03-21.asp. This letter is referenced with 11 journal citations.
  18. Colony Collapse Disorder Working Group.
  19. Latsch, Gunther. Collapsing Colonies: Are GM Crops Killing Bees? March 22, 2007. Spiegel Online http: www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,473166.00.html.
  20. Ibid.
  21. Colony Colony Collapse Disorder Working Group.
  22. Ibid.
  23. Bee mites suppress bee immunity, open door for viruses and bacteria. May 18, 2005. (Story adapted from a press release from Penn State) www.sciencedaily.com
  24. Stevens, Charlie. Your bees are what you feed them. www.honeybee.com.au.
  25. www.honeybeeworld.com
  26. Farris, SM, Robinson GE et al. Larval and pupal development of the mushroom bodies in the honey bee, Apis mellifera. J Comp Neurol, 414 , 97-113.
  27. O’Dell TJ, Kandel EB, Grant SG. Long-term potentiation in the hippocampus is blocked by tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Nature, 1991, 353, 6344, 558-560.
  28. Yakisch JS, Siden A et al. Early effects of protein kinase modulators on DNA synthesis in rat cerebral cortex.Exp Neurol, 1999, 159, 1, 164-176.
  29. Lephart ED et al. Phytoestrogens decrease brain calcium-binding proteins but do not alter hypothalamic androgen metabolizing enzymes in adult male rats. Brain Res, 2000, 17, 859, 1, 123-131.
  30. File SE, Hartley DE et al. Soya phytoestrogens changes cortical and hippocampal expressions of BDNE mRNA in male rats. Neurosci Lett, 2003, 338, 2, 135-138.
  31. Daniel, KT. The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food (New Trends, 2005) 128.
  32. Colony Collapse Disorder Working Group.

This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Summer 2007.

About the Author

Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, is The Naughty NutritionistTM because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths. A popular guest on radio and television, she has appeared on The Dr Oz Show, ABC’s View from the Bay, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy and numerous other shows. Her own radio show, “Naughty Nutrition with Dr. Kaayla Daniel,” launched recently on World of Women (WOW) Radio. Dr Daniel is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, a popular speaker at Wise Traditions and other conferences, a Board Member of the Weston A. Price Foundation and recipient of its 2005 Integrity in Science Award. Her website is www.naughtynutritionist.com and she can be reached at Kaayla@DrKaaylaDaniel.com.

Posted in bees, Dr. Kaayla Daniels, gmo, Kaayla T. Daniel, Naughty Nutritionist, soy, sugar | Tagged: , | 2 Comments »

Atlas Soy-Led: Ayn Rand’s Take on the Soybean

Posted by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN on April 24, 2011

Atlas Shrugged: Part I opened last week in the movie theaters, leading me to reread Ayn Rand’s epic novel and to think about all that’s being done to our food supply “for our own good.”  Indeed we are already seeing disastrous effects on personal and planetary health from Big Brother’s wasteful and corrupt subsidies of corn, soy, wheat and Big Pfood; from the increasing control over independent farmers through orders, directives, restrictions and police actions; and, ever growing restrictions on what families can choose to eat and feed their children.

Ayn Rand’s 1,168 page novel, first published in 1957, rarely mentions food directly.   Indeed we might think her protagonist Dagny Taggart lives on coffee and cigarettes, except for a single incident in Part II when she eats the best “hamburger sandwich” she ever tasted at a little diner located on the summit of a long, hard climb out of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

That hamburger, of course, was not just a burger, but a product of simple ingredients and of an unusual skill.   It had been prepared with integrity, by a philosopher genius, no less, and was authentic and real with nothing ersatz, tricky or pretentious about it.   In short, an überburger that represented Ayn Rand’s and Dagny Taggart’s highest values.

The food Rand chose to represent the lowest values was soy.   In Part III the author introduces the flabby mystic Emma “Ma” Chambers, whose “progressive” dietary views led to the waste of millions of tax dollars on “Project Soybean.”   Ma had been appointed the nation’s food czar out of pity, not intelligence or ability.   With no objective evidence whatsoever, Ma felt soybeans would make “an excellent substitute for bread, meat, cereals and coffee” and that Americans not only needed to eat more like Asians but should be forced to do so for their own good.   Ma’s feeling that soybeans were of a higher “moral value” than wheat, led to government orders to pull trains out of the midwest, loss of the nation’s wheat crop,  economic collapse and widespread starvation.   As for the soybean crop, it too was lost thanks to the rotters’ incompetence,

Given Hollywood’s current worship of veganism,  I rather doubt “Project Soybean” will enliven Atlas Shrugged Part II or III, should those sequels ever be made.   As for vegetarianism, it was a symbol of silliness, failure and poverty back in Rand’s day.   To say that someone was a “vegetable” meant they were inactive and indeed nearly comatose.  Those Rand admired not only had “meaty” ideas but the motive power to act decisively, effectively, appropriately and imaginatively on them.

*  *  *  *  *

©copyright 2011 Kaayla T. Daniel

Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, is The Naughty Nutritionist™ because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths. A popular guest on radio and television, she has appeared on The Dr Oz Show, ABC’s View from the Bay, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy and numerous other shows. Her own radio show, “Naughty Nutrition with Dr. Kaayla Daniel” debuted this spring on World of Women (WOW) Radio. Dr Daniel is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, a popular speaker at Wise Traditions and other conferences, a Board Member of the Weston A. Price Foundation and recipient of its 2005 Integrity in Science Award. Her website is www.naughtynutritionist.com and she can be reached at Kaayla@DrKaaylaDaniel.com.

Posted in Dr. Kaayla Daniels, Kaayla T. Daniel, Naughty Nutritionist, soy | Tagged: , | 2 Comments »

Healthy Soy Shake Powders? Show Me the Evidence!

Posted by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN on April 6, 2011

Hardly a day goes by when I don’t get a letter from someone somewhere asking me my opinion about some “wonderful soy shake powder.”  I typically  hear that they “love” this particular product, which is “a whole soy-based beverage powder made from organic, not GMO soy.”  I furthermore will be told there are surely no health dangers to their soy because it’s organic,comes from a “rare company that has integrity” and  is manufactured with a “special process” that is “unique and different.”  This “special process” is frequently described as “a gentle process that protects the valuable phytonutrients in soy. “

Nearly all these letter writers assume the dangers of soy to be “the result of the poor processing methods other companies use.”   Many plead with me  to share  the good news that _________ is a good and healthy product that not only tastes delicious but cures cancer, heart disease, depression, leads to weight loss, and improves performance everywhere from the athletic field to the boardroom to the bedroom.  [As the Naughty Nutritionist, I would certainly like that last to be true, but the evidence is sparse indeed!   Indeed soy has a longstanding reputation as being a downer in that department!]

Since The Whole Soy Story was published in 2005 I have received hundreds of such letters, many of which pertain to MLM companies though others refer to the assorted shakes powders sold in supermarkets, health food stores, health clubs and so forth. When people contact any of these companies about the dangers of soy, the responses they get back are virtually interchangeable except for the company name.   Supposedly their products are “processed differently” from the competition, using “a unique and secret process” that makes soybeans both safe and healthy.

My thoughts are this:  organic soybeans are certainly safer than GMO soybeans, as there are serious dangers to all GMO foods, soy, corn or whatever.  GMO soy contains higher and more resistant levels of protease inhibitors, among other toxins.

Whole soybeans are also better than soy protein isolate and other fractionated ingredients as this choice will minimize some harmful processing methods, particularly the use of hexane to split the bean.  It is also possible that some of the other processing methods might be gentler. For example, the process might involve alkaline baths with a lower pH than is used by some commercial companies. Gentler processing methods could conceivably result in lower levels of the toxins lysinalanines and nitrosamines.

That said, I find it highly unlikely that the manufacturers of any of these products have removed the dangerous estrogenic isoflavones. Unless the companies use alcohol extraction, the isoflavones will not be removed. In fact these companies don’t want to remove the isoflavones because they all boast about their “health effects” and claim that their unique product somehow has all the benefits and none of the dangers of isoflavones.  This, of course, is impossible.

Saponins will also be present in any soybean product that has not been alcohol extracted.   Saponins are components found in soybeans that  can bind with cholesterol and damage cell membranes, leading to digestive troubles and other ills. Not surprisingly, these are marketed as healthy “all natural” cholesterol lowerers, bile acid reducers and cancer preventers and curers.

These shake powder products most likely also contain a full complement of protease inhibitors (which interfere with protein digestion), phytates (which inhibit mineral absorption), lectins (which can cause blood cell clumping), and oxalates (linked to a multitude of health problems, including kidney stones and vulvodynia). As far as I know, no modern process yet invented can remove all of these things.   What’s needed to eliminate or deactivate the  majority of them is old-fashioned fermentation, the traditional method used to make miso, natto and tempeh.  Such foods eaten in a richly varied diet are healthy and nutritious. But these are NOT the soy ingredients put into shake powders.

When I inform people of the above, they usually trot out letters from their companies assuring them that said problems are greatly exaggerated and the work of fear-mongering anti soy people.  Or those problems are real, a problem with other products, but uniquely taken care of completely by them.    My  response is:   Please write your company and ask them to send reports from independent laboratories proving that these antinutrients and toxins have been largely eliminated.  This is what will convince me, not claims that their “special, secret, patented and unique process” does this work.

Over the past ten years, I have reviewed numerous soybean processing manuals and seen many patent applications. I have yet to see any evidence that this can be done.  Rather many years of USDA studies show it cannot.   I discuss these processing issues thoroughly in The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, particularly in Chapters 4-12.  Given the fact that manufacturers cannot get rid of them,  isoflavones, protease inhibitors, phytates, saponins and other antinutrients and toxins have been elevated from devils into angels and are being marketed as health promoting.  They are not.

In conclusion, I cannot recommend  soy shake products based on “claims.”  Show me the evidence.

Kaayla T. Daniel,  PhD, CCN, is The Naughty NutritionistTM because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths. A popular guest on radio and television, she has appeared on The Dr Oz Show, ABC’s View from the Bay, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy and numerous other shows. Her own radio show, “Naughty Nutrition with Dr. Kaayla Daniel,” launches next week on World of Women (WOW) Radio. Dr Daniel is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, a popular speaker at Wise Traditions and other conferences, a Board Member of the Weston A. Price Foundation and recipient of its 2005 Integrity in Science Award.  Her website is www.naughtynutritionist.com and she can be reached at Kaayla@DrKaaylaDaniel.com.


Posted in Dr. Kaayla Daniels, Fermented Foods, Kaayla T. Daniel, MLM, Naughty Nutritionist, processed food, soy | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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