How Much Soy Is Too Much?

If animal proteins promote cancer because they boost our blood levels of the growth hormone IGF-1, what about the few plant proteins that have amino acid ratios similar to animal proteins such soy foods? One of soy’s selling points is that it has “high quality” protein, but as we saw in my Care2 article on Wednesday, Animal Protein and IGF-1, higher quality may mean a higher risk of cancer.

In my 2-min. video, Animalistic Plant Proteins, I show that animal protein consumption is associated with significantly higher levels of the cancer promoter IGF-1 and non-soy plant protein is associated with significantly lower levels. There was no significant association with soy protein, though. This suggests that if all we do is replace animal protein with soy protein, we may not see as dramatic a drop in IGF-1 as that enjoyed by those replacing meat, eggs, and dairy with a variety of plant proteins. You can see what lower IGF-1 levels can mean for prostate and breast cancer growth in my videos Ex Vivo Cancer Proliferation Bioassay and The Answer to the Pritikin Puzzle.

In my NutritionFacts.org video pick above I show that vegans consuming the equivalent of 7-18 servings of soy foods per day may end up with circulating IGF-1 levels comparable to those who eat meat. For more on the cancer reversal study mentioned in the video, see Cancer Reversal Through Diet. It’s important to remember in this discussion that soy food consumption is associated with an array of health benefits. See, for example, Breast Cancer Survival and Soy, The Effect of Soy On Precocious Puberty, and Soy Foods & Menopause. But how much may be too much?

From the above video it seems that 7 to 18 servings of soy a day may neutralize some of the beneficial effects of avoiding animal protein. At the same time, studies have repeatedly found that women who eat a lot of soy appear to have a lower risk of getting breast cancer and a better chance of surviving breast cancer than those who don’t. So is there some magic number of soyfood servings we should shoot for?

In my 2-min. video, How Much Soy Is Too Much, I run through all the studies to date that have measured the effects of varying levels of soy consumption on IGF-1 levels. Five to ten servings per day increased IGF-1 levels, but two to three servings did not. The bottom-line is that legumes are one of the healthiest things we can eat and should be a part of everyone’s daily diet. This means lentils, peas, and/or beans every day—in fact, ideally every meal! Soy is an excellent choice, but we should probably stick to no more than 3-5 servings a day.

In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.

PS: If you haven’t yet, you can subscribe to my videos for free by clicking here and watch my full 2012 presentation Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death.

Image credit: Andrea_Nguyen / Flickr

Related:
Why Meat Causes Inflammation
Breast Cancer Survival and Soy
#1 Anticancer Vegetable

Read more: Health, Cancer, Eating for Health, Vegan, Vegetarian, Videos, Whole Soy Benefits, Dr. Michael Greger, IGF-1, NutritionFacts.org

Source : care2[dot]com

See Who the Celebrities That Use Alternative Medicine Are (Part 2)

Some of the methods they use are really freaky

Demi Moore admits her bizarre beauty secret – she let leaches suck her blood

There are over 1,000 different types and forms of natural and alternative treatments from which many of the celebrities benefit from.
We offer you a small of the enormous list of celebrities who prefer alternative medicine. Here are some of the methods that helped people like Uma Thurman, Princess Diana, Demi Moore, Olivia Newton-John, Eva Longoria, and many more…

Therapy with leeches

Demi Moore admits her bizarre beauty secret – she let leaches suck her blood. Even in ancient times, leeches were used to treat many diseases of the blood. The American actress also benefits from their healing properties to detoxify her blood.
By sucking the toxins from the body leeches keep the beautiful appearance of skin tone.
First, shave your body. Then immerse yourself in turpentine. And when the stinging stops, allow leeches to feast on your blood. It sounds like a way of torturing someone but for Demi Moore it is a way of looking healthy and far younger than her 49 years.
“I was in Austria doing a cleanse and part of the treatment was leech therapy. These aren’t just swamp leeches though – we are talking about highly trained medical leeches. These are not some low-level scavengers – we’re talking high-level blood suckers”, says Demi, quote from “Daily Mail”.

Reflexology

Reflexology is used in ancient Egypt, India and China. It is a natural healing technique based on the principle that certain points on the hands, feet and ears correspond to specific systems, glands and vital organs in the human body.
Princess Diana was subjected to reflexology three times a week in the hospital Knightsbridge.

Traditional Chinese Medicine

Elle Macpherson benefits regularly from traditional Chinese medicine to treat various diseases and conditions.
This kind of medicine is a combination of acupuncture and herbal tinctures or teas. It improves the balance of yin and yang and regulates the internal energy – Chi.

Source : dailyhealtharticles[dot]com

The Greatest Factor for Great Health

There is a substance in your blood that most people have never heard of, yet can increase the risk for over fifty diseases.  It’s called homocysteine and getting your levels of this substance under control is one of the greatest things you can do for your health.

Nutrition expert Patrick Holford indicates in his book, The New Optimum Nutrition Bible that not only does homocysteine damage arteries, the brain, and genetic material (DNA), it can increase the risk for over fifty diseases, including:  Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, depression, diabetes, heart attack, and stroke and rheumatoid arthritis.

Homocysteine is a type of protein that is produced by the body and found in the blood.  It is ideally found in low levels.  Produced from an amino acid called methionine which is found in protein foods in the diet, the body normally turns homocysteine into beneficial substances including:  glutathione or S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe).

Too much homocysteine can build up in the blood increasing the formation of plaque on blood vessel walls and clogging and hardening of the arteries–atherosclerosis.

Keep reading to discover the risk factors for high homocysteine levels and how to reduce yours…

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Read more: Aging, Alternative Therapies, Alzheimer's, Arthritis, Asthma, Cancer, Diabetes, Diet & Nutrition, Eating for Health, General Health, Healthy Aging, Heart & Vascular Disease, High Blood Pressure, Michelle Schoffro Cook, Natural Remedies, Obesity, Osteoporosis, Uncategorized, alcohol consumption, alzheimer's disease, arthritis, atherosclerosis, b vitamins, cancer, causes of disease, coffee, diabetes, Dr. Cook, exercise, folate, folic acid, garlic, health, healthy diet, healthy eating, heart attack, heart disease, homocysteine, Michelle Schoffro Cook, natural medicine, nutritional healing, plaque, rheumatoid arthritis, risk factors for high homocysteine, smoking, stress, stroke, supplements to reduce homocysteine, vitamin B12, World's Healthiest News

Source : care2[dot]com

Get Thinner By Eating 9 Times A Day!

Eating little and often is healthier than the traditional meals three times a day

Frequent eating helps to reduce blood pressure and cholesterol and even melt the pounds

British scientists have found that eating little and often is healthier than the traditional meals three times a day, report from Daily Mail. The experts advise people to eat nine times a day.
Frequent eating helps to reduce blood pressure and cholesterol and even melt the pounds, say the researchers.
The separation of food intake in such a way that we could eat many times a day has beneficial effects on metabolism, compared to the same food consumed in fewer meals, said the leader of the research Dr. Susan Jebb.
In a recent study, researchers from Imperial College London, compared the diets of more than 2000 people from Britain, Japan, China and USA. Although they received the same amount of calories and food, half of the participants ate less than six times a day and the rest – more than six times a day.
The results showed that the first group had significantly higher systolic blood pressure (the pressure that blood has on blood vessels when the heart beats) than the people who ate more often. Participants in the first group were also significantly more comprehensive.
The Imperial College study supports previous studies advised to give up the idea to stick to three meals a day – breakfast, lunch and dinner. For example, scientists at the University of Athens made a study with more than 2000 children between the age of 9 and 13. The study showed that the children who ate five times a day reduced by 32.6% the risk of having high levels of bad cholesterol in comparison with their peers who ate at least twice a day.
It is unclear why eating more often has this positive impact, but according to one theory, frequent meals prevent high inflow of fatty acids, substances that are released from food and can lead to accumulation of fat in the arteries and contribute to high cholesterol levels.

Source : dailyhealtharticles[dot]com