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How much soya milk is too much: The request could not be satisfied

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 I explored in my video Higher Quality May Mean Higher Risk, higher quality protein 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 3-min. video Too Much Soy May Neutralize Benefits, 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 The Effect of Soy On Precocious Puberty and Soy Foods & Menopause. But how much may be too much?

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 (see Breast Cancer Survival and Soy). 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.

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 – 2015 presentations Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, More than an Apple a Day, From Table to Able, and Food as Medicine.

Can Drinking Soy Milk Every Day Have Side Effects?

Soy milk was once thought to cause health concerns, but for most people, soy milk is a healthy, nondairy alternative to cow’s milk.

Image Credit: OlenaMykhaylova/iStock/GettyImages

Soy milk is a great way to get some protein into your diet, despite the fact that soy’s reputation as a healthy food has seesawed in recent years. However, as registered dietitian Alex Caspero writes in Women’s Health, experts are now confident that drinking soy milk every day is good for you, with few side effects that can cause concern or discomfort.

Tip

Drinking soy milk every day is a good way to get daily protein without negative side effects. Three servings of soy milk each day will give you many of the benefits of cow’s milk.

Soy Milk’s Reputation

Soy milk and other foods made with soybeans were once hailed as superfoods with no downsides. Soy is a nutrient-dense form of protein, eaten in many parts of the world more regularly than in the United States.

But then, an American Cancer Society study published in March 2017 indicated that soy could increase breast cancer risk, especially in premenopausal women, and researchers questioned the health benefits of soy. Newer research, however, doesn’t bear this out.

A study led by researchers at Tufts University followed women who were diagnosed with breast cancer. Those who ate foods containing isoflavones, found primarily in soy foods, showed a 21 percent decrease in death rates from all causes. Furthermore, a study in the journal Fertility and Sterility showed no ill effects from the protein or isoflavones in soy on male testosterone.

The experts from the Nutrition Source at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health think that doubts about soy milk benefits were premature and that questionable study results may stem from wide discrepancies in how soy consumption is evaluated.

Soy Milk Benefits

The primary ingredient in soy milk is soybeans. Soy milk is packed with protein. Drinking soy milk every day, even three glasses of it, is unlikely to have negative side effects, and it is good for you. One advantage is that it does not have lactose, which makes it especially good for people who are lactose intolerant.

Soy milk has less saturated fat than almond milk. It also has the same amount of protein and similar nutrient content to cow’s milk, except it has less calcium. Soy milk is often fortified with as much calcium as cow’s milk has, however. Soy is high in isoflavones, which can reduce inflammation, and may help the body fight cancer-causing agents.

In a study at McGill University, researchers who compared unsweetened soy milk with rice milk, coconut milk and almond milk found that soy milk has the most balanced nutrient profile of the milk alternatives. The only negatives may come from added sugar, flavoring or other additives, so check the label carefully.

Read more: Pros and Cons of Drinking Soy Milk

Nutritional Content of Soy Milk

The nutrients found in 8 ounces of soy milk include:

  • Calories, 101
  • Protein, 6 grams
  • Total fat, 3. 5 grams
  • Carbohydrates, 12 grams
  • Dietary fiber, 1 grams
  • Sugars, 9 grams
  • Calcium, 451 milligrams
  • Iron, 1.08 milligrams
  • Magnesium, 41 milligrams
  • Phosphorus, 79 milligrams
  • Potassium, 300 milligrams
  • Riboflavin, 0.425 milligram
  • Vitamin A, 499 international units
  • Vitamin D, 120 international units

For vegans or a lacto-ovo vegetarians, you also want to make sure your soy milk has the essential amino acid methionine. The way some soy milk brands are processed may weaken this complete protein.

Read more: Soy Milk Nutritional Information

Taste and Allergies

Some people don’t like the taste of soy milk. To avoid what some call a chalky aftertaste, nutritionists advise shaking the container or testing different brands.

If you take issue with the taste, you may prefer vanilla soy milk. This gives you most of the same benefits as unsweetened soy milk, but comes with 8 grams of added sugar, according to one brand’s label.

Other people are actually allergic to soy milk. If this is you, you shouldn’t drink it.

Read more: Is Vanilla Silk Soy Milk Good for You?

Soy Milk and GMOs

Some soy milk brands are made from genetically modified soybean crops. The U.S Department of Agriculture indicates that 94 percent of all soybeans grown in the U.S. are genetically modified as of 2014. According to an article on WebMD, the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization say that genetically modified food crops are safe, but if this bothers you, look for the Non-GMO Project label, available on several commercial soy milk products.

Lower in Saturated Fat

Soy intake can slightly reduce your low-density lipoprotein, sometimes called your “bad” cholesterol, lowering it by about 3 percent. Soy isoflavones also appear to improve blood pressure.

Soy’s Effects on the Body

Soy products, including soy milk, are often thought to reduce hot flashes in menopausal women and keep osteoporosis at bay. But according to Harvard researchers, soy has different effects on different people.

These researchers say that studies vary, in part, because some are conducted with animals, which may metabolize soy differently than humans. Also, people who have grown up consuming soy products throughout their lives are thought to be better able to reap soy’s benefits.

Soy milk does have a reputation for causing gas, but most manufacturers are able to heat the soy enough to reduce the effects of soybean’s gas-causing compounds.

Phytoestrogen and Soy

Phytoestrogen is a chemical found in soybeans that can act as a weak estrogen. This is why many women drink soy milk and eat soy products during menopause, to combat the body’s natural drop in estrogen production.

Phytoestrogen was once thought to contribute to decreased sperm production in men, but those studies are inconclusive. Soy milk, however, typically doesn’t contribute to higher estrogen levels in men and children. Its ability to boost estrogen in menopausal women, thus diminishing or preventing hot flashes, is not proven, however.

Anti-Nutrients and Soy

Soy milk contains some natural ingredients that can cut back on the body’s ability to absorb some necessary nutrients and slow the digestion of protein and carbohydrates. These include trypsin inhibitors, lectins and phytic acids, along with indigestible oligosaccharides.

Manufacturing uses a heat treatment to diminish the effect of these compounds, and there are other processes that can improve some of these negative effects. Some of these include the use of fermented or sprouted soybeans.

Soy Milk and Thyroid Health

The thyroid gland regulates metabolism. Women with thyroid problems are often cautioned to avoid foods with soy. But this is debatable. If you take a thyroid replacement drug, wait four hours after you’ve taken your medication before drinking soy milk. Also, if you take a thyroid supplement, you should also wait four hours after consuming soy before taking concentrated iron and calcium supplements.

A study reported in Public Health Nutrition in 2016 showed that women with normal thyroid functioning should not have any problems drinking soy milk or eating other foods with soy. Women with borderline abnormal levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone, or TSH, however, may develop thyroid problems.

Some researchers in the 2016 study at Loma Linda University think differently, however. Women who are eating a normal, healthy diet, with soy and soy protein, may not have any problems from soy. These women may have had high TSH levels before adding soy to their diets. If you are at risk for thyroid problems, it’s best to discuss drinking soy milk with your doctor.

Soy Milk Origins

Soy milk has been part of the mainstream American diet for only a few decades. Soybeans are native to China, where the plant has been grown for more than 3,000 years. Ancient Chinese people considered soybeans a necessity, but soy milk is a more recent development.

Chinese farmers domesticated soybeans around 1100 B. C. Soybeans spread to Japan and other Asian countries by the first century A.D. By the 18th century, soy sauce had gained a following in Europe. Ben Franklin sent soybean seeds to a friend to plant in his garden in 1770.

American farmers began growing soybeans as animal feed in the 1870s, and, until the 20th century, soybeans were mostly used for this purpose. In 1904, American chemist George Washington Carver discovered soybeans were a good source of protein and oil. He encouraged farmers to rotate soybeans with other crops to replenish the soil with nitrogen and minerals.

Henry Ford advocated drinking soy milk over cow’s milk in the 1920s. In the 1930s, he opened a demonstration soy milk plant in Dearborn, Michigan, but Americans took little notice of soy milk until the 1990s.

Read more: Health Benefits of Soy Milk vs. Cow’s Milk

Beany Taste of Soy Milk

Some say soy milk tastes beany and that it can cause gas, which is one reason Chinese parents typically didn’t feed it to their children. Researchers in the 1930s cooked the beans longer and added sugar to help with the gas and the taste. But it took a while for the public to accept soy products.

Flavor researchers at Cornell pinpointed the culprits of the flatulence and bad taste. This research, along with research from the University of Illinois, Loma Linda University and several manufacturers, resulted in an improved flavor and reputation for soy milk. By the 1990s, when scientists published early research in the New England Journal of Medicine about its health benefits, soy milk became even more acceptable and available.

Could Eating Too Much Soy Be Bad for You?

Seeking healthful foods, Americans are eating more soy than ever. But recent research with animals shows that consuming large amounts could have harmful effects on female fertility and reproductive development.

Soy is ubiquitous in the American diet. Over a quarter of all infant formula sold is made with it, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration promotes it in foods to reduce the risk of heart disease. School lunch programs across the country are even adding soy to hamburger patties.

Many of soy’s health benefits have been linked to isoflavones—plant compounds that mimic estrogen. 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.

Although most studies looking at the hormone-disrupting properties of genistein, the main isoflavone in soy, have been conducted in rodents, many scientists believe the findings may be relevant to humans as well.

“We know that too much genistein is not a good thing for a developing mouse; it may not be a good thing for a developing child,” said Retha Newbold, a developmental biologist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. More definitive answers, she said, may lay ahead in future long-term human studies.

Soy consumption in the U.S. has skyrocketed since the early 1990s, with soy food sales climbing from $300 million in 1992 to over $4 billion in 2008. Clinical studies have shown that eating soy can lower cholesterol as well as the risk for certain types of breast and prostate cancer.

But Newbold and other researchers are not convinced that eating more soy is healthy for everyone. Infants fed soy formula ingest six to 11 times more genistein on a bodyweight basis than the level known to cause hormonal effects in adults.

“Giving an infant or child estrogen is never a good thing,” said Newbold.

Though studies on the harmful effects of soy isoflavones in people have been limited and inconclusive, there’s strong evidence from animal studies that genistein alters reproduction and embryonic development, according to Newbold, a co-author of two of the new rodent studies.

In some lab studies, animals were fed doses similar to what people might get from a high-soy diet, which would be roughly 25 or more grams per day. Blood levels of genistein in people eating a lot of soy are generally in the range of one to five micromoles, or about one milligram of genistein circulating in the body of an average adult.

One study showed that genistein led to reduced fertility and abnormal embryo development in female mice. They were fed one to ten micromoles in their drinking water for four days. The highest doses were associated with fewer eggs that were successfully fertilized and increased cell death in developing embryos. Wen-Hsiung Chan at Chung Yuan Christian University in Taiwan conducted the study, which was published in July in the journal Reproductive Toxicology.

In another study, young female rats were fed high, medium, or low doses of genistein. Those fed the largest quantities from birth to weaning had reproductive effects later, including early puberty and irregular estrous cycles (similar to the menstrual cycle in humans). High doses also led to smaller litters.

The rats were tested before and during pregnancy, and then several generations of their offspring were examined. The study, by a team including Newbold and Barry Delclos of the National Center for Toxicological Research, was published in the journal in April.

In male rats, high doses led to abnormal growth of breast cells, but did not cause cancer or the feminization of reproductive organs, according to another study by Newbold and others published in November.

In those two studies, the rodents were fed at least five times more genistein than the amount that people would be exposed to through food, supplements or infant formula. Such a high dose was used because they wanted to test the effects of the maximum amount that could be ingested by the rats without severely limiting their ability to reproduce.

The growing body of research in recent years raises questions about possible risks to women trying to get pregnant, as well as to developing fetuses and infants who consume large amounts of genistein in formula, some researchers said.

The findings trouble Heather Patisaul, a developmental biologist at North Carolina State University, and others who study soy’s impact on development.

“Our reproductive system and the rat reproductive system aren’t that different. The same hormones are involved,” Patisaul said.

While any impacts on adult fertility are likely reversed by eating less soy, impacts on the reproductive tracts of infants could be permanent.

But to date, only one study has looked at the long-term effects of soy formula on reproductive development in people. It found that women fed soy formula as infants had slightly longer periods and more menstrual cramping than those who were not fed soy formula.

Brain development, which begins in the womb and continues through puberty, also may be altered by estrogen in soy, Patisaul said. It is controlled by a well-organized combination of genes and hormones. Introducing compounds that mimic estrogen could throw off the balance, with long-term impacts on behavior and brain chemistry.

Studying the health outcomes of fetal or early infant exposure can be difficult, according to Benson Akingbemi, a developmental biologist at Auburn University. Reproductive changes are often not apparent until adulthood.

Another difficulty is that infant formulas vary in isoflavone content depending on the type of soybean used and the conditions—such as soil type—that the beans were grown in, making dosage very hard to control.

In 2008, the American Association of Pediatricians reviewed all current scientific studies of the effects of soy formula on infants. There is no conclusive evidence that it harms infant development, reproduction or endocrine function, stated the American Association of Pediatricians.

Based on current research, “no changes in infant feeding practices are recommended,” wrote Haley Curtis, a scientific affairs specialist at the International Formula Council, in an email. “Infant formula is safe and nutritious.”

But Akingbemi believes that limiting exposure wouldn’t hurt.

“The current scientific evidence isn’t enough to say that exposure to these compounds is toxic, but we also can’t say with certainty that there is no effect,” he said.

Some researchers believe that waiting for proof from long-term human data may come at a price.

Patisaul compares the effects of genistein to Bisphenol A, or BPA, the estrogenic compound found in plastic bottles that many scientists suspect can harm brain and reproductive development.

“Genistein does the same thing and yet we are supposed to be eating tons of it because it’s supposedly healthy—it just doesn’t make sense,” she said.

This article originally ran at Environmental Health News, a news source published by Environmental Health Sciences, a nonprofit media company.

Are You Eating Too Much Soy?

Photo: Pond5


By Kristen Domonell for Life by Daily Burn

Between tofu and tempeh, miso and soy milk, and the ever-popular edamame, there’s certainly no shortage of soy on the shelves of your local food store. Long touted by health-minded folks as a better-for-you, eco-friendly alternative to meat, soy is a favorite among followers of increasingly mainstream plant-based diets. Yet, do a quick Google search for “soy” and some of the first results include headlines like, “The Dangers of Soy” and “Is Soy Bad for You?”

So what’s the deal? Here’s what you should know about the pros and cons of eating soy.

The Benefits of Swapping Hot Dogs for Soy

One of the biggest benefits of eating soy is that it can replace foods that may compromise your health, says Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Spokesperson Vandana Sheth, RDN, CDE. “If we are talking about soy in its whole form such as edamame, tofu and whole soy milk, then it is healthier than meat in the sense that soy provides an excellent source of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals — without the cholesterol and saturated fat found in meat,” she says.

It’s the same rationale the Meatless Monday campaign uses to validate the claim that forgoing meat one day a week can lower your risk for cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. You’re probably (or, hopefully!) swapping out less healthful foods, such as red meat, in favor of plant-based foods. And while there’s some evidence that soy might slightly lower your risk of heart disease, the effects are minor — but more on that below.

But Is Soy Really a Superfood?

Aside from the idea that eating more soy might lead you to eat less meat, there’s not much evidence that soy itself produces health benefits. Claims that it lowers cholesterol, calms hot flashes, prevents breast and prostate cancer, aids weight loss and wards off osteoporosis are all based on preliminary research, inconclusive evidence or overstated claims according to a 2014 Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health report.

For example, while the American Heart Association used to advocate eating soy as part of a “heart healthy diet,” they have since backed off that recommendation because the data did not support such a claim, says Heather Patisaul, a developmental biologist at North Carolina State University who has studied the effects of eating soy. “For most people the benefits of soy on heart health are very small: a few cholesterol points but not much else,” she notes.

In fact, an American Heart Association review of 22 randomized trials found that eating 50 grams of soy a day only lowers LDL (aka: bad) cholesterol by three percent. To put that in perspective, you’d have to eat one-and-a-half pounds of tofu or drink eight, eight-ounce glasses of soy milk a day in order to consume 50 grams of soy. And that’s a lot of tofu, even for the most dedicated of soy fanatics.

Soy has a shadier side, too — most notably regarding the effect it may have on your hormones. That’s because soy contains isoflavones — a type of phytoestrogren that mimics the effect of estrogen on the body. When you eat lots of soy, it has the potential to disrupt estrogen-sensitive systems in your body, including the reproductive system (which includes the brain, the pituitary gland and the reproductive organs), says Patisaul. There have even been cases where women have eaten so much soy (think: 60 grams a day for a month) that they’ve temporarily shut down their menstrual cycle, Patisaul says. “The developing brain is also very sensitive to estrogen, as is the mammary gland and the heart,” she notes.

It’s the same argument you’ve likely heard against using plastic water bottles containing bisphenol A (BPA), except that soy is even more estrogenic than BPA, according to a review of research on the pros and cons of phytoestrogens by Patisaul and her team. Beyond that, the NIH states that soy’s possible role in breast cancer is “uncertain” and advises that, “women who have or who are at increased risk of developing breast cancer or other hormone-sensitive conditions (such as ovarian or uterine cancer) should be particularly careful about using soy and should discuss it with their health care providers.”

“Because everybody is different, it is impossible to know what the ‘right’ amount of soy is, but people can certainly go overboard,” says Patisaul. “For people wanting to achieve a reasonably healthy protein intake without experiencing possibly negative effects of soy, there is no need to have soy at every meal or to replace all foods [like milk and cheese] with soy-based ones.”

So should you give up soy for good? Not necessarily. Eating some soy can be a healthy way to cut back on meat while still making sure you’re eating enough protein. But too much of a good thing has the potential to take its toll on your hormones and your health. “For healthy adults, I think about soy the way I think about things like sugar, alcohol and caffeine,” says Patisaul. “Moderation is key.”

Is eating soy bad for me?

The many forms of soy

Soy milk is a common way to consume soy, but soy by-products are also used in many everyday food items.

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, soy oil – produced from crushing soybeans – is the second-most consumed oil in the world after palm oil. It’s used in foods like commercially baked goods, margarine, salad dressings and mayonnaise.

Soy meal, which is a by-product of making soy oil, is the most common protein feed in the world for chickens, pigs and dairy cattle. So, by consuming dairy, meat and eggs, we’re inadvertently eating soy as well.

Another commonly consumed soy product is soy protein isolate, which is a dry powder that has been ‘isolated’ from the rest of the soybean to retain the majority of the protein. With an average protein content of 90%, it’s mainly used in protein drinks, protein bars, baby formula and vegetarian meat alternatives, and is sometimes used to improve the texture of meat products.

Soy and estrogen

The main controversy with soy stems from its naturally occurring isoflavones, a class of phytoestrogens found predominantly in legumes and beans. These plant-based estrogens are thought to mimic estrogen in our bodies. Soy isn’t the only food to contain isoflavones, but it has a very high concentration of them and is more widely consumed.

The first documented study of the impact of soy consumption was a 1946 study in The Australian Veterinary Journal, which documented fertility and breeding problems in sheep feeding on Western Australia’s isoflavone-rich clover.

Since then, hundreds of worldwide studies have looked into soy’s effects on the body, especially in relation to hormones and cancer.

While some studies have shown benefits in cancer prevention (namely breast, stomach, prostate and pancreatic cancers) others have refuted the claims, stating that consuming soy could actually increase the chances of cancer – especially in women who’ve already had breast cancer.

Further studies have shown both a connection and a lack of evidence for increased cardiovascular health, thyroid function and treatment of menopause.

This lack of conclusive research has contributed to the ongoing debate in both the public and medical arenas over soy’s validity as a health food.

Soy and genetic modification

It’s estimated that 90% of soybean production is genetically modified. Genetically modified foods are modified to be resistant to certain herbicides, meaning that each soy plant can be sprayed several times with herbicides that will kill the neighbouring plants and weeds. However, studies are inconclusive as to whether GMO foods have an effect on the health of humans.

Should we eat soy?

With little conclusive evidence either way, it can be challenging to understand the effects of regularly consuming soy. So, what does Australia’s leading cancer authority suggest?

Cancer Council admits the effects of phytoestrogens on the body, especially from soy, are not “fully understood”. It does, however, recommend that a moderate consumption of soy foods (1-2 serves a day), along with an overall healthy eating plan, is “unlikely to have adverse effects”. A serve is 1 cup of soy milk, ½ cup of tofu or roughly 8-10 grams of soy protein.

Cancer Council also states that soy or isoflavone supplements shouldn’t be used in the belief that they’ll prevent cancer, as there is “no evidence” to this effect.

Reid agrees and adds that “consuming soy in its traditional, unmodified sense and unprocessed varieties can be a great addition to the diet, particularly when it replaces animal products that are higher in saturated fat and cholesterol.”

Unmodified soy foods include whole soybeans, tofu, tempeh and soy beverages made from whole soybeans. Highly processed soy products that Reid recommends avoiding include soy pills and powders.

“Check the label and look for ‘soy protein isolate’,” she says. “This is an extracted, refined protein from the soybean – in other words, it’s not a whole food.”

For alternative non-animal protein sources, Reid advises eating a variety of plant proteins such as lentils, other legumes like chickpeas, kidney beans, broad beans, nuts and seeds, and nut butters. As these foods don’t contain all the essential amino acids, she believes that eating a combination of them is the best approach.

Is Tofu Healthy for Men?

“IT’S CHALKY. It’s tasteless. What’s the point?” Minh Tsai says confidentially, getting up close, almost whispering. “I don’t blame you for not loving it.”

Which is just about the last thing that I am expecting to hear as I’m standing on the humming floor of Hodo, Tsai’s bustling tofu-production facility in Oakland’s warehouse district.

Tsai leads me, in white jacket, hairnet, and scrubs, on a tour. I see the high-grade soybeans he uses (harvested exclusively from the American Midwest). I witness a process almost like cheese making that he has ingeniously adapted into a hybrid operation, part mechanical and part hands-on.

He tells me that Hodo ships approximately 50,000 pounds of tofu products each day. Along the way, Tsai doles out samples, pinching off pieces from the production line—tofu both firm and soft, tofu transformed into nuggets, tofu fashioned into chewy strips.

At one point, popping a taste of warm, fresh-from-the-vat tofu into my mouth, he offers up some tasting notes. Nutty, he says. Complex. For sure, the nuttiest, most complex firm tofu I’ve ever had.

But do I dare tell him that I don’t love it?

It tastes more like a substitute for something, I say. Tsai nods, undaunted, and takes me to the room where he makes yuba, the thin layer that forms atop the soy milk as it cooks, sort of like the skin that develops on a pudding.

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“I call yuba the gateway drug for tofu,” Tsai says, using a small knife to cut into one of the rectangular pans of yuba that have been set up in rows, not unlike the developing pans in a photographer’s darkroom.

The process creates a tofu product that’s denser in proteins (21 grams in 3 ounces versus firm tofu’s 14). Tsai holds out to me what looks like a wad of chewed, dun-colored gum. The skin, almost half- way between solid and liquid, collapses into his palm.

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Go ahead, he says, offering me a taste. The implication is not lost on me: I am going to have you eating out of the palm of my hand.

And so he does. The yuba is not like any tofu I’ve ever eaten: luscious, creamy, more like a bundle of warm, freshly made mozzarella.

Tsai, smiling but dead-eyed, and sounding more like a futuristic tech titan than the maker of an ancient soy product, says solemnly: “So you have seen now what is possible.”

Alex Farnum

Why Tofu Is in Everything Now

I’m not a tofu hater. Hate implies disdain or animosity. I’m indifferent to the stuff. Tofu just is—neither good nor bad, neither memorable nor offensive. I don’t doubt this is a position born of ignorance, but I would argue that that ignorance is born of a lack of tradition, of context.

America has never been what you would call a tofu-making country even though Asian cultures have been producing it for more than a thousand years. Its history in the U. S. begins properly in the 1970s, says Tara McHugh, Ph.D., a food technologist and researcher at the USDA.

I’m not a tofu hater. Hate implies disdain or animosity. I’m indifferent to the stuff.

At this time, eco-consciousness was ascendant, when plant-based eating went from the margins to the mainstream. It was not deliciousness that accounted for its relatively rapid adoption in the U. S. It was politics.

Tofu was not meat. It did not come from factory farms. If you were looking to take a personal stand against agribusiness, if you wanted to abstain from the ills of carnivores, tofu was a convenient vehicle, a kind of culinary conscientious objection.

In this ideological context, it was almost unseemly to suggest that, well, tofu didn’t taste all that great. Flavor? How about the flavor of the resistance?

Since the ’70s, tofu making has become more widespread, so it is no surprise that the quality has become better and better.

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And it’s turning up in fast-food burgers and milkshakes and even becoming, of all things, a processed foodstuff—Tofutti, a mass-market brand that makes dairy-free “ice cream.”

Not even the Internet-fueled rumor that the phytoestrogens in tofu would lead to a condition called gynecomastia (that’s man boobs to you and me) has slowed its reemergence. [See “Wait, Isn’t Soy Bad for You?” at the end of this story for more information.]

“It’s time to take back tofu,” Tsai tells me over lunch the day after I met him at the factory.

Take it back?

“Take it back from the hippies and the politics,” he says.

In other words, if you regard tofu only as a lackluster substitute for meat, if it is synonymous in your imagination with co-ops and communes, if you assume it to be solely the province of Asian cuisines, then Tsai’s asking you—yes, you—to open your mind so that he can then blow it.

“Let’s just make it delicious,” he says. “It is delicious.”

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Tsai, a former investment banker and management consultant who started his tofu business with little more than a method and a story, began selling his handmade product at farmers markets in the Bay Area 15 years ago.

He refined his method, he told me, by tasting every brand he could get his hands on. It didn’t take him long to realize what was missing: flavors.

“I wanted to make a tofu that has flavors. To achieve flavors, I needed higher protein and fat in the soybeans.”

That meant developing a process whereby he could produce a much thicker soy milk. A thicker soy milk means a higher-protein tofu, which results in a richer, creamier flavor and a texture with more chew.

Hodo

Hodo Soy Organic Five Spice Tofu Nugget, 8 Ounce — 6 per case.

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As of October 2018, the Hodo factory churned out 16 products, with more to come. During February of that same year, in San Francisco, he convened an event called Tofu Evolved.

Yes, a tofu symposium—only in San Francisco—where he spoke eloquently and passionately about tofu as a potential force in a food future that will be greener and cleaner.

Then, several months later, he changed the name of his company from Hodo Soy to Hodo—thereby removing from the brand any reference to the one ingredient without which tofu does not exist.

The change came in advance of a market push in which Tsai brought his line of packaged tofu products—among them yuba sesame noodles, tofu nuggets, and the same firm tofu blocks that, yes, Chipotle currently crumbles up into its vegan sofritas—to Whole Foods.

But how much of “new tofu” was hype? I decided to let my taste buds decide.

The Most Delicious Ways to Eat Tofu

In the days after touring the Hodo plant with Tsai, I do something I have never done—something I have never wanted to do: I gorge myself on tofu.

Alex Farnum

Now, I have gone on barbecue benders and burger benders, and I have spent weeks chasing the best pizza, kebabs, and chocolate-chip cookies. But I’ve never eaten tofu morning, noon, and night. Tofu fast food and tofu fine dining. I feel like I’m shooting some foodie buddy movie, with Tsai shotgun.

As eager as I am to see if, finally, I can be made to like tofu, Tsai is eager too.

Because if I do like it, then that means that maybe the vision he is banking on is not some dream, it is real.

Over the past few years, Tsai has cultivated relationships with some of San Francisco’s best and most ambitious chefs, and he has arranged, with my approval, a series of demo meals with his most ardent adopters to prove to me not just that a wide variety of applications is possible but also that tofu is not what I think it is. The chefs, for their part, are happy to play along.

Two bites in and I forget entirely that I’m eating tofu.

When I meet with Stuart Brioza, executive chef of the Progress, a modern-American restaurant in San Francisco, it’s a late-afternoon lunch between shifts.

With his staff in the throes of dinner prep, the chef slips mischievously into the kitchen to show off his yuba game, taking the same thin, chewy sheets I’d sampled at the factory and accessorizing them with smoked black cod, spring peas, and a black-butter ponzu.

Two bites in and I forget entirely that I’m eating tofu.

Alex Farnum

I’m still trying to process just what it is I’m eating, because there is no mistaking it for a substitute, when this highly decorated executive chef who once lived and cooked in Italy makes a startling pronouncement.

Not only is his version of amatriciana, made with thin strips cut from Hodo’s tofu sheets, just as good as an amatriciana made with, say, pappardelle.

Not only is it a convincing substitute that surprises your palate, he says. No, Brioza says, his version of amatriciana made with yuba is, in fact, better.

I wrinkle my brow. “Seriously—much better,” Brioza insists. Because of the chew of the yuba and the texture; the way the Roman-inspired sauce, a rich, zesty mix of tomatoes, onions, and guanciale (salt-cured pork), clings to it. He has a point.

Alex Farnum

Later that night, still buzzing from my eye- and palate-opening encounter with Brioza, I have dinner at Mister Jiu’s, a modern Chinese restaurant in the red-lantern-strewn heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown.

Given the restaurant’s MO, I’m expecting more traditional preparations of tofu from chef and owner Brandon Jew.

And there are a number of them, but then, in the middle of the meal, chef Jew picks up Brioza’s pasta theme and explores it with the same passion.

If I didn’t know any better, I would assume the dish Jew sends to my table is a pasta, specifically maltagliati, the Emilia- Romagna classic of torn and irregular rags of noodle, here topped, lustily, with morels, duck egg, and garlic scapes.

Another night, I visit Nightbird, a cozy tasting-menu haunt in the Hayes Valley neighborhood. The chef, Kim Alter, is in league with Brioza and Jew, both in trying to open up their already adventuresome customers to the idea that yuba is not necessarily Asian and in turning to pasta as the preferred point of entry.

Alex Farnum

One of her favorite ways to make the connection visceral and immediate is to fry those same strips of yuba until golden, achieving a chewy-crunchy texture reminiscent both of pasta and snack chips, then dousing them with a variation on a Caesar dressing, made with miso, Parmesan, egg yolks, garlic, and Dijon. East meets West seamlessly, and thrillingly.

The chefs, it’s clear, adore yuba; I adore yuba. It’s hard not to. But yuba is only one part of the tofu universe.

Determined to prove to me that block tofu, the more traditional form you’re used to seeing in supermarkets, can also be a stand-alone product, Tsai takes me to James Syhabout’s Hawking Bird, in Oakland, a determinedly unslick fast-casual, fried-chicken-centric restaurant that looks out onto Telegraph Avenue.

Tsai stages a test of two sandwiches on the menu. One is a chicken sandwich, the other a slab of firm Hodo tofu that’s been fried to resemble a chicken sandwich.

“Well?” Tsai asks after I’ve downed several bites of each.

I’m surprised to hear myself say that I prefer the tofu to the chicken. Somehow the actual chicken gets in the way of the delicious fried exterior, while the tofu, being cleaner, does not.

Alex Farnum

Seeing me polish it off, Tsai is exultant.

To him, love of the sandwich is yet more proof of what he has been talking about for days, that tofu is not a substitute but the thing itself, that it need not be in an Asian dish to be tasty, that it can go high and low.

True enough, and yet what does it say, I wonder, that I only really like the tofu when I think I’m eating something else? I’ll take it, Tsai says. He smiles. “Baby steps.”

How to Cook With Tofu at Home

After my tofu crawl I’m determined to apply the lessons I’ve learned at home.

I make a decent dish with firm tofu, sesame oil, chopped cucumber and celery, rice-wine vinegar, and Sriracha. Thinking back to chefs Jew and Brioza, I heat up leftover marinara, tear in some yuba, toss everything, grate on some fresh Parmesan, add a few dollops of ricotta, drizzle on some olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

It’s good—and, for a second, I even entertain thoughts of making it for friends. Would I lie to them about what it is, or would I tell them, but only after letting them think it’s something else?

The latter, definitely the latter.

Baby steps.

—Todd Kliman is a James Beard award-winning food writer and author of The Wild Vine.

Wait, Isn’t Soy Bad for You?

Nope. It’s actually pretty good for you, according to the latest science. Here are three health benefits of the soybean.

Alex Farnum

1. It’s a good source of protein.

A half block of firm tofu contains 28 grams of protein. By comparison, 1/2 cup of chopped roasted chicken breast has 22 grams. Among active people, those with higher intakes of protein, regardless of whether it was animal or plant based, had a 35 percent lower risk of functional physical decline as they aged than those who ate the least protein, so found a 2018 study by Boston University researchers.

2. It may fight diabetes.

People who consumed more isoflavones, found in tofu and soy milk, had an 11 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes than those who didn’t eat much, according to a 2017 study by Harvard researchers. One reason: Isoflavones may improve glucose tolerance and blood lipids, markers of diabetes.

3. It could protect your prostate.

Men whose diets included soy foods had a 29 percent reduced risk of developing prostate cancer, found a 2018 meta-analysis in Nutrients. Again, thank isoflavones, such as genistein and daidzein, which the scientists think may disrupt the development of prostate cancer.

But what about low sperm count and man boobs? Back in the 2000s, a few small studies and rodent research suggested that the phytoestrogens in soy products could disrupt hormones. Several news outlets (including this one—our bad) may have overblown those findings.

“Such a link has never been substantiated in human studies,” says Qi Sun, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard University. “I don’t think this is a concern at all,” Sun says.

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Is Vanilla Soy Milk Good for Your Health? | Healthy Eating

Dairy products and nondairy milks make up an essential part of your diet, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends you consume 3 cups daily. If you avoid animal products, suffer from lactose intolerance or just want an alternative to dairy milk, vanilla soy milk offers a nutritious choice. Vanilla soy milk contains many of the nutrients found in dairy milk without the saturated fat, making it a healthful addition to your diet. However, consuming large amounts of soy products — including soy milk — might lead to side effects in some individuals.

Macronutrient Breakdown

Vanilla soy milk provides you with proteins and carbohydrates. Each 8-ounce serving offers 6 grams of protein, which your body uses to maintain its immune system and to nourish muscles and bones. Like other soy products, vanilla soy milk contains complete protein — it provides all of the essential amino acids. An 8-ounce serving of vanilla soy milk also contains 10 grams of total carbohydrate, including 1 gram of fiber. Consuming foods that contain fiber helps to fill you up between meals and promotes digestive health. Since fiber is only found in plant-based foods, soy milk offers a slight benefit over dairy milk if you’re looking to boost your fiber intake.

Calcium and B-12

Consuming vanilla soymilk also provides you with vitamins and minerals. An 8-ounce serving provides 299 milligrams of calcium — about 30 percent of your recommended daily intake — as well as your entire daily vitamin B-12 requirements. Calcium strengthens your bones and teeth and aids in cell communication and muscle function. Vitamin B-12 helps you produce healthy red blood cells, helps with nerve function and protects against cardiovascular disease. If you follow a vegan or vegetarian diet — diets typically low in vitamin B-12 — adding vanilla soy milk can help prevent a vitamin B-12 deficiency.

Isoflavones

Vanilla soy milk, like other soy products, contains isoflavones. These compounds have a chemical structure similar to human estrogen and affect estrogen activity in your body. Because of their similarity to estrogen, soy isoflavones may benefit post-menopausal women by reducing the frequency of hot flashes. Soy isoflavones might also help lower the risk of prostate cancer in men, and might help fight bone loss that can occur as you age, notes the Linus Pauling Institute. However, the effects of soy isoflavones on your health require more investigation, and their long-term safety is unconfirmed. The Linus Pauling Institute recommends that breast cancer survivors talk to their doctors about consuming isoflavones, which interact with some breast cancer medications.

Additional Considerations and Serving Tips

Whenever possible, opt for unsweetened vanilla soy milk to avoid consuming too much sugar, and light vanilla soy milk to limit your fat intake. You should also watch your portion sizes — each 8-ounce serving of vanilla soy milk contains 100 calories, but some drinking glasses hold 12 or more ounces, which might cause you to consume more of the beverage than intended.

Use vanilla soy milk in place of dairy milk in sweet recipes, smoothies or on hot or cold cereal. Combine vanilla soy milk with raw cocoa powder to make antioxidant-packed hot chocolate. Vanilla soy milk also makes tasty vegan-friendly lattes.

References

Writer Bio

Sylvie Tremblay holds a Master of Science in molecular and cellular biology and has years of experience as a cancer researcher and neuroscientist. Based in Ontario, Canada, Tremblay is an experienced journalist and blogger specializing in nutrition, fitness, lifestyle, health and biotechnology, as well as real estate, agriculture and clean tech.

90,000 Does an adult need to drink milk – Wonderzine

On the reverse side of benefit

For all the benefits of milk, its role in protecting bones from brittleness is somewhat exaggerated. In 2014, scientists from Harvard and Zurich universities published the results of a study in which they observed 96 thousand men and women starting from adolescence for 22 years. After taking into account other factors, biologists found that the amount of milk people consumed as teenagers did not in any way affect the risk of hip fracture in adulthood.Other studies show that exercise and body mass index have a significantly greater effect on bone health than diet composition, provided it is balanced.

It would seem that if the benefits of milk are exaggerated and it is quite possible to do without it, then nothing prevents you from completely switching to vegetable substitutes. But they also have their drawbacks. One of the major drawbacks is the added sugar. This is not about the popular vanilla or chocolate milk (a glass of such a drink – based on both cow’s and plant milk – can contain more than 20 g of sugar, which is almost the entire daily requirement for women).Even a glass of milk or yogurt made from soybeans or hazelnuts marked “original” can contain 7-10 g of sugar, the lion’s share of which was not contained in beans or nuts by nature, but was added by the manufacturer for taste. Cow’s milk also contains sugar – about 13 g in one glass, but lactose is a naturally occurring disaccharide. According to the American Heart Association, natural sugar should be part of a healthy diet, but industrially mined sugar can lead to health problems if consumed in large quantities.Therefore, if you regularly drink plant-based milk, at least sometimes you should choose options without added sugar (for example, oatmeal has a natural sweetish taste).

As for soy milk, it has its own peculiarity: it contains inhibitors of enzymes responsible for the breakdown of proteins. If soy products predominate in the diet for a long time, the blockade of pancreatic enzymes can lead to the organ starting to work “for wear and tear”, producing additional enzymes, and the function of the pancreas will be impaired.Many people prefer soy milk and other plant-based options because of their lower saturated fat content compared to cow’s milk. This is not entirely justified: modern research suggests that fat is not at all the nemesis that was previously thought, and besides, you can always choose low-fat dairy products.

Of course, cow’s milk isn’t superfood either. First, milk itself contains almost no iron, and the calcium in it interferes with the absorption of this trace element (although this also applies to vegan alternatives fortified with synthetic calcium).In this regard, many pediatricians believe that cow’s milk is not at all indispensable for children: when a child consumes too much cow’s milk, he quickly becomes full and subsequently eats less food rich in iron (for example, vegetable and fruit purees, cereals, at an older age – and meat). According to the American pediatrician Natasha Burgert, this explains one sad pattern: of all age groups, children aged 1 to 3 years receive the least amount of iron per day. Of course, the iron content is more likely not a minus, but a feature of the product (in the same way, the low protein content in soy milk is not a disadvantage).

90,000 Scientists have proven the danger of soy products

https://ria.ru/20191125/1561540623.html

Scientists have proven the danger of soy products

Scientists have proven the danger of soy products – RIA Novosti, 05.03.2021

Scientists have proven the danger of soy products

Soy products, which many adherents of a healthy diet consume as a substitute for meat and cow’s milk, can cause serious harm to health, … RIA Novosti, 03/05/2021

2019-11-25T06: 55

2019-11-25T06: 55

2021-03-05T19: 24

Science

WHO

Worldwide

Soy

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MOSCOW, Nov 25 – RIA Novosti. Soy foods, which many healthy diets consume as a substitute for meat and cow’s milk, can cause serious health problems, Health.News writes, citing findings from French scientists. The study authors analyzed 55 soy products, including desserts, sauces and beverages and found that soy has a very high level of phytoestrogens, which can affect hormonal levels, and in some cases even provoke the onset of cancer.The danger in soy is also concealed by herbicides, which are sprayed on the crop. The WHO classifies these substances as “probable carcinogen”. In addition, soy contains elements that reduce the absorption of calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium and protein. Moreover, they block the synthesis of thyroid hormones, provoke hypothyroidism and oncology. Earlier, researchers from Tufts University in the USA found that cancer often occurs due to an unbalanced diet, in which there is too much processed meat and sugar, and cereals, fruits, vegetables and dairy products are not enough.

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cart, whole world, soybean

MOSCOW, 25 Nov – RIA Novosti. Soy products, which many healthy eating planners consume as a substitute for meat and cow’s milk, can cause serious health problems, Health.News writes, citing findings from French scientists.

The authors of the study analyzed 55 soy products, including desserts, sauces and drinks, and found that soy has a very high level of phytoestrogens, which can affect hormonal levels, and in some cases even provoke the onset of cancer.

Danger in soybeans also conceal herbicides, which are sprayed on the crop. The WHO classifies these substances as “probable carcinogen”. In addition, soy contains elements that reduce the absorption of calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium and protein.Moreover, they block the synthesis of thyroid hormones, provoke hypothyroidism and oncology.

18 March 2019, 12:18 vegetables and dairy products are not enough.

How to work with plant-based milk: tips for baristas

Plant-based milk is gaining popularity, as is the demand for coffee drinks with it.If on the part of the consumer this is an increase in the cost of the drink, then on the part of the barista – learning new skills.

A barista must prepare a delicious drink from different types of vegetable milk, heat and whisk correctly, draw latte art. It is important to understand which alternative milk goes best with which type of coffee.

We will tell you what types of plant milk exist, what are their features and how to prepare a delicious drink based on them.

Soy milk

Soy milk is a great alternative for people who are dying from animal milk but who are allergic to nuts.Opinions differ about taste: some consider it pleasant and neutral, others – like cardboard.

Features of soy milk:

  • contains a large amount of protein – 3-4 g per 100 ml, therefore easily whips into a foam;

  • contains a large amount of acidity regulators and stabilizers, therefore it beats twice as fast as cow beats;

  • is quite heat resistant, so even whipping up to 60 ° C creates micro-foam.

Barista tip: Soy milk can curdle when heated or in contact with highly acidic coffee. Therefore, use grain that has the least acidity. For example, from Brazil.

Drawing whipped soy milk on the surface of coffee can be unusual, but the result can be something like this. © unsplash.com

Add espresso to the milk pitcher before frothing milk. The proportions of milk and coffee are the same as in classic milk drink recipes.

The microfoam is sustainable, so you have more time for latte art. But at the same time, it can turn out to be a lot, and the latte art will come out fuzzy. To remove excess, tap the bottom of the pitcher and swirl the milk after beating.

Almond milk

Almond milk is often chosen for its unobtrusive nutty flavor.

Features of almond milk:

  • contains only 0.5-1 g of protein per 100 ml, therefore it does not foam well;

  • gives a weak and unstable foam due to its watery consistency;

  • The froth is smoother if the milk is frothed at about 55 ° C.

Tips for the barista: Like soy, it can curl and flake when whisked. Therefore, it is best to pour the espresso into the milk before whipping. It is important to choose a less acidic variety, from which a drink with a lighter body is obtained. Use a thermometer to avoid overheating the milk above 55 degrees and to get smoother froth.

Making latte art with almond milk requires skill

Microfoam is unstable, so get started with latte art quickly.In doing so, be sure to control the rate of infusion: due to the watery texture, milk pours out quickly. Before latte art, swirl the milk in a pitcher to remove large bubbles.

Oat milk

Oat milk is rapidly gaining popularity. Its taste is the most neutral of all dairy alternatives and does not drown out the variety of coffee. If Brazil is in the cup, the guest will feel Brazil, if Ethiopia – Ethiopia.

Features of oat milk:

  • contains little protein – 0.5–1 g per 100 ml, therefore it takes more time to form a stable foam;

  • whips easily even at temperatures up to 65 ° C;

  • The texture of milk differs from manufacturer to manufacturer, because some deliberately try to increase its calorie content and add butter.

Tips for the barista: For drinks it is best to use all plant-based milk with no added oil. This way it will not overpower the taste of the coffee. Choose a grain that makes a drink with a lighter body.

Oat milk has the most neutral taste and does not overwhelm the taste of coffee. © unsplash.com

Let the whipped milk sit for 30–45 seconds before starting the latte art. This will result in a more uniform milk texture.Latte art will turn out crisp if you pour milk in quickly.

Coconut milk

Coconut milk is high in saturated fat. It is usually chosen for its creamy taste.

Features of coconut milk:

  • contains little protein – 1–1.5 g per 100 ml, therefore it foams with difficulty;

  • can become very thick and foamy when whisked at 65 ° C or higher.

Coconut milk tastes good, but difficult for latte art

Barista Tips: For coconut drinks, it is best to use less acidic coffee with a denser body. In this case, the taste of milk will not override the taste of the drink. To avoid spoiling the consistency of the milk, do not heat it above 65 ° C.

Large bubbles form during whipping. If you rotate the milk vigorously in the pitcher, these bubbles will turn into microfoam.Drawing a coconut milk latte art is possible, but very difficult. The foam is unstable.

Hazelnut and cashew milk not suitable for coffee

Hazelnut and cashew milk are plant-based milk types that are best avoided. Hazelnut has a rich aroma, it can mask and drown out coffee descriptors. Cashew milk is sweeter in nature. This suppresses the taste of the coffee. In addition, it does not foam well.

Another disadvantage of these types of milk is that they are less readily available on the market and therefore may be more expensive than soy milk, oat milk, almond milk and coconut milk.

What to look for when choosing an alternative milk

When choosing any alternative milk, look at the list of ingredients. The additives in this milk differ from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Stabilizers are often added to help milk froth better and does not curdle when heated. This kind of milk works well for cappuccino and latte.

Sweeteners and fats are also common additives in plant milk. Too many can mask coffee descriptors and cause unpleasant taste sensations.

When choosing plant milk, carefully study its composition

Several manufacturers produce milk specifically for baristas. Choose it if you want a good taste and stable smooth foam.

You can choose purely plant-based milk without additives. In such milk, foam is formed, but it turns out to be less stable and quickly settles.

What to Remember

For a delicious drink made with plant milk, it is important to pay attention to the coffee you are using and the whipping temperature.We have collected all the recommendations from the article in one table.

Tell us in the comments, what difficulties do you have when preparing a drink with vegetable milk?

90,000 Plant milk: What kind of milk should you really drink coffee with?

How do you drink coffee: black or do you like to indulge in cappuccino, latte or raf? In the wake of the general spontaneous rejection of cow’s milk, the urgent question turned out to be: what to do with one of the most delicious drinks in the world, if you have long been accustomed to drinking it with milk?

Some no longer want to consume cow’s milk because of the outweighing side effects in the form of non-complementary rashes on the face, others take care of nature (the production of this particular type of milk cannot be called environmentally friendly: when growing coarse grains, too much water is spent, and the cows themselves from unnatural nutrition , imposed by a person, pollute the air with methane), and still others have problems of the scale of a real allergy.

If you cannot drink black coffee, you definitely do not need to refuse the drink, which, in addition to amazing aromatic impressions, also brings a generous dose of antioxidants – thanks to the barista’s love for experimentation.

We are trying to help you understand the question of which milk to order coffee with, so that the drink does not lose its taste and reduces the number of calories in the daily norm.

The most obvious options are nut milk, oat milk, and soy milk. They have finally ceased to be exotic for the capital’s coffee houses.Which one to choose? If you focus only on your taste preferences and strive for gastronomic discoveries, try with different types – and you will definitely find your own version.

We do not exclude that it will not come out right away – plant-based milk strongly changes the usual taste of latte and cappuccino. But you will definitely get your portion of nutrients: scientists are of the opinion that cow’s milk prevents the production of antioxidants, which are so rich in black coffee.

Nespresso coffee expert Nikita Kudryavtsev told Vogue that coffee is better combined with coconut and almond milk – with them the drink turns out to be sweet and delicate.Soy milk and rice milk do not play along with the taste of coffee or make it more interesting. He advises fans of experiments to try coffee with cedar milk: it will also turn out sweetish, but with a mild tart bitterness.

If you drink coffee in capsules, keep in mind that it is better to choose your blend that matches different types of plant milk. Arpeggio, Livanto, Volluto, Linizio Lungo or Vivalto Lungo capsules match perfectly with almond and coconut milk. With oatmeal – they are plus Cosi with fruity notes and Rosabaya de Colombia with wine.Spiced pumpkin milk will set off the Envivo Lungo, Indriya from India and Bukeela ka Ethiopia blends. Poppy milk with bright nutty notes will accompany the “gingerbread” Envivo Lungo, the “woody” Arpeggio and Dharkan, as well as Roma with walnuts in the aftertaste.

Baristas of “Coffeemania” were among the first to offer their guests an alternative to coffee with cow’s milk. You can substitute them for cow’s milk in any of the drinks on the menu.Most often, visitors to “Coffeemania” order classics on vegetable milk – cappuccino, latte and flat white. The choice of milk is a matter of taste, because the difference in calories between almond, coconut and soy varieties is negligible: 24, 33 and 42 calories per 100 grams, respectively, versus 62 calories per 100 grams of cow’s milk.

Still, as Nadezhda Motylkova, the manager for training baristas at Coffeemania, shares with Vogue, eminent baristas all over the world make ideal coffee and milk drinks using cow’s milk.

Subscribe and get one step closer to the professionals in the fashion world.

Plant-based Milk: Is It So Good?

Recently, the whole world has taken up arms against cow’s milk. Like, and allergies from him, and overweight, and the risk of developing oncology increases. A substitute for this product was invented immediately.

An alternative to traditional milk is the so-called vegetable milk (soy, coconut, rice, etc.), which advocates of healthy lifestyle consider useful.But is this product so useful? Our expert helped to understand this issue.

Attention

There is no such concept as “vegetable milk” in the technical regulations of the Russian Federation. Sellers and buyers call a variety of drinks made from nuts and cereals as milk (or cream) on their own initiative, by analogy with the well-established expression “coconut milk”. Such drinks are usually white, milky in color and of the appropriate consistency.

Mikhail Gavrilov

psychotherapist, Ph.MD, author of a patented technique for correcting eating behavior and weight loss, member of the Institute of Functional Medicine (IFM, USA)

– Comparing cow’s milk and vegetable “milk” is not very correct. In essence, vegetable milk is not. This is an extract from seeds, nuts, cereals or sprouts, which are crushed, mixed in a certain proportion with water (depending on how thick the drink is to be obtained), and then squeezed out and filtered through a sieve.That’s all: the drink is ready! Then you can add any spices, fruits, natural sweeteners to it.

Of all the variety of plant milk, the most popular are coconut, soy, almond, rice, oat milk.

Coconut

Of all types of plant milk, this is perhaps the only truly healthy one. Coconut milk and cream contain medium chain triglycerides, which can help improve the breakdown and elimination of fat.It is quite possible to recommend it for diet food. It is also an important product for those who adhere to the keto diet (high in healthy fats, low in carbohydrates and proteins) – a food style that is recommended for the health and support of people with diabetes mellitus, a number of serious diseases of the nervous system (Alzheimer’s disease, sclerosis, etc. etc.), cancer.

Coconut milk also contains caprylic acid.
…It has an anti-inflammatory effect, helps to restore the intestinal mucosa, and helps to more effectively cope with viral infections. In short, this is the most superfood plant-based milk of all such drinks.

Soybean

Many vegetarians sing an ode to it, and manufacturers proclaim it an alternative to cow’s milk. Of course, there is protein in it, but, like all plant proteins, it is deficient and does not contain all essential amino acids.
…The phytoestrogens that it contains, on the one hand, help to reduce the so-called “bad” cholesterol
, on the other hand, they may not be useful at all in the diet of people with impaired estrogen metabolism. Any soy products in this case can increase the risk of developing estrogen-dependent tumors – fibroids and fibroids. Don’t forget, soy is recognized as one of the strongest allergens – third in the top ten! American nutritionists completely exclude soy foods from their diet.

Almond

This milk tastes good and is also a source of vegetable protein and vitamin E, the most powerful antioxidant. Here, perhaps, are all the useful properties of this product … And now about its dark side. Almond milk contains a lot of polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acids, which many people tend to consume. In terms of weight maintenance and health, this is not very good. Omega-6 provokes general inflammation in the body as a whole and the development of inflammatory diseases over time in particular (all ailments ending in “it”).

Rice and oat

Rice milk does not contain gluten, so it has a right to exist as a drink option for people with intolerance to this protein. Oat milk is rich in protein. To tell you the truth, these types of drinks have practically no taste. That is why sugar, flavor enhancers, and very sweet fruits are usually added to oat and rice milk. As you can imagine, these supplements have nothing to do with healthy eating.

Vegetable vs Cow

As we wrote above, comparing these products is not very correct.And to talk about which product is more useful – too. Yes, there is less fat in vegetable milk, there are some useful macro- and micronutrients
(by the way, you can get them with other food products). Whereas cow’s milk also contains casein
, to which, albeit rarely, but still there is an allergy, and lactose
– food intolerance is associated with it, and insulin-like growth factor, which increases the risk of developing tumors.But it is important to understand that in the light of current nutritional knowledge, one cannot talk about the benefits and harms of any products in general, for everyone. Each person has an individual biochemical intolerance. Even very healthy coconut milk can develop an allergy (this happens if there is an aggravated reaction of the immune system to latex), and the same cow can be drunk by the same person without harm to health.

As a summary, it can be said that plant-based milk cannot be considered a substitute for cow’s milk.There are not very many benefits in it, except for coconut. Some types of milk (from nuts) are completely inappropriate in the diet of overweight people and a number of inflammatory diseases.

What milk, besides coconut, can you recommend to all healthy lifestyle advocates?

Chia seed milk or flaxseed milk, for example. But, alas, such vegetable milk can only be made independently. It is not yet produced on an industrial scale.

Recipe:

Chop chia seeds, add water, on average, two cups of water for three tablespoons of seeds.Put in the refrigerator overnight. You can then drink or eat with chia seeds. Or squeeze through a thick cloth and drink. You can add cinnamon or vanilla, whichever you like.

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Foods that make your belly bigger | 59.ru

Kristina Korolkova is a certified fitness trainer, nutritional correction specialist, sports nutrition consultant.

By the way, the dependence on sugary carbonated drinks fades over time.It works like this: when we eat too many unhealthy foods, the receptors in the mouth begin to hypertrophy and require more such food. Then, when an average of three weeks pass, everything returns to its original rate, and we want less such food. Also, do not forget about the dangerous food “friendship” of carbonated water and fast food.

– This is a dangerous food neighborhood. First of all, it leads to inflammation of the gastric mucosa, gastritis occurs. And gastritis, inflammation of the gallbladder, duodenal ulcer – the inflamed organs of the gastrointestinal tract are unable to digest food normally, says Tamara Kramcheninova.- As a result, this leads to metabolic disorders, which is accompanied by weight gain, an increase in the volume of the abdomen.

We have heard about the benefits of fiber more than once. For example, it absorbs excess fats and simple carbohydrates, slows down the absorption and reduces the total calorie intake. But you can forget about the benefits if you eat too much fiber. According to the National Medical Research Center for Therapy and Preventive Medicine of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, an adult needs 20-30 grams of fiber per day to avoid problems with digestion and intestinal microflora.For children, the daily allowance is 10 grams (+1 for each year of life). Too much fiber in the diet can lead to an increase in abdominal volume, bloating, excess gas and constipation. A bonus is poor absorption of trace elements and other nutrients. So it doesn’t hurt to find out which foods are high in fiber and which ones contain the minimum amount. The least amount of fiber is in savoy and seaweed (0.5 and 0.6 grams per 100 grams of product, respectively), most of all – in wheat bran (43.6 grams).Also, do not lean on cabbage and other products of the cruciferous family, legumes, raspberries, bananas, apples.

Reducing salt intake

Increasing food processing, rapid urbanization and changing lifestyles are changing nutritional trends. The availability and affordability of deeply processed products are increasing.
Around the world, people are consuming more and more high-calorie foods with significant amounts of saturated fat, trans fats, sugars and salt.Salt is the main source of sodium, and increased sodium intake has been linked
and hypertension, as well as an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.

At the same time, as you move away from the usual diet, the consumption of key components of a healthy diet – fruits, vegetables and dietary fiber (in particular, whole grains) decreases. Fruits and vegetables contain potassium, which helps lower blood
pressure.

The role of processed foods as a source of salt in the diet is explained by the fact that the salt content in them is especially high (in the case of ready-made meals, meat products such as bacon, ham and smoked sausages, cheeses, salty snacks, instant noodles).
cooking, etc.and the fact that they are consumed frequently and in large quantities (in the case of bread and processed cereals). Salt is also added to food during cooking (as bouillon cubes) or on the table (as soy
or fish sauce and table salt).

However, many manufacturers are changing the formulation of their products to reduce salt, and consumers are advised to pay attention to product labels and choose low sodium foods.

Recommendations for reducing salt intake

  • Adults. The WHO recommends that adults consume less than 5 grams of salt per day (just under one teaspoon) (1).
  • Children. For children between the ages of two and 15, WHO recommends that the recommended maximum salt intake be adjusted downward based on their energy requirements compared to adults. This recommendation for children is not
    covers the period of exclusive breastfeeding (0–6 months) or the period of complementary feeding with continued breastfeeding (6–24 months).
  • All consumed salt must be iodized, i.e. fortified with iodine, which is essential for the healthy development of the brain in the fetus and young children and the overall strengthening of mental functions in all people.

Information about salt, sodium and potassium

  • Sodium is an essential nutrient necessary for maintaining blood plasma volume and water-alkaline balance, transmission of nerve impulses and normal cell function.
  • Excess sodium is associated with negative health effects, including increased blood pressure.
  • The main sources of sodium intake in food are determined by the cultural characteristics and culinary preferences of the population.
  • Sodium is found naturally in a variety of foods such as milk, meat and seafood. It is often found in high levels in processed foods such as baked goods, meat products and snacks, and
    also in food flavorings (eg soy and fish sauces).
  • Sodium is also found in monosodium glutamate, which is used as a dietary supplement in many parts of the world.
  • Potassium is an essential trace element necessary for maintaining the total volume of fluids in the body, acid and water-electrolyte balance and the normal functioning of cells.
  • Potassium is found in a wide variety of unprocessed foods, especially fruits and vegetables.
  • Increasing potassium intake has been found to reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure in adults.

How to reduce salt intake with food

Government policies and strategies should ensure that conditions are created that allow people to consume sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious foods that form the basis of a healthy diet, which include low-content foods
salt. Improving nutritional habits is not only the responsibility of society, but also of everyone. This challenge needs to be addressed by taking into account the characteristics and cultural characteristics of the population and involving a range of sectors.

Key general strategies to reduce salt intake can be identified:

  • Government policies, including adequate tax policy and regulation, to ensure that manufacturers and retailers supply healthier food products and expand the range of affordable and affordable healthy foods;
  • Engage with the private sector to ensure the supply and availability of low-salt foods;
  • Informing and empowering consumers through social marketing and mobilization to raise awareness of the need to reduce salt intake;
  • Create an enabling environment for salt reduction through local policy initiatives and promote healthy eating environments, in particular at school, community and city levels;
  • Monitor population salt intake, dietary salt sources, and people’s awareness, attitudes and behavior to inform policy decisions.

Salt reduction programs and programs that fortify salt, flavors and high-salt seasonings (bouillon cubes, soy and fish sauces) with micronutrients can complement each other.

Salt consumption at home can be reduced if:

  • the food is not salted during cooking;
  • Do not keep a salt shaker on the dining table;
  • Limit the consumption of salty snacks;
  • Choose foods that are low in sodium.

A number of other practical measures at the local level contribute to salt reduction:

  • Incorporating salt reduction into training programs for food and catering workers;
  • withdrawal of salt shakers and soy sauce from tables at public catering establishments; posting notices that certain products contain high amounts of sodium on packaging or on store shelves;
  • Providing special nutritional advice to visitors to health care facilities;
  • awareness raising on the need to reduce salt intake and its use in food preparation;
  • Educational work with children and creating an environment for children to form their habit of low-salt diet at a young age.

Actions by the food industry should include:

  • Gradually reduce the salt content of products over time so that consumers gradually become accustomed to the taste without switching to alternative products;
  • Promoting the benefits of low-salt foods through consumer information events in food service establishments and shops;
  • Reduce the salt content of food and meals offered by restaurants and catering services and indicate the sodium content of them.

Misconceptions about reducing salt intake

  • “On a hot and humid day, a person sweats, and his food should be more salt.” By sweating, the body loses very little salt, therefore, even in conditions of heat and high humidity, excess salt is not needed; however, abundant
    drink.
  • Sea salt is not “healthier” than industrially produced salt just because it is “created by nature.” Regardless of the origin of salt, the sodium it contains causes negative health effects.
  • Adding salt to food is not the main source of salt consumed. In many countries, approximately 80% of the salt in the diet is consumed in industrially processed foods.
  • It is not necessary to use salt to make food taste good. Human taste buds do not adapt immediately, but once they get used to low salt intake, they are more likely to enjoy food and feel
    a wider range of flavors.
  • “Food without salt seems bland.” At first, this may be so, but soon the taste buds adapt to the decrease in salt content, and the person gets used to appreciate the less salty, but more tasteful food.
  • “Food with a lot of salt, salty taste.” Some foods with a high salt content do not taste strongly salty because they combine with other ingredients that mask salinity, such as sugars.To find out the sodium content of food, you need to pay attention to the labels.
  • “Only the elderly should worry about the amount of salt they consume.” Excess salt intake can lead to high blood pressure in people of all ages.
  • “Reducing salt intake can be bad for my health.” Eating too little salt is very difficult because it is found in a lot of everyday foods.

WHO activities

WHO guidelines on sodium and potassium intake set limits for their consumption without compromising health. The guidelines also describe interventions to improve nutrition and prevent NCDs in adults and children.

In 2004, the World Health Assembly adopted the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. It calls on governments, WHO, international partners, the private sector and civil society to take action on
supporting healthy diets and physical activity globally, regionally and locally.

In 2010, the World Health Assembly approved a set of guidelines for the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children. The Recommendations guide countries in developing new and strengthening existing
policy measures to reduce the negative impact of the marketing of unhealthy foods on children. WHO is also promoting the development of a nutrient profile model that can be used by countries as a tool in implementing
recommendations related to marketing.

In 2011, world leaders committed to reducing the negative impact of unhealthy diets on people. This commitment was proclaimed in the Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on Prevention
NCDs and the fight against them.

In 2012, the World Health Assembly adopted six global nutritional goals, which include reducing the number of stunted, wasting and obese children, increasing breastfeeding rates and reducing the number of
cases of anemia and low birth weight.

In 2013, the World Health Assembly agreed on nine global voluntary targets for the prevention and control of NCDs, which include, inter alia, ending the spread of diabetes and obesity and reducing consumption
salt by 30% by 2025. Global action plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases 2013–2020. provides guidance and a set of policy options to achieve these goals by Member States, WHO
and other UN agencies.

In May 2014, in response to the rapid rise in obesity in infants and children, WHO established a commission to end childhood obesity. The Commission prepared a 2015 report clarifying which approaches and actions are likely to be
will be most effective in different countries of the world.


(1) These guidelines apply to all individuals, whether or not they have high blood pressure (including pregnant and breastfeeding women), except for individuals who have a medical condition or are taking medications that may
Lead to a decrease in sodium levels or a sharp accumulation of water in the body, or people who need a special diet under the supervision of a doctor (for example, patients with heart failure or type 1 diabetes).For these subpopulations,
to establish a specific relationship between sodium intake and health indicators (WHO guidelines on sodium intake for adults and children, 2012).