Millions will say it’s health food – we say it’s junk

Get It Right!

Can’t anyone in the mainstream get it right anymore?

In yesterday’s e-Alert we saw how New York State government officials seem to regard diet soft drinks as a healthy alternative to non-diet soft drinks. Wrong.

Today it’s soy, fortified with vitamin D – a combination just given the OK by the FDA. But soy comes in different forms, as does vitamin D, and BOTH of the forms in this instance are the wrong forms.

You’ve got to wonder…if I know this, and you know this, why in the world can’t food industry professionals and the FDA get it right?

All about the image

If you stop 10 strangers on the street and ask them if soy is health food, you’ll probably get a reputation as that crazy “soy nut.” But the ones who give you an answer will probably say yes, of course, everyone knows soy is healthy.

HSI members know better though.

As I’ve noted in previous e-Alerts, fermented soy is no problem. Tempeh, miso, and soy sauce (made in the traditional method) are fermented and fine. But as HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., has pointed out, phytates in unfermented soy products impede absorption of protein and four key minerals: calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc. And you’re going to need those minerals if you want to stay healthy.

But the public’s perception of soy as health food just got a boost from the FDA with a newly published rule permitting soy beverages, soy-based cheese substitutes, and soy-based butter substitutes to be fortified with vitamin D.

Of course, D is the current Big Kahuna of the supplement world. Over the past two years, the e-Alert has followed vitamin D’s rising star while study after study has revealed the remarkable health benefits linked to this sunshine vitamin.

So you can be sure you’ll soon be seeing starburst notes emblazoned with “Now with Vitamin D!” on soy-based cheese products (etc.) at your local grocery.

They’ll say it’s health food, but it’s junk.

Roaring from the 20s

Here’s the one-two knockout punch…

Punch one: The soy products aren’t fermented. Punch two: The products will be fortified with vitamin D2.

Ring the bell – this fight is over.

Fish consumption and exposure to sunlight deliver much-needed vitamin D3 to your body. But according to a brief history of vitamin D research that appeared in a 2006 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, scientists created a synthetic form of the vitamin in the early 1920s when they manufactured vitamin D2 by exposing plant foods to ultraviolet light.

Within a decade, researchers began to notice that D2 was quite a bit less potent than D3. D2 was useful in eradicating rickets when added to milk in the 1930s, but as research methods were refined, it became clear that D3 was the superior form. In addition, the body retains D3 for longer periods and in higher concentrations than D2.

In their conclusions, the authors wrote: “The public expects to derive the equivalent effect per unit dose of vitamin D, whether it is vitamin D2 or vitamin D3. The scientific community is aware that these molecules are not equivalent. Therefore, vitamin D2 should no longer be regarded as a nutrient appropriate for supplementation or fortification of foods.”

The scientific community is aware…but apparently food producers and the FDA are not.

Sources:
“FDA Approves Vitamin D Fortification of Soy Foods” Lorraine Heller, NutraIngredients-USA, 3/16/09, nutraingredients-usa.com
“The Case Against Ergocalciferol (Vitamin D2) as a Vitamin Supplement” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 84, No. 4, October 2006, ajcn.org