Is your soy milk really organic and healthy? Guess again

Behind the Bean
The Heroes and Charlatans of the Natural and Organic Soy Foods Industry
The Social, Environmental, and Health Impacts of Soy

Read this article to learn more


With the continued marketplace shift toward eating organic, local, and sustainably produced food, more consumers are interested in knowing the story behind their food. This cultural shift represents consumers’ desire to eat healthily, and to invest in environmental health, family farms, animal welfare, and, often, their own local economies.

Adding to the social, health and environmental impacts of food-buying decisions, people purchasing organic soy foods, such as tofu and soymilk, want to know whether the soybeans were grown by American family farmers, whom they trust, or imported from China, Brazil, and other countries. Consumers, especially those investing their hard-earned dollars in organic brands, are edgy about imports after multiple contamination problems with imported food, including the recent China melamine scandal.

Many educated consumers also want to avoid genetically engineered ingredients, and many assume organic companies test for fraud or accidental contamination. Some soy consumers, many of them vegetarians or vegans for religious or philosophical reasons, feel it is important to support family-owned businesses that share their values, as opposed to buying brands owned by multi-billion-dollar corporations that are also heavily involved in conventional animal agriculture. To shed some light on these questions and more, the Cornucopia Institute developed this research paper and the accompanying Organic Soy Scorecard. The scorecard rates organic soy food brands based on ten criteria, including soybean sourcing and production practices. The scorecard serves as an objective resource for consumers and wholesale buyers, and showcases the heroes in the organic soy foods business. Part I of the report examines some of the criteria of the scorecard in greater depth and showcases some of the companies that scored highly, as well as some of the companies that did not.The report highlights the brands in the 5-Bean category that appear highly committed to organic integrity and source exclusively domestic organic soybeans, most often directly from family farmers (rather than five stars, the companion scorecard ranks brands on a 1-to-5 Bean rating). If we wish to see more North American farmers switching to organic agriculture, as opposed to relying heavily on genetically engineered crops, petroleum-based fertilizers, and toxic pesticides, consumers must support the companies
that buy from North American organic farmers—and the Organic Soy Scorecard shows which companies do so.

Published Research on Orthomolecular Treatment Epilepsy and Vitamins: Vitamin E It is interesting to note that anti-epileptic drugs have been shown to decrease vitamin E levels. This depletion is significant when combined with studies showing the power of vitamin E to help the body control epileptic seizure activity. A double-blind placebo-controlled study of 24 epileptic children not responding to anti-epileptic drugs found that supplementing with 400 IU/day of vitamin E provided a significant reduction of seizures in 10 out of 12 children. The two unresponsive children were non-compliant (they did not comply with the vitamin E program). The 12 children on vitamin E therapy had no negative side-effect. All 24 children in the study continued their normal dosages of anti-epileptic drugs. The 12 children that were given a placebo (NOT REAL vitamin E), showed no improvement in epileptic activity. (A. O. Ogunmekan. Vitamin E deficiency and seizures in animals and man. Canadian Journal of Neurological Science, 1979; vol. 6. Pg. 43-45.) Manganese A link between epilepsy and manganese was first presented in 1963 when Hurley and his research team observed that manganese-deficient rats were more susceptible to seizures that animals that that high levels of manganese. Also the EEG in these deficient animals were epileptic-like. Several subsequent research studies show that blood and hair manganese levels are low in epileptics, with the correlation that those typically having the highest seizure rates show the lowest levels of manganese. (L.S. Hurley, D.E. Wooley, et al. Influence of manganese on susceptibility of rats to convulsions. American Journal of Physiology. 1963. Pgs. 493-496.) (E. G. Carl, B. B. Keen, B. Gallagher et al. Association of low blood manganese concentrations with epilepsy. Neurology. 1986. Pgs. 1584-1587.) (P. Sampson. Low manganese level may trigger epilepsy. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1977. Pg 1805.) Taurine Taurine is one of the most abundant amino acids in the mammalian brain. Several studies exist that document the positive affects and the anti-convulsive activity of taurine. One study documents that epileptics have shown significantly lower levels of taurine in their blood platelets than control patients. In one study a daily oral dose of 0.05-0.3 g/kg and 750 mg in another study both demonstrated significant efficacy in cases of intractable epilepsy, decreasing seizures by more than 30% in 11 of 34 patients. This can be considered highly significant since these patients were unresponsive to any other anticonvulsants. A correlation of effectiveness was seen with the patients achieving the highest taurine concentrations also showing the best response of decreased seizures. Also, patients with partial epilepsy demonstrated the best results. (Y. Fukuyama, Y. Ochiai. Therapeutic trial by taurine for intractable childhood epilepsies. Brain Development. 1982. Pgs. 63-69.) (H. Pasantes-Morales, H. Chapparro, E. Otero. Clinical study on the effect of taurine on intractable epilepsy. Review Invest. Clinical 1981. Pgs 373-378.) Even with such positive results; the rate of effectiveness of taurine is far below the level where taurine could be recommended as a standard "medical/drug" treatment for epilepsy. At this time, there is no agreement on the seizure types or dosage amount for which taurine is most suitable.

Nutrient Associations, Lifestyle Changes, Medical Options and Precautions Return to Main Epilepsy Page

Treating Epilepsy Naturally. A Guide toAlternative and Adjunct Therapies

by Patricia Murphy and Russell BlaylockMcGraw Hill, New York, 2001.Softcover, 322 pages.

Reading medical books may be very interesting but seldom is it fun. Over the past few weeks I am reading two books and in both cases they are both very interest-ing, very accurate and, on top of it, a lot of fun. Perhaps that is because each one was written by a journalist, this one and the other which follows this review, by an Ox-ford Professor of English literature. I had to read them twice. The lesson is that books which have great medical value for the public should be written only by writers. It may be even better if they are both writers and doctors but this is relatively rare.

Murphy has epilepsy diagnosed when she was 21. She was treated in the same way that mostepileptic patients are treated: diagnosed, tested, and then prescribed anti-convulsant drugs. These helped con-trol the frequency of the seizures but they did not leave her feeling well. She paid the price that we all pay when we take xenobiotic drugs. Then she became a direct and active participant in her search for reasons behind her seizures, and what could be done about it with the present state of knowledge. She discovered that orthodox medicine offered a little but not enough for her and she had to investigate the alternative or complementary field be-fore she was able to obtain all the informa-tion she needed to bring her to her present state of good health. She still has to be care-ful and carry on with the final program she developed for herself. The search for truth was slow and painful but, in the end, very rewarding. For she is well and free of the debilitating symptoms induced by drugs. And her search for truth was also very re-warding for me. I honor anyone who teaches me anything and from this book I learned a new concept about epilepsy. She quotes Dr. Fried who told her “We believe that a seizure is basically an attempt to correct the effect of stress on individuals in their body biochemistry. We are trying to give individuals techniques that help them to prevent the degradation of the oxygen transport system that then requires the body to call upon a seizure to straighten everything out. Breath controls brain waves It’s the body’s natural tranquilizer”. In other words the seizures is the bodies attempt to treat itself, lest greater harm come to the individual. In the same way induced sei-zures were used to treat schizophrenic pa-tients many years ago and even now be-cause for these patients the greater evil is the schizophrenia itself. But ECT by itself was not very helpful and beginning in 1952 I never gave any patients ECT without at the same time giving them optimum does of niacin. The ECT helped them get well. The niacin kept them well. Niacin is con-verted into nicotiamide adenine dinucle-otide in the cells of the body and is one of the most important respiratory enzymes in maintaining oxgyen transport and utlization. According to Dr Fried the sei-zure restores proper supply of oxygen to the brain and therefor prevents loss of brain cells from anoxia. If therefor the serious anoxemia which precipitates the seizure can be prevented then there will be no need for these seizures. The seizures are life sav-ing and give the patients the message that they have biochemical problem which can be dealt wit successfully.

Of course prolonged seizures are very dangerous and must be treated as quickly as possible. If you remember the rule that you must prevent degradation of the oxy-gen transport system, then everything Murphy does makes sense. She found which foods she was allergic to and elimi-nated them, described the optimum diet and gave especial attention to the ketogenic diet. But in most cases this would not be enough. She described the use of supple-

Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine Vol. 17, No. 4, 2002 ^{Book Review}

ments including vitamins and minerals, also herbs which are in fact safer chemi-cals than the synthetic modern drugs. These therapies were combined with relaxation techniques or body therapies to control brain waves. Epilepsy for children, for men and for women an for the elderly are given individual chaapters and finally the environ-ment is very important as it is in the treat-ment of all disease. Ideal treatment of dis-ease requires four components: (1) Shelter;

(2) Optimum Nutrition; (3) Respect, decency etc ; (4) Orthmolecular therapy. If you fol-low the program described so well in this valuable book you will be providing yourself all of the four components of the ideal treat-ment. I think every person with seizures should read this book even before they con-sult their first doctor,

–A. Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D.

Epilepsy : Nervous system disorders

Dragon's bones (Os Draconic) are fossil mammal bones that are used in Chinese medicine to treat various nervous problems including palpitation, insomnia and neurosis. Such bones consist largely of calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate. They are powdered and taken with water.

Gypsum (Gypsum Fibrosum), hydrated calcium sulphate, is used to treat muscle spasms. This mineral is added to water, which then is boiled. The resulting liquid is prescribed as a treatment for spasms that are accompanied by fever and indicative of infection of the nervous system.

Powdered alum (Alumen) is prescribed to control epilepsy. Long (1962), for example, has described its use in the treatment of five cases of this disorder. In this clinical experiment the twice daily dose varied between 3 and 4.5 grams. If the patient had suffered from epilepsy for one to two months the course of treatment lasted 20 days; if attacks had occurred for longer than this but less than a year, the drug was taken for one month. If the patient had suffered from epilepsy for more than a year, treatment was continued for some three months. A followup survey, conducted after a minimum of four months and a maximum of three years after alum treatment, established that none of the epileptics had suffered repeat attacks.

Alum is not the only stone drug to be used in the treatment of epilepsy, both amber (Succinum) and borax (Borax) are used also for this purpose. To illustrate, in a paper published in 1975, researchers from Tangshan hospital, Hebei province reported on the value of powdered borax in the control of this disorder in 65 patients. The dose prescribed depended upon the frequency and type of seizure involved. Children were given one half the borax prescribed for adults. When the latter suffered from grand mal, or very frequent petit mal attacks, they were provided with 1 gram of powdered borax, three times a day. Those adult patients who suffered less frequent petit mal attacks received 0.7 grams, on three occasions daily. If only rare epileptic attacks occurred, 0.3 grams of powdered borax was given three times each day. In addition, some patients also took herbal formulae, designed to tranquillize and to relieve muscle spasms. If improvement was noted, the treatment with borax continued for a further six months.

The Tangshan hospital researchers reported that, after one year, 12 patients appeared cured, that is they had had no seizures for at least six months. A further 19 cases showed a significant decline in the frequency with which they suffered epileptic attacks, while 22 more showed some improvement. That is 81.5 per cent of patients appeared to have benefited from borax treatment. Only 12 cases did not gain any relief from the use of this stone drug. Despite the fact that almost all patients had taken borax continuously for one year, no adverse side effects had been recorded.