Dr. Weeks’ Comment: Soy is helpful if you have cancer. (It is also a healful preventive agent.) I know… You have been confused about this. Let’s think on this together: The issue focuses on estrogen and what you need to tell your doctor is that estrogen only has an effect if it engaged with an estrogen receptor. Here is the news: there are two primary estrogen receptors: alpha (the bad or carcinogenic one) and beta (the helpful one). How to remember this? think “beta is better”.
My patients have long known of this critical distinction and readers of this site also are in the know.
What follows is a nice reminder that raw organic non GMO soy beans (like all healthy seeds and nuts) have nutritional treasures to release if you soak them and trick them in to thinking it is spring time and they should get sprouting! This soaking activates the enzymes and potentiates the nutritional focus. See what soaking soy beans can do for you!
“…soybean seeds incubated in water at 122 degrees Fahrenheit naturally release large amounts of BBI…”
Soybeans Soaked in Warm Water Naturally Release Key Cancer-Fighting Substance
ScienceDaily (May 9, 2012) ”” Soybeans soaking in warm water could become a new “green” source for production of a cancer-fighting substance now manufactured in a complicated and time-consuming industrial process, scientists are reporting in ACS’Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Hari B. Krishnan and colleagues explain that the substance, Bowman-Birk Protease Inhibitor (BBI), has shown promise for preventing certain forms of cancer in clinical trials. Those human tests resulted from evidence of BBI’s beneficial effects, including indications that BBI derived from the large amounts of soybeans in traditional Japanese diets might underpin low cancer mortality rates in Japan. However, the current method of extracting BBI from soybeans is time-consuming and involves harsh chemicals. The scientists set out to see if there might be a greener and more environmentally friendly way of obtaining BBI.
They found that soybean seeds incubated in water at 122 degrees Fahrenheit naturally release large amounts of BBI that can easily be harvested from the water. The protein appeared to be active, with tests showing that it stopped breast cancer cells from dividing in a laboratory dish. “The abundance of BBI in soybean seed exudates by incubating the seeds in warm water provides a simple and alternative method to isolate this low molecular weight protein,” the researchers said.
The scientists acknowledge funding from the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Journal Reference:
- Manoj H. Palavalli, Savithiry S. Natarajan, Thomas T. Y. Wang, Hari B. Krishnan. Imbibition of Soybean Seeds in Warm Water Results in the Release of Copious Amounts of Bowman-Birk Protease Inhibitor, a Putative Anticarcinogenic Agent. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2012; 60 (12): 3135 DOI: 10.1021/jf205308w