Another Soy Lecithin Question

[onlyme]

Hi Shelley,

You always seem to bring such a balanced perspective to things. I'm hoping you can shed some light on something for me. You've quoted to Weston A. Price/Mary Enig/Sally Fallon a couple times on your site (The Truth About Fats, Busting the Cholesterol Myth, etc.). What is your take on their view of soy lecithin. I keep reading you say that it is safe to take long term ("It is usually refined from soy, so is often called soy lecithin, even tho there is nothing soy about it. Since lecithin is 96% pure, there is nothing estrogenic about it, and only traces of soy protein remain.") However, the Weston A. Price Foundation seems to take a pretty dim view on it: http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/lecithin.html

So, can you post an analysis of their analysis here in the Health News, Fact Checking & General Management section? So much conflicting information . . . it's tough for a general layman like myself to wade through it all! Thanks!

[shelley]

that article is their one foray into imbalanced "let's put down everything refined" argument just for the sake of arguing. There's nothing definitive in it. The most damning statement in this article is that there are indeed "Minute amounts of soy" in lecithin, which is usually labeled as 96% pure. Minute amounts of soy are going to do nothing - millions of people eat literally pounds of pure soy a year, so minute amounts in a tablespoon of a supplement - um, why exactly should I care??? Okay, if contact with it brought on a seizure then yes, I'd avoid lecithin, but short of that? Sheesh!

Their other assertion that metabolizing choline requires Vitamin C - well, guess what? Anything that is metabolized costs us other nutrients. It's the nature of our bodies and of digestion and being a living organism. It's like saying well gee, breathing costs us calories!!! So you can't put anything down for that reason unless you're overdosing, and you'll notice that my recommendations for Skin Food call for both lecithin and Emergen-C.

Any process of refinement from real foods and herbs is going to start out as a gooey mess. The only part that matters is the final product. You can't make jam without squashing fruit!

[onlyme]

Thank you so much. I'm in Stage 5 of the Vital Cleanse so I am taking the granulated lecithin 3x/day. I've read on this site that many people really like the taste, but I don't get it - it's not bad, but it's not good either (imo).

[chardy]

Hehe, I must be a weird one as I love the taste!

Ive found it really adds something when I put it in a stew!

[glein]

[chardy]