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Nagging Question
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Is Soy Lecithin Bad for You?And what is it, anyway? |
What is soy lecithin, and is it bad for you?
Soy lecithin is an additive found in many everyday foods, but it’s normally used in such small amounts that it rarely exceeds more than 1 percent of the weight of any food product. It works as an emulsifier in candy bars, keeping the cocoa and cocoa butter from separating. Soy lecithin also can be used in baking to make the dough less sticky and help it rise. It works as a so-called wetting agent, too, making cake mixes easier to spread into a pan when liquid is added.
But what exactly is it? Well, it’s a substance that is extracted from soybeans using a solvent such as hexane, and it’s a by-product of soybean oil.
According to registered dietitian and national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association Tara Gidus, soy lecithin is not bad for you. Gidus herself takes it as a nutritional supplement, though not every day; while she was pregnant she occasionally sprinkled it on her breakfast cereal. “It’s high in choline, which is also found in egg yolks, and it’s shown to be good for brain development and heart disease prevention,” Gidus explains. “I wouldn’t make a blanket statement that all pregnant women should take it. It hasn’t been studied all that well, but it is a natural part of the soybean, and you can take it now and then, especially if you’re not a big egg eater.”
However, some of the few soy lecithin studies have shown that choline might help treat dementia. Other experiments showed a slight cholesterol decrease in humans and animals taking soy lecithin or choline supplements. Still, moderation is key—people who chronically take more than 3.5 grams of choline per day occasionally have experienced side effects, including low blood pressure, marked by fainting or dizziness.
CHOW’s Nagging Question column appears every Friday.
I understand that the method invented by ADM is still used in practice. Soy beans are crushed and soaked with hexane, which extracts the lecithin compounds along with oil. The hexane is then removed in a still (a big boiler with a hood) and reused. Running steam through the remaining mixture makes the lecithin compounds bundle up with each other. The blobs can be extracted in a centrifuge. The resulting sludge is very thick and dark and is the starting point for all kinds of products that are sold as lecithin. The lecithin may be bleached with hydrogen peroxide, or further purified with other chemicals, or made into granules by mixing it with acetone.
Liquid lecithin (and the granules) have a lot of calories, around 130 for one serving. The lecithin has saturated fats.
A few month ago I bought a bottle of liquid lecithin and started using it as an emulsifier in the kitchen. I worry about the purity of the product I bought. If it were just phosphatidylcholine...
. I'm in culinary school and we've never used soy lecithin as an emulsifier.we always use the lecithin in eggs.As far as utilizing soy lecithin as a supplement, obviously more research is needed on that end. From a manufacturing perspective it is very practical.Every candy bar
contains soy lecithin(one example).
I love soy lecithin: I use it to make foams. Sure it's old but it's really fun to do.
where do you buy lecithin?
You can buy soy lecithin at any vitamin or nutrition type store. I bought mine at Rite Aid, it was GNC brand so you can buy it at any GNC store. It's about $10 for this large container make sure to get the unflavored kind if you want some culinary uses out of it.
Isn't anyone else worried about the process that ADM and others use to create soy lecithin? First extracted with the solvent hexane then, as Papin notes, "bleached with hydrogen peroxide, or further purified with other chemicals, or made into granules by mixing it with acetone." Um, acetone? Look it up, you don't want to be messing with that stuff.
Sure it's in everything, which isn't a problem for most of us, but if you live with someone allergic to soy it's a HUGE inconvenience. Seriously, I had no idea how many things have soy products added to them until I suddenly had to care.
After reading this and doing a bit of research I am finding a lot of nasty little truths about soy...who wants more chemically processed filler? I've been dealing with a little issue that I originally thought was gallstones but it seems everytime I eat a soy product I get cramping pains in my side, and no doctors seem to know what it is over an 8 month period. Cutting out anything with soy has made a BIG difference, and soy lecithin is no different. I'm happy to say I've found 1 single chocolate bar that says 'no soy lecithin' and it was one of the best treats I've had! and no side effects! Like global warming, maybe if we can get everyone on the NO SOY bandwagon then maybe we can actually start eating REAL food that is good for you. I would like to also state that I have not had any problems with tofu, as it comes in some of my favourite tasty dishes.
If you have concerns about Soy and Soy Levithin, which everyone should, then I would suggest you check it this link
http://www.westonaprice.org/mythstrut...
In My Opinion, all Soy products should carry a warning label. The scientific and medical studies that have shown the dangers of using Soy in our diet are truly shocking.
3 year old girls with pubic hair and breats after having Soy formula. Now that's damn wrong!
Contrary to popular deception, Soy Lecithin does NOT have a GRAS status and no product that contains SL has ever been given approval by the FDA.
But then, you only need a couple of thousand bucks to pay off the FDA these days anyway.
Mmmm, solvent.
My aunt has a serious allergy to soy in any form. In researching it all since her diagnosis, we learned that Soy has at least 16 protein allergens. That's more than almost any other food product out there. Given the increase of use in all products, I'm guessing more and more people will wind up allergic regardless of the processing method.
Great points, everyone.
If I have something with soy lecithin in it every once in a while, I'm not obsessing about it. I'm lucky in that I'm not chemically sensitive. But I try to stay away from processed foods as much as possible so that I can *stay*that*way*.
http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/lecit...
If you study population control per United Nations summits and research the I.G. Farben chemical and Pharmaceutical cartel, you will discover that the international community is being fed hundreds of synthetic products supported by bogus medical claims to encourage sterility. I.G. Farben is not a corporation but an interlock of contract agreements to eliminate competition. If you want to understand the way this type of business operates you should read G Edward Griffins book, " World Without Cancer". There is two worlds at work. The one that you believe is real, and the one behind the scenes causing the chaos that has you confused. Do not take life for granted. Study all sources, and stand up for what you can prove is true. Your family deserves it.
The response by sunnygee above is important. I had symptoms a couple of years ago suggesting irratable bowel syndrome, and saw a doctor. The diagnosis was gallstones (I had 1 small one), and I had my gall bladder removed, but symptoms continued unabated. Then just before a long series of nasty tests, I went on a business trip and my symptoms nearly disappeared. This strongly suggested a component of my normal diet was the culprit. After extensive record keeping, and trial and error, I found that soy lecethin is the problem. I seem to have a severe allergy to that one material. Interestingly, I can eat most soy in small quantities, but not soy lecethin additive (perhaps a dose difference of the lecethin component). If anyone has digestive problems including unpredictable diarrhea, eliminate soy lecethin from your diet before trying all sorts of medical tests and procedures. Note that since lecethin is in eggs, several hard boiled eggs or egg salad gives the same problem (its not the synthetic chemicals, its the natural soy lecethin that's doing this). I can't be the only person with this issue.
I just spent two days in extreme abdominal pain and dry heaves. This happened before a couple of months ago, and I had put it down to stress from losing my job. Last time it was pizza, this time it was granola bars. I decided to look at the ingredients and found that they had soy lecithin in common. I'm finding that this is a side effect, but I don't know if it's a certain level, or if I just need to avoid it altogether. If it's in all candy bars, I haven't noticed anything after eating them, but I usually eat the small bars in bags. That would not be a good thing. I'm glad I found this though, because this has been miserable!