Nexus - 0703 - New Times Magazine-pages

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affluent society," said an industry spokesman, "is to have the Messina. Michael Milken, former junk bond financier, has helped product consumed on its own merit in a more affluent society."’ the industry shed its hippie image with well-publicised efforts to So soy is now sold to the upscale consumer, not as a cheap, consume 40 grams of soy protein daily. poverty food but as a miracle substance that will prevent heart America today, tomorrow the world. Soy milk sales are rising disease and cancer, whisk away hot flushes, build strong bones in Canada, even though soy milk there costs twice as much as and keep us forever young. The competition—meat, milk, cow's milk. Soybean milk processing plants are sprouting up in cheese, butter and eggs—has been duly demonised by the appro- places like Kenya.'' Even China, where soy really is a poverty priate government bodies. Soy serves as meat and milk for a new food and whose people want more meat, not tofu, has opted to generation of virtuous vegetarians. build Western-style soy factories rather than develop western Marketing costs money, especially when it needs to be bolstered _ grasslands for grazing animals.’ with "research", but there's plenty of funding available. All soybean producers pay a mandatory assessment of one-half to one CINDERELLA'S DARK SIDE per cent of the net market price of soybeans. The total—something The propaganda that has created the soy sales miracle is all the like US$80 million annually‘—supports United Soybean's more remarkable because, only a few decades ago, the soybean program to "strengthen the position of soybeans in the marketplace was considered unfit to eat—even in Asia. During the Chou and maintain and expand domestic and foreign markets for uses for | Dynasty (1134-246 BC) the soybean was designated one of the soybeans and soybean products". State soybean councils from five sacred grains, along with barley, wheat, millet and rice. Maryland, Nebraska, Delaware, Arkz , Virginia, North Dakota However, the pictograph for the soybean, which dates from earlier and Michigan provide another $2.5 million for "research".5 Private times, indicates that it was not first used as a food; for whereas the companies like Archer Daniels Midland also contribute their share. pictographs for the other four grains show the seed and stem ADM spent $4.7 million for advertising on Meet the Press and structure of the plant, the pictograph for the soybean emphasises $4.3 million on Face the Nation during the course of a year.‘ the root structure. Agricultural literature of the period speaks fre- Public relations firms help convert research projects into quently of the soybean and its use in crop rotation. Apparently newspaper articles and advertising the soy plant was initially used as a copy, and law firms lobby for method of fixing nitrogen." favourable government regulations. The soybean did not serve as a IMF money funds soy processin food until the discovery of fermenta- plants in foreign countries, and free The propaganda that has created tion techniques, some time during the trade policies keep soybean abundance the soy sales miracle is all the Chou Dynasty. The first soy foods flowing to overseas destinations. were fermented products like tem- The push for more soy has been more remarkable because, only peh, natto, miso and soy sauce. At a relentless and global in its reach. Soy afew decades ago, the soybean later date, possibly in the 2nd century rotein is now found in most super- . 2 BC, Chinese scientists discovered market breads. It is being used to was considered unfit to eat— that a purée of cooked soybeans transform "the humble tortilla, even in Asia. could be precipitated with calcium Mexico's corn-based staple food, into sulphate or magnesium sulphate a protein-fortified 'super-tortilla’ that (plaster of Paris or Epsom salts) to would give a nutritional boost to the make a smooth, pale curd—tofu or nearly 20 million Mexicans who live in bean curd. The use of fermented and extreme poverty".’ Advertising for a new soy-enriched loaf from __ precipitated soy products soon spread to other parts of the Orient, Allied Bakeries in Britain targets menopausal women seeking notably Japan and Indonesia. relief from hot flushes. Sales are running at a quarter of a million The Chinese did not eat unfermented soybeans as they did other loaves per week.’ legumes such as lentils, because the soybean contains large quan- The soy industry hired Norman Robert Associates, a public tities of natural toxins or "antinutrients". First among them are relations firm, to "get more soy products onto school menus".’ potent enzyme inhibitors that block the action of trypsin and other The USDA responded with a proposal to scrap the 30 per cent enzymes needed for protein digestion. These inhibitors are large, limit for soy in school lunches. The NuMenu program would tightly folded proteins that are not completely deactivated during allow unlimited use of soy in student meals. With soy added to ordinary cooking. They can produce serious gastric distress, hamburgers, tacos and lasagna, dieticians can get the total fat con- reduced protein digestion and chronic deficiencies in amino acid tent below 30 per cent of calories, thereby conforming to govern- uptake. In test animals, diets high in trypsin inhibitors cause ment dictates. "With the soy-enhanced food items, students are enlargement and pathological conditions of the pancreas, includ- receiving better servings of nutrients and less cholesterol and fat." ing cancer." Soy milk has posted the biggest gains, soaring from $2 million Soybeans also contain haemagglutinin, a clot-promoting sub- in 1980 to $300 million in the US last year."° Recent advances in stance that causes red blood cells to clump together. processing have transformed the grey, thin, bitter, beany-tasting Trypsin inhibitors and haemagglutinin are growth inhibitors. Asian beverage into a product that Western consumers will Weanling rats fed soy containing these antinutrients fail to grow accept—one that tastes like a milkshake, but without the guilt. normally. Growth-depressant compounds are deactivated during Processing miracles, good packaging, massive advertising and a the process of fermentation; so once the Chinese discovered how marketing strategy that stresses the products' possible health bene- to ferment the soybean, they began to incorporate soy foods into fits account for increasing sales to all age groups. For example, their diets. In precipitated products, enzyme inhibitors concen- reports that soy helps prevent prostate cancer have made soy milk trate in the soaking liquid rather than in the curd. Thus, in tofu acceptable to middle-aged men. "You don't have to twist the arm and bean curd, growth depressants are reduced in quantity but not of a 55- to 60-year-old guy to get him to try soy milk," says Mark —_ completely eliminated. Messina. Michael Milken, former junk bond financier, has helped the industry shed its hippie image with well-publicised efforts to consume 40 grams of soy protein daily. America today, tomorrow the world. Soy milk sales are rising in Canada, even though soy milk there costs twice as much as cow's milk. Soybean milk processing plants are sprouting up in places like Kenya.'' Even China, where soy really is a poverty food and whose people want more meat, not tofu, has opted to build Western-style soy factories rather than develop western grasslands for grazing animals.” more remarkable because, only a few decades ago, the soybean was considered unfit to eat— even in Asia. 20 - NEXUS APRIL — MAY 2000