Dr Mercola

Mercola is anti-soy

Dr Mercola is well known for his unconventional views on health issues. Dr. Mercola is very clever. He spreads accusations which put some people off eating certain foods and at the same time, he sells on his website foods, which he finds safe. A lot of his statements are anecdotes which are very interesting to read. The problem is that the ordinary consumer will believe Mercola but his conclusions are not always scientific. Mercola is using the ignorance of the consumer to further his own agenda. These are some of the accusations on Mercola’s website:

• Soy May Cause Cancer and Brain Damage
• High Soy Diet During Pregnancy And Nursing May Cause Developmental Changes In Children
• Soy Can Cause Severe Allergic Reactions
• Soy Supplements Fail to Help Menopause Symptoms
• Pregnant Women Should Not Eat Soy Products
• Soy Can Lead to Kidney Stones
• Soy Baby Formula Linked to Behavioral Problems
• Soy Formula Exposes Infants To High Hormone Levels
• Soy Weakens Your Immune System

Despite all accusations of Mercola, evidence shows that soy has many health benefits, when consumed as part of a healthy diet. The only correct accusation of Mercola is that some people (less than 1 percent) are allergic to soy and they should of course avoid soy. But dairy products, for which soy products are often a substitute, produce even more allergic reactions.

Many of the statements of Mercola are based on scientific experiments, but many scientific experiments are bad designed or their results are not statistically significant. The health benefits of soy are often only visible after years (or decades) of consumption and cannot be demonstrated with laboratory experiments which only take a few months. Soy products consumed by girls during adolescence may reduce the risk of breast cancer more than 20 years later. How can you prove or disprove this with laboratory experiments?

Mercola gives conflicting information

For some reason Mercola does not like soy, but he approves of 4 soy products: miso, tempeh, natto and soybean sprouts: “There are some redeeming qualities to soy, however these are found primarily in fermented soy products like tempeh, miso and natto and soybean sprouts. If you want to get some health benefits from soy, stick to these four forms and pass up the processed soy milks, soy ‘burgers’, soy ‘ice cream’, soy ‘cheese’, and the myriad of other soy junk foods that are so readily disguised as health foods.” Mercola’s statement is very conflicting. These four soy products contain significant amounts of isoflavones. Isoflavones is the soy component Mercola dislikes the most. What is true is that these 4 soy products do not compete much with existing foods whereas the others do: soy milk competes with cow milk, soy burgers compete with meat burgers, soy cheese competes with dairy cheese,...