Milk This!

What milk are you drinking AND is it Healthy for you?


SOY - NOT SO SAFE

It lurks in your cupboards, your cereal, bread, pasta and chips. It's in your refrigerator, in your cheese, condiments, yogurt, sausages, ice cream. It's in those M&M's by the desk, probably in the latte you're drinking right now.

It's soy, and it's now in almost every single processed food we buy at supermarkets and health food stores. As America's favorite "health food," it promises to make us skinny and lower our cholesterol, prevent cancer and reduce menopausal symptoms, put us in a better mood, give us energy. It's the cheap and guilt-free source of protein for millions of vegetarians, the "heart smart" option for carnivores, the infant formula du jour for eco-minded moms. Soy has become one of the America's biggest industries.

And it may be making us sicker than we've ever been. Or so alleges Kaayla Daniel, author of "The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food," an anti-soy treatise released in 2005 by New Trends Publishing.

"People are just starting to wake up to this, to just how serious this all is," says Daniel, who earned her doctorate at the Union Institute and works as a certified nutritionist. "So far, if you look at the studies, you'll start to see that there are only possible benefits of this food, and proven dangers."

For Daniel, the problem exists in the soybean itself, a legume that by nature is chock full of antinutrients and toxins to ward off predators. If eaten in small amounts (say, a few tablespoons every couple of days) these toxins pose no real harm. The trouble occurs when we consume more than 35 grams of soy a day -- a quantity Daniel argues is easily reachable in our modern diet so crammed with soy meats, soy extenders, soy protein and soy emulsifiers, substances so full of estrogens, metals, sugars and additives, so "toxic," that they are posing considerable risks to our collective physical and mental health.

Cancer patients are being warned to avoid foods rich in soy because they can accelerate the growth of tumors.

Soy, which is present in soy beans, soy milk, tofu, tempeh and some breads, contains phyto-oestrogens that mimic the actions of hormones in the body.


ALMOND MILK - STILL NOT SAFE

Does Almond Breeze contain any soy?

Yes. Almond Breeze contains trace amounts of soy in the form of soy lecithin which is derived from soybeans. It is common in many food products and helps to emulsify the natural oils found in almonds to produce a creamy texture. A soy-free version will also be available later this year.


COCONUT MILK - BETTER

For centuries cultures around the world have revered and relied upon coconut for its nutritional powers and infinite practical uses. Native tradition attributes healing and life-giving properties to the fruit-bearing palm, which is why it is often called, ‘Tree of Life’.

In western society, the health benefits of coconuts are just beginning to be understood. The mystery appears to be in the favorable fats found in coconut.

Although coconut contains saturated fat, a closer examination shows that not all saturated fats pose a health problem. Saturated fat chains exist in a variety of lengths which impact the body differently.

Research has demonstrated that Long Chain Triglycerides (LCT) represent the most sinister saturated fat. LCTs exist primarily in foods derived from animals and have been linked to heart disease and a number of other chronic conditions. The body stores LCTs as fat. Americans consume an excess amount of animal-sourced LCT, which drives many of the health problems in this country.

Coconut represents a vegetarian-sourced saturated fat consisting of medium chain fatty acids (MCFA). Scientists have long recognized MCFAs such as lauric and capric acid for their anti-viral and anti-microbial properties. The body utilizes MCFAs as energy instead of storing them as fat.