Guardian article about soy
www.guardian.co.uk/news/2006/jul/25/food.foodanddrink
"Soya is used in traditional oriental diets in these forms, after cultures, moulds or precipitants have achieved a biochemical transformation, because in its raw form the mature bean is known not only for its oestrogenic qualities but for also its antinutrients, according to the clinical nutritionist Kaayla Daniel, author of The Whole Soy Story. Soya was originally grown in China as a green manure, for its ability to fix nitrogen in the soil, rather than as a food crop, until the Chinese discovered ways of fermenting it, she says.
The young green beans, now sold as a fashionable snack, edamame, are lower in oestrogens and antinutrients, though not free of them. But raw mature soya beans contain phytates that prevent mineral absorption and enzyme inhibitors that block the key enzymes we need to digest protein. They are also famous for inducing flatulence.
Christopher Dawson, who owns the Clearspring brand of organic soy sauces, agrees. He lived in Japan for 18 years and his Japanese wife, Setsuko, is a cookery teacher. "I never saw soy beans on the table in Japan - they're indigestible."
and here is a quote from another Guardian article
www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2004/nov/07/foodanddrink.features7
"US nutritionist Kaayla T Daniel who has studied the history of soya consumption dismisses the comparison, arguing that the soya eaten in China and Japan, such as tofu and miso, is very different from the industrially processed variety used in today's Western food. 'Claims that soya beans have been a major part of the Asian diet for more than 3,000 years, or from "time immemorial" are simply not true,' she said.
The soya bean originated in China, and according to Daniel the ancient Chinese called it 'the yellow jewel' but used it as 'green manure' to enrich the soil for growing other crops. She says soya did not become a staple human food until late in the Chou Dynasty in 1134 BC when the Chinese developed a fermentation process to turn the bean into a paste best know by its Japanese name miso. The liquid poured off during this production of miso is what is known as soya sauce. She claims that the traditional process of making fermented soya products like tofu or tempeh destroys many of the allegedly dangerous chemicals in soya, unlike modern factory methods used today."
It was from an interesting thread about aspartame, sucralose, diet drinks, soy, quorn etc.