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The July, 2011 issue of the Journal of Membrane Biology (Wallace JL, et. al.) contains a study in which the life and death of breast cancer cells was examined after exposing those lethal cells to phytoestogens. The scientists found:
"Changes in the regulation of potassium channels are increasingly implicated in the altered activity of breast cancer cells...the growth of numerous cell lines, including breast cancer cells, has been modified...In a number of cell lines the phytoestrogen genistein inhibits proliferation..."
Carbon Monoxide more readily attaches to hemoglobin receptors than does oxygen. That can be a problem.
Soy phytoestrogens more readily attaches to estrogen receptors than does estrogen. That can be a blessing.
If you were sad and desperate and decided to end your own life by turning on your car's engine in a closed garage with no ventilation, the vehicle's exhaust fumes containing carbon monoxide would overwhelm your body and might succeed in ending your life.
Hemoglobin is a protein contained within human blood. As blood passes through one's lungs, it picks up oxygen from the air we breathe. Molecules of oxygen attach to hemoglobin molecules,which circulate through the body, nourishing organs and tissues with an essential gaseous life-sustaining element. Your car's engine produces carbon monoxide, which competes with oxygen for a place on the hemoglobin molecule. Carbon monoxide, a colorless and odorless gas, displaces oxygen from the blood so that hemoglobin receptors receive the carbon monoxide, rather than the oxygen. In that sense, carbon monoxide more readily attaches to hemoglobin, and should be called an oxygen inhibitor, or oxygen interruptor.
So, what carbon monoxide does is mimic the action of oxygen by attaching to the hemoglobin molecule. Instead of oxygen-sustaining life, the body receives a toxin that initially creates slight headaches followed by painful frontal headaches often followed by nausea, dizziness, convulsions, coma, and death.
Soy phytochemicals work much the same way in the human body. Soybeans do not contain estrogen, although many poorly-informed physicians confuse the name. Forgive these ignorant souls for their lack of nutritional education. Soy actually contains phytoestrogens. "Phyto" means "plant." Plant estrogens cannot create the same behavioral or physiological effects as human estrogen, but they can fool the body into believing that cells are dosed with estrogen-like steroid hormones.
Real estrogen is a feminizing steroid hormone which defines a woman's essence. Real estrogen is also a growth proliferator that can become a pre or post-menopausal's woman's worst nightmare. Estrogen, when internally secreted and combined with protein growth hormones (hGH, IGF-I), often synergizes to create uterine, ovarian, or breast cancers.
Soy phytoestrogens do not induce the same cellular proliferation as do human steroid hormones, but they do share a similar name. That is where the soy controversy confusion occurs. Much like the binding of carbon monoxide to the hemoglobin molecule, soy phytoestrogens bind to beta-like estrogen receptors in human cells and interrupt the natural mechanisms of estrogen. In this sense, soy actually prevents the dangerous growth effects normally associated with true estrogen. Therefore, soy inhibits the mechanisms of estrogen. Soy becomes a beneficial endocrine disruptor.
It's not a good thing to have carbon monoxide take the place of oxygen on a hemoglobin molecule. The adverse is true in the case of phytoestrogens. When these non-steroid-like substances bind to the cell's receptors and take the place of real steroid hormones, they eliminate nature's perfect hazard for women. In that sense, phytoestogens from soy prevent breast, uterine, and ovarian cancers from initiating and proliferating.
Hooray for soy estrogens, which are entirely different from the real thing. In this sense, soy consumption is a blessing, not a hazard.
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We began this archive as a means of assisting our visitors in answering many of their health and diet questions, and in encouraging them to take a pro-active part in their own health. We believe the articles and information contained herein are true, but are not presenting them as advice. We, personally, have found that a whole food vegan diet has helped our own health, and simply wish to share with others the things we have found. Each of us must make our own decisions, for it's our own body. If you have a health problem, see your own physician.