Posted Mon, 05/30/2011
Zen Habits: stupid about soy
Isn't it cute when scientifically ignorant people accuse other people of being scientifically ignorant? You know they are scientifically ignorant because they blather on about "peer reviewed research" while obviously never having read any.I don't know when or why I subscribed to the mindless platitude drivel blog Zen Habits, but their recent post about soy caught my eye.
It’s one of those things that has spread on the Internet and unbelievably, has become accepted truth to many people: that soy is unhealthy, even dangerous. I mention (to otherwise smart and informed people) that I drink soymilk sometimes, and a look of pity comes over their faces. ‘This guy doesn’t know the dangers of soy, and might get cancer, or worse … man boobs,’ they’re thinking. Just about every fitness expert I read — people I respect and trust — says that soy is bad for you, from Tim Ferriss to the primal/paleo folk. I absolutely respect most of these guys and otherwise think their work on fitness-related matters is great. And yet, when I look for their sources on soy, often they don’t exist, and when they do, I can always trace them back to one place. The Weston A. Price Foundation.
Um, suuuure. So the whole thing is basically setting up a straw man - "only teh evil WAPF sayz soy is baad! WAPF is teh stupid, here are some blag posts from some vegan blogs that sayz they are teh wrong!"
Unfortunately it is true that some WAPF article are pretty questionable. There is an element of woo I can't get behind as a scientist. But there are also articles with scientific references and it would be useful to follow those. But nope, instead the idiot just cites some forum posts and vegan websites.
