"labeling scandal on soy milk in US"

NaturalNews) Until early 2009, Silk brand soy milk was made using organic soybeans. But earlier this year, Dean Foods (owner of the Silk brand) quietly switched to conventional soybeans, which are often grown with pesticides. But they kept the same UPC barcodes on their products, and they kept the product label virtually the same, only replacing the word "organic" with "natural" in a way that was barely noticeable. They also kept the price the same, charging consumers "organic" prices for a product that was now suddenly made with conventionally-grown soybeans.

Many retailers and consumers never noticed the bait-and-switch tactic, so they kept buying Silk, thinking it was still organic. The shift on the product label from "organic" to "natural" wasn't well understood by consumers, either. Many consumers continue to think that the term "natural" is basically the same as "organic," when in fact they are almost opposites. The term "natural" is entirely unregulated, and almost anything can be claimed to be "natural" even when it's sprayed with pesticides or treated with other chemicals.

This bait-and-switch ploy continued throughout 2009 until a few watchdog organizations started to catch on to the covert switch. In late October, the Cornucopia Institute (www.Cornucopia.org) accused Target stores of misleading consumers by advertising Silk products using the old "organic" labeling even though the product being sold in stores was not organic. Cornucopia's Mark Kastel accused Target and Dean Foods for "blurring the line between organic and natural," thereby confusing consumers while boosting profits from the more lucrative sales of non-organic products sold at organic prices. (http://www.cornucopia.org/2009/10/o...)

Meanwhile, a Sunflower health food store in Texas also found itself caught up in the bait-and-switch tactic. It had been reordering Silk for months, thinking the product was still organic. But now, after discovering the scam, the store posts a hand-written sign in front of the Silk products, warning consumers with this message: "Silk is no longer organic."

"We don't want to be part of customer deception," said the store owner in a Star-Telegram interview.

According to that same story, food retailers in California, Delaware and Texas were also duped by Silk's bait-and-switch scheme, only discovering the switch to conventional soybeans months after the switch was covertly made. Dean Foods, you see, never bothered to tell retailers they had switched from organic to conventionally-grown soybeans. They just quietly made the switch but kept the same box design and UPC codes, perhaps hoping no one would notice. And the ploy worked!

"Dean has only added to the marketplace confusion between 'natural' and 'organic,' as they definitely do not mean the same thing, and 'natural' requires no verification whatsoever," said Consumer Reports senior scientist Urvashi Rangan (see Star-Telegram article link below).

Labeling deception

Dean Foods is one of the big food giants that serves processed, factory-made foods and beverages to the American people. It's the parent company of Horizon Organic, the so-called "organic" milk maker that's been caught up in a web of deception exposed by the Organic Consumers Association (http://www.naturalnews.com/021763_o...).

The company has pushed hard to lower organic standards so that it could market products as "organic" even though they might contain questionable ingredients. When Dean Foods bought out WhiteWave, the creator of Silk soy milk, WhiteWave founder Steve Demos soon left the company in disgust, saying that "green" values had been abandoned for the sake of profit.

Dean Foods even refused to participate on a "soy scorecard" investigation undertaken by the Cornucopia Institute (http://www.naturalnews.com/026294_s...). The last thing this company wants is scrutiny of its business practices, it seems. For example, in 2002, Dean Foods cut off U.S. soybean farmers and switched to soybeans grown in China (http://www.cornucopia.org/silk-whit...). And for years, the company has waged attacks on the Cornucopia Institute itself.

In my opinion, Dean Foods is the Enron of the food industry. It has no ethics, no moral code and no hesitation about deceiving consumers or hurting American farmers in order to maximize profits.

In America today, the big food companies are all about disinforming consumers. Rather than telling the truth on product labeling, they seek to confuse consumers with misleading information. That's why they want to weaken the definition of "organic" -- so that they can essentially grow conventional foods with pesticides, then misleadingly position them as "near-organic" products that are sold at organic prices.

Consumers end up buying products they think are organic but really aren't. And because the products are misleadingly positioned as "organic" products, they command a higher price. This, in turn, generates more profits for the food companies.

Lying about being organic pays well in the food industry today. Perhaps that's why so many companies continue to do it.

Dean Foods facts

From: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.ph...

• Dean Foods investors include Pfizer, ExxonMobil, Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart.

• Dean Foods controls 70% of all "organic" milk products sold in the U.S.

• Dean Foods brands include Hershey's, Folgers, Borden, Horizon milk, Stroh's ice cream and Silk soy milk.

• Dean Foods spent over $1 million on lobbyists in 2006.

• The CEO of Dean Foods, Gregg Engles, was paid $3.4 million in salary and nearly $58 million in exercised stock options in 2006 alone.

Additional sources for this story include:

Cornucopia Target complaint (PDF)
http://www.cornucopia.org/USDA/Targ...

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"Does soy protein help with anti aging"

Soy isoflavones may activate anti-ageing proteins and lead to an extension of life, suggests preliminary research from Newcastle University in the UK.

Scientists at the university’s Human Nutrition Research Centre and Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences at Newcastle University report that the soy isoflavone daidzein may activate a protein called sirtuin1 (Sirt1), previously linked to the regulation of ageing and longevity.
“The concentration of daidzein that elicited [the Sirt1] response (100 mmol) exceeds achievable plasma concentrations but is not unrealistic with respect to local intestinal concentrations following consumption of isoflavone-rich foods or isoflavone supplements,” wrote the researchers in Nutrition Bulletin.
“The long life expectancy and healthy ageing observed in the inhabitants of Okinawa Island in Japan, who in past years consumed a low-energy diet, is often cited as evidence supporting a longivity effect of energy restriction in humans,” they added.
“It is of interest to note that soya provided the principal source of protein in this diet, raising the possibility that some beneficial effects of the diet relevant to healthy ageing and long lifespan may, speculatively, have been the result of soybean isoflavones potentiating effects mediated through the activity of Sirt1.”
Despite these feasible links, the researchers stressed that “extensive further investigation is required to confirm such effects”.
Less is more
Calorie restriction, while avoiding malnutrition, has already been reported to extend lives and reduce the risk of chronic disease in certain species, including monkeys.
Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison published findings in Science showing that 80 per cent of rhesus monkeys who consumed a calorie restricted diet were still alive after 20 years, compared to only 50 per cent of control animals who ate freely.
Certain compounds found in the diet may also activate Sirt1, with the most focus being on resveratrol, a polyphenol found in red wine. David Sinclair and his team from Harvard reported in Nature in 2003 that reservatol increased the survival of yeast cells.
Hints towards soy’s potential
Laura Ions, Luisa Wakeling and Dianne Ford from Newcastle University report that early observations from their work indicate that soy isoflavones may share many of the functional properties of resveratrol, “and so highlight the potential for a diet rich in these compounds to promote healthy ageing”.
According to the researchers, isoflavones and resveratrol share a degree of structural similarity. They have also been reported to have effects on DNA methylation.
“A recent report providing evidence that daidzein can increase Sirt1 activity suggests to us that the isoflavones may potentially increase DNA methylation through the same hypothetical mechanism we propose for effects of resveratrol and energy restriction - that is, through the removal of acetyl groups from histone proteins by the activity of Sirt1,” wrote the researchers.
“Our preliminary data lend some support to such a mechanism, but extensive further investigation is required to confirm such effects and to elucidate in detail the underlying mechanisms before giving dietary advice concerning potential beneficial effects of soya consumption outwith its probable cardioprotective effect,” they concluded.
The study was supported by an Alpro Foundation Masters Award (UK) and the BBSRC.
Source: Nutrition Bulletin
September 2009, Volume 34, Issue 3, Pages 303-308, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-3010.2009.01764.x
“Can soyabean isoflavones mimic the effects of energy restriction on healthy ageing?”
Authors: L. Ions, L. Wakeling, D. Ford
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"soy good or bad you decide"

Meta-analysis supports safety of soy, red clover

By Stephen Daniells, 02-Oct-2009

Related topics: Research, Phytochemicals, plant extracts, Soy-based ingredients, Women's health

Phytoestrogens like soy and red clover isoflavones pose no safety issues with regards to heart health and breast cancer risk, according to a new meta-analysis from Austria.

Compounds such as genistein, naringenin, kaempferol, and lignans such as enterodiol and enterolactone, were not linked to increased incidence of adverse events, according to an analysis of 92 randomised controlled trials with almost 10,000 participants published in The American Journal of Medicine.
“Our findings have implications for women seeking safe […] alternatives to hormone replacement therapy,” wrote the researchers, led by Clemens Tempfer from the Medical University Vienna.
“Based on our findings, they can be assured that there is no indication of serious unwanted side effects of phytoestrogen treatment such as those found in women on hormone replacement therapy, for example, thrombosis, myocardial infarction, stroke, and breast cancer,” they added.
“It has to be acknowledged, however, that our study does not make any statement about the efficacy of phytoestrogen treatment, which has been discussed controversially.”
Soy isoflavones are naturally occurring oestrogen-like compounds, and supplements are currently marketed as a way of reducing symptoms of the menopause and offer an alternative to hormone replacement therapy.
Conflicting reports however have clouded the picture about the beneficial effects of soy isoflavones, with some studies indicating that breast cancer cells in mice were stimulated by the isoflavones. Population studies have shown that women with a high-soy diet generally have lower rates of breast cancer.
The new meta-analysis looked at all isoflavones, and identified 92 randomised controlled trials with 9,629 participants.
Comparing the phytoestrogen groups to the placebo or control groups, Tempfer and his co-workers report that the incidence of side effects was approximately the same, with 36.7 and 38 per cent, respectively.
While higher rates of gastrointestinal side effects were recorded in the users of phytoestrogen, no significant differences were observed regarding gynaecological, musculoskeletal, or neurological side effects, added the researchers.
Furthermore, hormone-related side effect rates, including breast and endometrial cancer, were not significantly different between groups.
EFSA’s opinion
Earlier this year data was sent to a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) working group investigating isoflavones following a symposium in Italy. Twenty isoflavone experts met in Italy to examine studies collected over the last 20 years, and as well as newer trials, and concluded that emerging human studies in isoflavones demonstrate the “modest but valuable benefit for menopause relief”.
The scientists concluded the soy and red clover-derived isoflavones do not increase the risk of breast cancer and can offer very real relief to post-menopausal women.
Source: The American Journal of Medicine
October 2009, Volume 122, Issue 10, Pages 939-946.e9
“Side Effects of Phytoestrogens: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Trials”
Authors: C.B. Tempfer, G. Froese, G. Heinze, E.-K. Bentz, L.A. Hefler, J.C. Huber
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