-GMOs aren't necessarily bad for the health. If we're talking about ecology and biodiversity, it's another story, but the mere fact that a food is genetically modified is certainly no indication that the food is bad for people.
-Everyone knows that non-organic soy is dangerous, partly because of the huge amounts of chemicals they use in producing it.
-Soy making the digestion of proteins harder? I want proof.
-He has an accent I'm having trouble understand with how fast he speaks, but did he say that soy contains a fibre that influences the absorbtion of minerals negatively? I've never heard of any fibre, unless consumed in huge excess (and/or with very low amounts of water), posing any health issue whatsoever. And if tofu contains that "unhealthy fibre", a lot of other nutrients probably contain it. What, is he suggesting that whilst the majority of people don't eat enough fibre, we avoid fibre? I've never, either, heard of a vegetarian having a mineral deficit caused by tofu. Mostly, cases I've heard of were vegetarians who didn't consume enough vitamin C, and thus didn't absorb iron well, and vegetarians who ate white/processed grain products instead of whole, and people who just didn't eat well at all. Again, I want proof.
The only way soy can have such effects, apparently, is if you use it raw. And no one eats raw soy.
-Soy phyto-estrogens have been proven over and over again to not have any significant effect on adults, unless consumed in huge amounts. And even in children, it's still under debate. In some cases, it has been found to promote gynecomastia in boys, but the last paper I read said that there didn't seem to be any long-term effect. Of course, a problem we don't see isn't necessarily absent, but I don't think the consumption of soy products in children is all that bad, unless abused.
-In infants, however, I did read something that seems to prove what the man in the video is saying long ago. Makes sense, too, that a very small child would be sensitive to even small amounts of outside hormones, even if they are of vegetal origin. But even though I agree in terms of logic, there is still no scientific consensus here either.
-Toxic amounts of aluminium? Aluminium in soy comes from the earth it grows on. It could contain zero in specific conditions. And average soy doesn't containt that much to begin with. And the consumption of aluminium isn't all that terrible, it seems.
http://www.soyfacts.com.au/faqs.html-Toxic amounts of manganese seems proven, though. Of course, the amounts not being so dramatic and manganese being an essential nutrient anyway, I see no risk for adults, but infants and young children do seem to be at risk on this field.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15047678-Soy protein isolates are, though, undeniably bad. But whilst those are present in many non-soy-based foods such as cereal bars, I've never seen them on ingredient lists of soy milk, tofu or anything.
-The Asian people claimed to have "safely tested soy for years" may have mainly used soy in moderate amounts and fermented, but they also did use non-fermented forms of it. So in a way, if they did and, despite of it, lived older and healthier than most other peoples, soy can't be as much of a poison as some claim.
As a conclusion, it is true that soy isn't a miracle food. And like many other foods, soy must be used moderately and wisely. But as soy isn't a traditionally Western food, it does tend to be criticised more. All the shortcomings it has doesn't make soy lose its nutritional qualities. It's a low-calorie good source of protein and contains fibre, as well as healthy fats. There are others, but I don't want to search. Many other foods we eat daily are probably not far from soy in terms of adverse effects, and could even have a higher adverse effect - nutritional qualities ratio, and one could probably prove it if they searched through scientific papers diligently.
Red meat is an example. Except for a few nutrients, all very easily found elsewhere, of which it is a good source, I've never heard of any research saying it has benefits. Actually, every time I hear of it, a research has found another adverse effect to it, ever in smaller doses. Yet what we hear isn't "red meat is poison". It's "red meat should be consumed in moderation". Whilst even relatively small amounts have been demonstrated to have adverse effects, the image people have is "don't eat a T-bone every day and you'll be fine". And publicity, even the government sometimes, encourages us to eat it. And our mothers say we'll have an iron deficit if we don't eat enough red meat.
One more example: dairy products. Dairy products are omnipresent in the Western culture, even more so in some European countries. Of course, cow milk is rich in quite a few nutrients, and supplemented with vitamin D as it often is, it's quite a good support for bones. Yet adults aren't supposed to be able to digest lactose. Worldwide, depending on the country, of course (read the full Wikipedia article if you're interested), an average of 75% people are intolerant to lactose
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Laktoseintoleranz-1.svg. It's not an illness: it's rather the ability to digest lactose as an adult that is a mutation. Consuming lactose when you are intolerant is a bad idea, and I remember reading something about how repeated consumption of lactose despite an intolerance could pose long-term issues. Can't find it. Anyway.
Plus, unless only skimmed milk is consumed, the vast majority of fat in milk is saturated, which is worse for the health than most people think. Yet no one asked for a warning to be put on 1~3.25% fat milk. And most food guides say "dairy products", putting the emphasis on milk products as a calcium/etc. source, despite their bad sides. I even still see cream and butter (both milk products that lack most of its benefit and concentrate its fat, to the extreme for the latter) commercials, partly financed by the government. Cheese is also presented as an excellent food, very rich in all sorts of nutrients, such as calcium, vitamin B12 and protein. But whenever I look at the Nutrition Facts tag of a cheese package, the only thing I'm impressed by is the tremendous amount of fat. To get my daily calcium or B12 from cheese only, I'd need to become obese.
Despite all that, though I would never claim milk should mostly be avoided. Its nutritional qualities are undeniable. But I would suggest moderation and prudence.
In the end, all I want to say is that soy has its qualities and shortcomings, just like a whole lot of foods. In my opinion, both people who claim it's an ideal food and those like the man in the video who claim almost all soy products are noxious are doing disinformation.
