Soy Products Found To Contain Dangerous Neurotoxin - this alarming news may disappoint the consumers who love soy products. But this is true that while eating soy products like protein bars or burgers you may be unknowingly consuming neurotoxin.

Soy products have been under fire because of the presence of hexane in them. According to the survey report, popular protein bars like Clif, Mojo, Balance and Luna contain hexane-processed soy. Same is the case with Boca veggie burgers, Gardenburger products, Trader Joe's veggie burgers and many more. A survey by the organic watchdog group Cornucopia Institute has indicated that Silk's non-organic "Light" and "Heart Health" soymilk products are made with soy flour instead of whole soybeans and this non-organic soy flour involves hexane. It’s ironical that even conventional soy-based infant formula is hexane extracted.

 Hexane is a highly flammable EPA-listed air pollutant, a by product of gas refining and a neurotoxin. People exposed to hexane develop both skin and nervous system disorders. The manufacturers add hexane in the soy products so as to reduce the level of fat composition in them. By doing this, they try to meet the demand of health-conscious consumers. Moreover, this is the cheapest way where soybeans are submerged in a bath of hexane to separate oil from the protein.  

There are many adverse effects of hexane on human health. Its short term inhalation can cause dizziness, giddiness, slight nausea, and headache. While chronic exposure to hexane may have neurotoxic effects. It can cause numbness in the extremities, muscular weakness, blurred vision and headache. Effects of hexane residues have not yet been thoroughly studied but we can’t overlook its threat on human body.

Apart from hexane issue soy products are also being criticized for estrogen like molecules in them that disturb the human hormonal system. Moreover, today’s high tech processing methods used in processing soy products leave many toxic and carcinogenic residues that are generated under high temperature and pressure. So next time you go to purchase soy products, ensure that it should be certified organic and not made with organic ingredients else you might end up eating hexane processed soy product.

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