Thursday, January 27, 2011

Dear reader,

I've had comments from readers wanting me to look at or debate specific studies that are perhaps contradictory to ones that I cited. I sometimes think that this not really productive; in the sense of 'why debate how much phytoestrogens are in foods?' when the questioner's intention seems be to help people avoid these benign/beneficial substances which are shown (at the highest levels of intake!) to prevent cancer (lowers risk of certain cancers by about 30%) and heart disease while blocking the truly harmful xenoestrogens (external sources like agricultural and industrial chemicals or plastics) from docking to cellular receptors.

And I don't really want to publish people's comments that include links that send people to other websites; especially if they are not authoritative and non-commercial. In most cases I provide my own references and will happily publish relevant comments that avoid such links; though I of course reserve the right to debate these comments with a follow up comment of my own if I disagree with the point(s) being made.

I also don't want to debate the merits of whatever "expert" someone wants to throw at me because we all know that there are plenty of voices of all levels of credibility on the Internet; many do not list references (or data-dump bogus (irrelevant or unsupportive) ones as soy critics often do), evidently preferring to hear themselves pontificate rather than to review topics from a real scientific curiosity that allows for minds to expand and change. Even the real experts often disagree, since that is the nature of the scientific method; though I have seen the rare term "proven" applied to research on soy's benefits for heart health.

I believe that YOU are smart enough to compare arguments and consider the merits of everyone's "facts" and opinions. As you see from the published comments from readers on my own blog, I do respect, read, and reply to your comments and even appreciate a "healthy" debate on topics that are also important to you. While no one is perfect (especially me), at least I aspire to know my limitations and try to do the right thing. Hopefully, you will carefully read my blog and consider me to be a trusted source providing "Honest Nutrition". Thanks for letting me share this page with you!

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