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Happy President’s Day! On this important day, I want to share with you a letter Sally Fallon Morell wrote to President Obama (then President-Elect Obama) regarding the diet inmates in the Illinois prison system are being fed, made up largely of soy foods, and the widespread health problems these prisoners are experiencing from eating this soy diet.

Sally Fallon was interviewed on the Katherine Albrecht radio show last Friday, February 13th. Katherine and Sally discussed letter Sally wrote to President Obama. They also talk about why soy foods are so bad for you.

Click here to listen to this fascinating show streaming on your computer.

Below, I have excerpted the open letter Sally Fallon wrote to President Obama regarding the prison system in Illinois where the prisoners are being fed a high soy diet.

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA

From Sally Fallon Morell, President, the Weston A. Price Foundation

November 16, 2008

Dear Mr. Obama,

Congratulations on your recent victory in the American presidential elections. As the president-elect, you have many issues to consider as you prepare to take office.

One issue I would urge you to focus on concerns a grave injustice taking place in the prisons of your home state, namely, a prison diet that is slowly killing the inmates assigned to the Illinois Department of Corrections. This is a diet based largely on soy protein powder and soy flour. As you stated on last night’s 60 Minutes Program, America does not condone torture. I think you would agree that what is happening in the Illinois prisons is a form of torture.

Soy protein and soy flour are toxic, especially in large amounts. The US Food and Drug Administration lists 288 studies on its database showing the toxicity of soy. Numerous studies show that soy consumption leads to nutrient deficiencies, digestive disorders, endocrine disruption and thyroid problems.

Even the most ardent supporters of soy, such as Dr. Mark Messina, warn against consuming more than about 20 grams of soy protein per day. But the inmates in Illinois are getting upwards of 100 grams per day—beef and chicken by-product mixtures containing 60-70 percent soy, fake soy meats and cheese, even soy added to baked goods. The soy products are produced by Archer Daniel Midlands, which contributed heavily to the campaign of Rod Blagojevich. The change from a diet based largely on beef to one based on soy happened in 2003, when Mr. Blagojevich began his first term as governor.

The national office of the Weston A. Price Foundation has heard from dozens of inmates begging for help. Almost all suffer from serious digestive disorders, such as diarrhea or painful constipation, vomiting, irritable bowel syndrome and sharp pains in the digestive tract. One reason for these problems is the high oxalic acid content of soy—no food is higher in oxalic acid than soy protein isolate, which can contain up to 630 milligrams per serving, at least six times higher than the amount found in typical diets.

Oxalic acid is associated with kidney stones, but the sharp crystal deposits can form in almost every tissue in the body — in the heart where they can stop electrical signals; in the bones where they can displace bone marrow cells, leading to anemia or immune deficiency; in the brain where they can impair the transmission of signals; and in the skin where they can cause fibromyalgia.

Other problems reported by the inmates include acne, hair loss, depression, lethargy, allergies, heart arrhythmias, passing out after soy consumption, frequent infections and constant feeling of cold. Many of these are symptoms of low thyroid function. The estrogen-like compounds in soy are known to depress thyroid function.

The Weston A. Price Foundation is a non-profit nutrition education foundation dedicated to restoring nutrient-dense foods to the human diet through education, research and activism. The Foundation is spearheading a national campaign to warn consumers about the dangers of modern soy foods. Please visit their website www.westonaprice.org to learn more about the Foundation’s Soy Alert! campaign.

Please read the entire letter — click here to download the PDF.

Please spread the word! Link to this post on your blog, or tweet the link to this page on Twitter or post on Facebook. We can make a difference by spreading the word online and educating people about the dangers of soy and how these prisoners in Illinois are suffering from the effects of eating a high soy diet.