Video: Unmasking Soy Myths: Truths About Soy and Cancer

Devin Stone, ND

Of course. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me today.

Véronique Desaulniers, DC

So a little bit of background on my personal journey with Haelan 951 though in the early nineties I was dealing with some serious ovarian issues and my integrative medical doctor at the time suggested that I try this product. So I ordered cases of it and did it on a regular basis and it helped to resolve my ovarian issues. As a result, I started recommending this to all of my patients. So that’s what over 30 years that I’ve been doing this. And when I went through both healing journeys Haelan was an important part of my healing process. And now I just take it on a maintenance level to make sure that it takes care of what it needs to take care of. So let’s dive in a little bit when we talk about soy and breast cancer. There are so many red flags that go up, especially with conventional oncology. So let’s kind of bust that myth about soy and why it can be beneficial for a breast cancer healing journey.

Devin Stone, ND

Of course, this is always a great topic I think to get into because myself, I have to say, even before starting to dive deep into Haelan and how it works and all that I even had misconceptions with soy because there are so much pros and cons out there. It just kind of depends on who you talk to and when they saw the research down the last 20, 30 years, we really have many different ideas out there. But if we look at the more modern day research today, we understand how protective and beneficial good soy products could be for a patient going through any one of these journeys. So what kind of happens if we go back? We look at soy-based products having a lot of what are called isoflavones in them. They are these phytoestrogens, so they’re a type of estrogen that comes from the plant kingdom. So originally when we looked at soy products and saw that it is very rich in these phytoestrogens, it sounded scary to add it to a patient that’s going through cancer treatments that may have estrogen receptor positive cancers because we know that these receptors are being stimulated by some type of estrogens out there and could actually promote these cancers from, promote them growing and being in the body. So the idea came from that, why would we give people more phytoestrogens in this case? 

However, we now fast forward to more modern day research today and we see these phytoestrogens actually work very, very differently once they’re in the body. What we know now is that the same estrogen receptor has different what we call subunits on it. So the phytoestrogens actually can attach to a certain subunit called the beta subunit which actually helps block this signal from happening down the road. So we now know that this could actually be very protective for people going through treatments on this side because we could actually stop stimulating some of these estrogen positive cancers. And we all know today that we’re overburdened with so many estrogens from out there in the world through what we call xenoestrogens which come from some like our plastics and body care products. And by actually now blocking this signal with good plant phytoestrogens, this could help kind of stop some of this cascade from happening. So that was one of the big kinds of myths that came up. And when I was diving into that research, really found that to be so promising because, with some of these estrogen positive cancers, breast cancers, ovarian cancers that can be responsive there, this is a great product to help just kind of aid on a natural level with all of this.

Véronique Desaulniers, DC

Now, you mentioned some there was something that triggered. I wanted to ask you. I know I get inquiries often when I recommend the product and because when it comes back, it’s it says, you know, shipped from China or made in China or something. And people have a lot of reservations about that. And I know I inquired about it and I received from the company the analysis that gets done and the proof that, you know, it’s so clean. So can you tell us a little bit about where and how the soy is actually grown?

Devin Stone, ND

Of course, definitely. And I think this is so important because what we just talked about, soy can be very beneficial to the body. However, soy can actually be negative to the body as well due to I think it’s about 98% of the soy products out there now are from genetically modified organisms. So they are rich in pesticides. They really don’t have the nutrient load that they used to do. However, when we look at Haelan they really go above and beyond when it comes to how they actually choose their soy products. So they grow all of their soy in Mongolia at a very high elevation. And what this does is by being at a certain elevation, different soy species can’t cross-pollinate. We know now that if you are on a flat surface, different soy plants could actually pollinate one another, and then you’re actually starting to lose the original strain of soy. So this goes back to now knowing that it is the same strain of soy that’s always being utilized. It’s grown at a high elevation in Mongolia. All of the plants themselves are fertilized with volcanic ash, so it gives it a very, very nutrient-dense soil that’s actually growing. And we know that the plants are going to be taking all of these nutrients from the soil and ultimately go into the product itself. So when this happens and they are started to grow at this really beautiful location, and then when they actually go to even picking the soy plant, they go through all of their crops and find the beans that are at the rapist point as well to be able to harvest them. Then they take it to their whole nitrogen fermentation process. So with this, this is a whole another step that they utilize to actually condense down a lot of these soybeans and from there, with the extra fermentation product process, it has two things that really make this product even better at this point. One, it makes it rich in probiotics. So now we’re going to be getting all these live bacteria cultures that could help our gut help with restoration there. But also the fermentation process helps break down what’s called phytic acid as well, which we know can be sometimes problematic due to the fact it could lock on to different nutrients, such as some of our minerals, and make them not as easily absorbed. So this whole process really takes it one step further than I think most soy products that I’ve ever seen out there. Just how they do it. When it goes into the whole coming from China process. This is actually something when I heard the story, how Haelan even became around with something that I thought was so cool. What originally happened was this product was really more utilized as a protein source. You know, soy is a complete protein, so you’re getting all of your essential amino acids and they’re using it in different hospitals in China. And what was going on, they’re using it for patients that were post-cancer or going through chemotherapy and utilizing it to help with cachexia or some of the wasting that can happen throughout this process. So what they then saw was as they’re giving their patients just protein, they thought at this point they’re actually healing and getting better results than they ever were before on some of the other protein sources they’re utilizing. So it really just has a cool history as well where how it came from China, but also just how they actually cultivate this product. It definitely goes above and beyond almost all soy that I’ve seen out there.

Véronique Desaulniers, DC

It’s amazing how clean and how powerful of a product it is. And what’s even more amazing is imagine 25 pounds of soybeans in one bottle. That shows you how potent, and how powerful, and nutrient-dense this product is. Now, I often get the question, what about extracts? You know, I mean, Haelan is a little on the pricey side, especially if you have to take several cases of it and drink a whole bottle every day. I’d rather do just a pill of Genistein or a pill of soy isoflavones. What’s the drawback of just doing an extract versus getting this whole liquid fermented product?

Devin Stone, ND

Of course, for me, it kind of always goes back to how we were trained in our herbal medicine and naturopathic medical school. When we really look at the way the plant kingdom creates products, it packages things so brilliantly with one another. Constituents that we pull out such as some of these isoflavones yes, they can be beneficial on their own. But if we look at really working with the whole plant and having every constituent that synergizes is there together, you really can have the best plant medicine by doing so. What this means is you’re not going to just get a high potency of just one of these isoflavones you’re going to get an array of that, and you’re also going to get the probiotics that are in there as well. You’re also going to get the amino acids that can help with this, the vitamins and minerals. And this helps on all of our cellular mechanisms afterward because they’re really supporting the body with, yes, the isoflavones that can be very beneficial. But some of these micronutrients as well that help with these different biological processes in the body. So we just really look at the plant as it knows what it’s doing already. It put these together in a very beautiful way and by taking this whole plant, you’re going to be just getting every single constituent that can help with the healthcare journey. The other side, just like what you said, it does concentrate down 25 pounds of soy as well. So if we do compare even that isoflavones in a product like this one versus a capsule, you’re still going to be getting high dosages, high therapeutic dosages of these different isoflavones by consuming a product like Haelan. Maybe if we’re just doing eating regular soybeans, which you could almost never probably eat 25 pounds a day every single day, but that really gives you just the ability to do that through a really great medical-grade food.

Véronique Desaulniers, DC

Yeah, medical-grade food, I love that. So let’s talk about food. Would you consider soy a superfood?

Devin Stone, ND

I would. I definitely would at this point. Like I said when I, before I started going down the rabbit hole of all the modern-day research is something that’s just heard on both sides, even from professors of mine through school. Some people were all for it, some people were not for it. But now that I really know kind of how beneficial this could be, I just think this is something that, yes, we can work with it in the kind of oncology space that we’re talking about here today, but it has so many beneficial properties for pretty much anyone out there. And that’s where we can then truly call it a superfood because it does provide all these macronutrients and micronutrients that could help support anyone going through life at this point.

Véronique Desaulniers, DC

So that brings me to the next question. So is this product just beneficial for women or who can benefit from from this?

Devin Stone, ND

Definitely so. Almost like I was saying, any person can there are so many mechanisms behind how this product works in your body. There are quite a few that are well-studied and researched that help with cancer support. But we also know one of the major aspects of the isoflavones and soy in general, it’s very anti-inflammatory to the body. It decreases something called NF Kappa B, NF Kappa Beta, which is a very inflammatory molecule in the body. And when we do that, we could actually then help support almost any process that’s going on in the body that’s dysregulated because everything is almost some type of low-grade inflammation to high-grade inflammation that we can help support the body. I’ve even talked with athletes before to take this product to help give them back their protein, but also help them recover faster for utilizing these types of products as well. So for myself as well, I feel like I’m at a pretty healthy state as of today, but I use it for preventative reasons too, because I know there are inflammatory processes going on in my body. I do know unfortunately we’re always creating some type of cancer cells in our bodies. So if I can give myself something that is a great superfood like this that could help support myself and hopefully prevent things down the road as well, is something that I always like to look into as well. How do we also prevent disease is such a big topic that needs to be explored more.

Véronique Desaulniers, DC

Absolutely. And I would have to say that I’ve seen I mean, in the course of my professional career when I started using it back in the 1990s, I’ve seen so many people benefit from from utilizing Haelan. Let’s talk about just generalities. We’re not recommending or we’re not advising anybody to follow this. But somebody let’s say somebody is on a breast cancer healing journey. What kind of dosage is generally recommended for women who are on a healing journey?

Devin Stone, ND

Of course, yeah. Just like you said to always check with your doctor to make sure this is appropriate for your setting as well. For myself, when I am working with patients that this could be part of their treatment plan, we recommend about one full bottle a day. So it is a larger dose, but that is really giving you all the potency, all the nutrients, everything that we were just talking about. What I typically tell my patients is trying to split it up and maybe 1 to 2 servings throughout the day, half the bottle in the morning, half the bottle at night. And then on the other side, for patients that are just going through more of a maintenance phase afterward, that we got to be clear exactly where we want to be recommended, about 1 to 2 ounces a day of the product. So with that said, there is always a caveat. We tell everyone it is definitely not the most flavorful type of beverage. If you can think of a very potent fermented soy product. But with that said, there are a lot of ways to kind of work through it. One, we do have a mint flavoring powder that can be added to it. I do tell some of my patients, too, that if they are making like berry smoothies, are ready to get all these antioxidants, sometimes mixing in with that as well to help with it. On the other side myself, I’m just at a point where I kind of almost look forward to it in some weird way as well, you kind of know what’s coming, you know what it’s doing. We also kind of always joke about this in our herbal medicine when we go through that in school, that sometimes this potency factor and the taste factor kind of go hand in hand with you knowing it’s a good medicine at the same time, a good plant medicine anyways. So it’s definitely is one of those that’s up there with that as well. But with that said, going to the one bottle a day for any kind of treatment. I work with patients for that and then bringing them down eventually it’s about 1 to 2 ounces a day.

Véronique Desaulniers, DC

So what I learned through the years is I like adding chocolate stevia drops. So I’ll just put like a dropper full of chocolate stevia, make sure the bottle is nice and cold. And obviously in the fridge and then you just down it and then you swish your mouth and then you can drink more water afterward. But it’s, you know, the flavor is definitely very strong. But like you say, you know, it’s all in our mindset, right? We know that we’re adding an amazing, powerful superfood that can really help work wonders in and healing our bodies. Well, Dr. Stone, I appreciate your time and your information. And, you know, Haelan has been part of my life for many, many years. And I really want to thank you and Haelan 951 for supporting this breast cancer breakthrough summit. We know that women on a healing journey really need some good direction, some good guidance, and to be able to, you know, to learn on what they can do to help heal their body in a positive way. And then even women that are going through conventional treatments, you know, this is a great way to help support your body and to be able to get that protein and the probiotics and all the nutrients that you need. So thank you, Haelan 951 for supporting the summit and all the women that will be benefiting from it.

Devin Stone, ND

Thank you so much as well for having us.