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There's no evidence that soya is harmful to humans. In fact, both we and the planet would benefit tremendously from eating more

The last time I gave an interview for BBC Radio London, a leading asked if soy products are safe, and then fell down laughing saying he did 't want to grow man boobs. I 've been asked if soybean is safe for babies, can it interfere with the thyroid, does it contribute to deforestation, some people even think it may cause cancer…

Soya is the great divider; you're either for it, or against it. Is this humble pulse really such a demon bean, or is the anti-soya brigade using scare stories and pseudo science to further their own agenda? If you look carefully, most anti-soya stories can be traced back to one single group in the US called the Weston A Price Foundation(WAPF).

, American Dietetic Association and the British Medical Association.

This US-based fringe organisation is bent on citing scientifically flawed studies to promote their own agenda and has influenced a vast number of consumers, duping them into thinking of soya as some sort of dietary pariah.

The soya story dates back to New Zealand in the early 1990s, when a successful lawyer, Richard James, a millionaire on a mission, approached toxicologist Mike Fitzpatrick and asked him to investigate what was killing his expensive parrots (very Monty Python, I know). Anyway, Fitzpatrick agreed it was soya and has since campaigned vigorously against it as a food for humans â€"nonsense, since people have been eating soya for 3,000 years.

I am told Radio New Zealand Mike Fitzpatrick who campaign against soy there. He was so aggressive, they could not 't broadcast the interview. Fitzpatrick was a supporter of WAPF (in fact, is an honorary member of the Board).

Another organization 's supporters of a certain Dr. Steven Burns, who published an article in the journal Environmentalist arguing that vegetarianism is bad and destroys the environment. He boasted of its high animal fat and good health - and, unfortunately, died of a stroke at 42. There were more than 40 scientific inaccuracies in the article, including direct misquoting of scientific research. Incidentally, the editor of Ecologist, Zac Goldsmith , is also an honorary board member of the WAPF.

Another of the organisation's supporters, Kaayla Daniel PhD, sits on the board of directors and has written an entire book attacking soya (The Whole Soy Story). Curiously, this group appears to spend more time attacking soya than promoting the foods they say we should be eating (unpasteurised "raw" milk, cream, cheese, eggs, liver, etc).

One of the problems raised by the fact that soy phytoestrogens (Plant hormones) found in soy products may interfere with sexual development and affect fertility. If there is any evidence for this in humans in general, the British government would be prohibited soy mixture or at least issued a health warning.

Even after commissioning a 440-page investigation into the safety of soya â€" they have not issued such warnings because there was no evidence for any harmful effect. The 2003 Department of Health's committee on toxicity report acknowledged that there was no evidence that people who regularly eat high quantities of soya, such as the Chinese and Japanese, have altered sexual development or impaired fertility. It should be remembered that China is the world's most populous nation, with over 1.3 billion citizens, and who have been consuming soya for over 3,000 years.

More and more scientists and physicians recognize that the results of experiments on animals should not be the basis of health policy. Dr. Kenneth Setchell, professor of pediatrics at Cincinnati Children 's Hospital , states that mice, rats and monkeys all metabolise soya isoflavones differently from humans and that the only appropriate model for examining human reproductive development is the human infant. About 25% of infants in the US are fed soya formula. Many of them are now well into their late 30s and early 40s. The absence of any reported ill-effects would suggest there are none, either biological or clinical.

In fact, soya beans contain a wide range of valuable nutrients and are an excellent source of protein. Evidence shows that soya protein lowers cholesterol and protects against cardiovascular disease. Soya foods protect against diabetes, menopausal hot flushes and certain cancers. There is good evidence that eating soya foods in adolescence and as an adult lowers the risk of breast cancer. Recent evidence showed that this protective effect of soya also applies to women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Soya foods may also help boost bone health and cognitive ability in some people. The number of peer-reviewed scientific studies reporting the beneficial health effects of soya continues to grow.

As a last resort, the soya detractors have attempted to condemn soya by citing the environmental impact soya farming is having on the Amazonian rain forest. They are quite right to be concerned, but people eating soya is not the problem; 80% of the world's soya production is fed to livestock so that people can eat meat and dairy foods.

Both tropical forests and our health will benefit tremendously if more people switched from animal foods to a vegetable diet, including soy.

The next time you hear some daft story about soya wreaking havoc on human health or the environment, ask where the evidence is.

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