In late June, the Weston A. Price Foundation announced that they were sponsoring a lawsuit against the state of Illinois. The target of their suit is the “cruel and unusual punishment” of the state’s prison inmates…but it’s probably not what you think.

The “cruel and unusual punishment“ that inmates have been subject to is excess amounts of soy, a low cost food additive and filler, in their diets. Analysis of prison menus revealed that prisoners are fed roughly 100 grams of soy protein each day in everything from “meat” to sauces and baked goods.

Inmates have reported a myriad of diet related symptoms including sharp digestive pain, fainting, acne, insomnia, panic attacks, depression and multiple symptoms of hypothyroidism, a condition often left undiagnosed.

Physician David Brownstein, toxicologist Mike Fitzpatrick and researcher William Shaw, PhD are keys to the case. These three back the theory that the symptoms are related to soy ingestion and they think they can prove it. I guess we will see when the case goes to court.

So what’s our take? We encourage you to always weigh the facts and make a decision for yourself. We can tell you however, that writing has been showing up on the wall for years. So before you discount these theories please take a good hard look and keep in mind that this issue affects more than just inmates. In fact, soy is an incredibly common additive in all kinds of mainstream foods. Know thy food friends!