Soy has quickly gone from a relatively unknown in Western culture to a highly debated and controversial food. Of course, soy has not been embraced by communities who have been advocating against grain and legume consumption for decades. Even people who eat predominately plant-based diets will campaign against this humble legume. The question is: are these harsh criticisms warranted or does the scientific literature say otherwise?

Introduction on Soy

A flurry of blog posts, most without any or with limited sources from scientific literature, has emerged attempting to prove once and for all how dangerous soy consumption is for human health.

Claims can range anywhere from “soy causes breast cancer and increases estrogen levels” to “phytates in soy leeches nutrients from your body”.

In this post, we will closely examine common objections against soy. We will explore the truths many online resources got right and the falsehoods that many got wrong.

We will dive deep into the actual scientific research behind soy consumption and ultimately be able to conclude soy, when consumed in any reasonable amount, protects against disease and promotes overall health.

**Please note that this article is about whole-foods plant based sources of soy, not soy additives in processed foods.

Debunking Anti-Soy Claims

Soy Allergies

To start, yes there are some people who shouldn’t eat soy. Some people do have allergies to soy, but it is actually the least common of all the main allergens.

A national survey found that 1 in 2,000 people have a soy allergy. For comparison, this is 40 times less likely than dairy, and 10 times less than fish, eggs, shellfish, nuts, wheat, or peanuts. [1]

What About GMO Soy?

Concerning GMOs, there certainly has not been enough testing done on the long-term effects of these foods, and they should be, at-best, labelled so each consumer has the right to know what they’re eating.

The main issue with GMO soy may not necessarily be the modification, but the actual Roundup being sprayed in large doses on these crops. This substance has been proven to product toxic and hormonal effects at even lower concentrations than what’s used on crops.[2]

Organic or conventional Non-Gmo soy has no Roundup of course, and less pesticide residues overall than GMO-soy. [3]

More Details on GMO Soy by NutritionFacts.org

If you’ve been avoiding soy because you think it’s either unhealthy, GMO, or similar, there is an unfortunate dilemma. 90% of the soy production in the world goes to animal feed and given to cows, chickens, and pigs.  If you’re eating any of these animals and fearful of the dangers of soy, you’re still consuming it second-hand. [4]

The main soy used for for humans manufacturers use Non-GMO soy, but we recommend buying organic soy products just to be safe.

Is Soy Environmentally Destructive?

Soy gets a lot of flak for being a crop that is environmentally destructive. However, the brunt of this issue falls upon consumers of animal products and the animal agriculture industry, not soy itself. As stated above, the majority of GMO soy is grown for the sole purpose of feeding animals.

Of course, there are the grass-fed free, range animal options, which may not be fed with soy. Even "grass-fed" options, though, may be fed grain during a portion of the year during the end of their lives to fatten them up before slaughter . It’s also completely unsustainable for the environment. Livestock systems already cover 45% of the earth’s total landmass and cattle ranching is responsible for 91% of Amazonian rainforest destruction. [5][6]

These are huge numbers, and our limited land resources will only decrease as the demand for grass-fed meat increases. One grass-fed cow takes 9 acres of land to raise, whereas a grain-fed cow takes 3 acres. We simply don’t have enough land for everyone to eat grass-fed animals. [7]

With the majority of GMO-soy feed going to animals and the already massive occupancy of land used for animal agriculture, trying to avoid GMO-soy while still consuming animal products is quite counter-intuitive. By consuming most factory farmed animals, you're consuming GMO-soy indirectly and in much greater quantities. Not to mention you are increasing demand for this GMO soy, which leads to more destructive land-clearing.

Again, the healthiest, more environmentally friendly, and less cruel option would be to purchase organic soy products, which are by law non-GMO. However, many people still have concerns over some of the actual proteins and chemicals inside soy.

What About Lectins?

Another main talking-point against soy is the fact they are high in lectins. Lectins are proteins present in plants, dairy, yeast, eggs, and seafood. They can bind to other molecules, notably sugar and carbohydrate molecules, that are present both in foods, and in the membranes of our cells.

A case made by anti-grain authorities is that binding of lectins from plant foods to our cells is a major cause of ill health and nutrition malabsorption. They claim high-lectin foods like beans, grains, potatoes, tomatoes, and peanuts should be avoided for this reason.

This claim doesn't add up when you look at the actual research on lectin-containing foods.

First off, experimentation on lectins is often done in high concentrations and separated from it’s actual food source. Isolating lectins make them substantially more effective to bind to our cells compared to if they were consumed in food.

Also, by simply cooking your food, most of the lectins are deactivated or bind to other substances. Even a study from 1998, which attempts to frame lectins as a serious problem in the food industry, fails to dance around the point that lectin activity for most beans is deactivated within 10 minutes of boiling. [8]

Overconsumption of lectins can cause gastrointenstinal distress, but again, simply cooking your legumes/grains will remove any chance of negative consequences.

When we look at the longest living, healthiest populations in the world, known as the Blue Zone groups, “high lectin” legumes were a staple in their diet. Most of these cultures reserved meat for use as a condiment and on special occasions. In fact, the longest living Blue Zoners actually didn’t consume any meat [9][10]

Additionally, a Journal of Nutrition review concerning whole grains found that:

“Protease inhibitors, phytic acid, phenolic acids, and saponins present in whole grain have also been suggested to lower the risk of certain cancers, such as colon cancer and breast cancer. Phytic acid, lectins, phenolic acids, amylase inhibitors, and saponins have also been shown to lower plasma glucose, insulin, and/or plasma cholesterol and TG levels” [11][12]

The fact is, most people who try to write off lectin containing foods, just because they contain lectins, while absolutely ignoring all of the positive research regarding the benefits of lectin-containing foods.

This concept is most eloquently stated by Dr. David Katz, founder of the True Health Initiative :

The idea that you should renounce many of the foods most decisively and consistently linked to good health outcomes because they contain a compound that can be called a toxin may be the most egregious example of missing the forest for the trees I’ve ever seen, and I’ve spent my career scrutinizing, and repudiating, just that variety of nonsense. For the sake of false promises dangling from one gilded tree, this is a case of burning the forest down. [13]

What About Phytates?

Phytates, another compound found in soy, have been labelled as a mineral-absorption inhibitor. These phytates can wind up supposedly causing mineral loss leading to calcium deficiency and weak bones.

The original concern about phytates on bone health actualy originated from experiments done on puppies in the 1940s. These studies were followed up by research done on rats where they were fed the equivalent of 10 loaves of bread a day.

However, actual human research suggests differently. Studies where people are put on high-phytate diets actually wound up with better bone density and stronger bones (heel, spine, hip). Phytates prevented bone dissolution similar to anti-osteoporosis drugs and women with high phytate levels in the blood had a much smaller risk of major bone fractures. [14]

Phytates for the Prevention of Osteoporosis by NutritionFacts.org

While high phytate diets may appear to be a cause for concern, the health-harming effects of this anti-nutrient

...can be manifested only when large quantities of [phytates] are consumed in combination with a [nutrient-poor] diet.

When phytates are consumed in the form of soy and whole plant foods, the result is less heart disease, diabetes, kidney stones, fractures, and possibly cancer. [15]

Phytates and Cancer by NutritionFacts.org

Soy Beans and Mortality

Blue Zones and Long Living Cultures

In addition to the Blue Zones study, which showed regular legume consumption as one of the pillars for the longest lived cultures [16], another study analyzed 785 partcipants aged 70 and over. Here were the results [17]:

The FHILL longitudinal study shows that a higher legume intake is the most protective dietary predictor of survival amongst the elderly, regardless of their ethnicity. The significance of legumes persisted even after controlling for age at enrolment (in 5-year intervals), gender, and smoking. Legumes have been associated with long-lived food cultures such as the Japanese (soy, tofu, natto, miso), the Swedes (brown beans, peas), and the Mediterranean people (lentils, chickpeas, white beans). [18]

When it comes to raw statistics, the study found that every 20g of legumes consumed daily resulted in an 8% reduction in risk of death.

Soy and Estrogenic/Breast Cancer

Another major myth about soy is it’s alleged “estrogen-mimicking” chemicals, which some claim can result in breast cancer and other hormonal issues.

This is actually misinformation with no substantial evidence to support it. It's actually quite ironic because meat and dairy contain actual animal estrogens, not plant phytoestrogens.

The truth is that phytoestrogens act different than real estrogen, and can actually be pro-estrogenic in some parts of the body, but anti-estrogenic in others. Let us examine this further:

Phytoestrogens can have simultaneously pro-estrogenic and anti-estrogenic effects because there are two types of estrogen receptors: alpha and beta.

Soy phytoestrogens, such as genistein, prefer to bind to beta estrogen receptors. Beta receptor activation in the breast has an anti-estrogenic effect, which actually inhibits the growth and cancer-promoting effects of animal estrogen, can be enhance endothial function in post-menopausal women, and protect against other menopausal symptoms. [19][20][21][22]

At the same time, soy phytoestrogens can be pro-estrogenic when it comes to protecting post-menopausal women from bone loss. A robust study was done comparing soy milk consumption to progesterone cream (a common hormone therapy for post-menapausal women), and a control group.

The control group lost significant bone mineral density in their spine over the two-year study period, the progesterone group lost significantly less, and the two glasses of soy milk a day group wound up preventing bone loss and increasing bone mass. [23][24]

Pro-estrogenic and Anti-estrogenic Properties of Soy by NutritionFacts.org

This misconception that soy can contribute to breast cancer came from research on rats, who metabolize soy isoflavones (phytoestrogens) quite differently from humans, as distinctly noted in the study itself. The circulating levels of geinstein in the blood in the rats that had an increase in tumor size were 58 times greater than human levels after 1 serving of soy. [25]

When soy consumption in humans is put to the test against breast cancer, it has been shown that soy intake during childhood, adolescence, and adult life were all associated with a decreased risk of breast cancer. Those women who ate the most soy in their youth appear to grow up to have less than half the risk. [26]

Breast cancer rates are much higher in the USA than in Asia, where there are some of the highest soy consumption rates. But, when Asians migrate to the US and start eating a western diet, their breast cancer rates increase to average American levels. [27]

Soy and Feminizing Men

Everyone has heard about how too much soy consumption can result in feminizing effects in males, but is this claim substantiated?

A common reasoning for this is, again, the potential estrogenic affects of isoflavones in soy. As discussed earlier, phytoestrogens are quite different than the estrogens found in meat, and phytoestrogens can have anti-estrogenic properties in some circumstances.

Studies have found soy consumption in rat’s ability to produce offspring, but as mentioned earlier, rodent metabolism of soy is completely different, making these studies useless. [28]

Many have heard of how consuming too much soy can cause gynecomastia (man boobs), but the only report of this was from men consuming extremely high doses of soy, 3 quarts of soymilk a day in one instance. The feminizing effects of this extraordinary soy habit were reversed once intake was reduced. [29]

Finally, the peer-reviewed Fertility & Sterility journal concluded that after reviewing the clinical trials regarding soy intake and feminization there was:

“Essentially no evidence from nine identified clinical studies that isoflavone exposure affects circulating estrogen levels in men.” [30]

Can You Have Too Much Soy?

While we’ve demonstrably proven that non-GMO soy is beneficial for our health and protective against disease, can too much soy be bad?

The answer is possibly yes. IGF-1, insulin-like growth factor 1, is a growth hormone responsible for turning children into full-grown adults. But if this hormone keeps circulating in the blood, your cells should continue to divide and grow. The more IGF-1 in the bloodstream, the higher our risk for cancer. Those on a plant based diet tend to have lower IGF-1 levels.

However, studies have shown that vegan men eating huge amounts of soy, 7 to 18 cups of soy milk worth per day, for an entire year, would up with similar levels of IGF-1 in the body as meat eaters.[31]

How Much Soy is Too Much by NutritionFacts.org

To be as safe as possible, one shouldn’t consume more than 5 servings of soy a day. [32]

Conclusion on Soy

Much of the controversy around soy has been the result of misrepresentation.

GMO-Soy is certainly a problem and should be labelled properly so consumers can have freedom of choice. However, the overwhelming majority GMO-soy is fed to animals, and attempting to get meat from only grass-fed sources only poses a more unsustainable problem due to limited land resources.

The best choice for consuming soy is always organic or non-GMO.

Most of the hysteria regarding the negative health risks of soy are based on the potential dangers of certain compounds (such as lectins or phytates) in isolation, but when soy itself is studied on humans, it can be protective against bone loss, breast cancer, and overall mortality.

However, to air on the safe side, stick to no more than 5 servings daily.

Sources

Pancake mixes are a super easy way of getting the boring part of making pancakes out of the way, taking you one step closer to a delicious breakfast when you’re groggy in the morning. It’s easy to make pancake mixes at home – you just need to combine dry ingredients and store them in a jar – but store-bought mixes can up the ante with different flavors and a more professional outcome. There are two varieties of store-bought vegan pancake mix: ones that you just add water to, and ones to which you have to add other things like non-dairy milk, egg substitutes, and butter substitutes.

Because some of the brands on this list are accidentally vegan, the instructions will sometimes call on you to add milk and eggs to the mix. Don’t worry! Just replace them with your favorite vegan substitutes and you’re ready to go. For milks, this is pretty easy: get any sort of non-dairy milk, like almond, coconut, soy, rice, or hemp milks. For eggs, you can use eggs made from flaxseed, apple sauce, chia seeds, or your favorite commercial egg replacer. 

When you’re out at the supermarket, it’s unlikely that you’re going to find a niche pancake mix brand that’s advertised vegan. Luckily, a number of popular brands offer accidentally vegan options, but you should be careful with these – these brands’ recipes change often, so a mix may become non-vegan without you being aware of it.

So if you’re out in stores, look out for these popular brands: Hungry Jack, Bob’s Red Mill, Bisquick, and Aunt Jemima. You can use the links below to check the store locators on their website and see if their products are near you.

Hungry Jack's 

Hungry Jack’s Complete Wheat Blends Pancake and Waffle Mix is vegan and just needs you to add water, and their website makes it look as if their Complete Chocolate Chip Pancake & Waffle Mix is vegan too!

Bob's Red Mill

Bob’s Red Mill offers the Gluten Free Pancake Mix, Pancake & Waffle Mix, and Organic 7-Grain Pancake & Waffle Whole Grain Mix for options that are accidentally vegan – to each of these you’ll need to add other ingredients, though - but making a flax egg is easy enough!

Aunt Jemima and Bisquick

According to their website, Bisquick’s Original Pancake & Baking Mix is vegan, as are Aunt Jemima’s Original Pancake Mix and Whole Wheat Pancake Mix! These are probably the biggest brands in pancake mixes so they're most likely going to be at your local supermarket.

We actually also compiled a post on all of Bisquick's Vegan Products.

Position on Potential Non-Vegan Trace Ingredients in Pancakes

Many of these products have added minerals and vitamins that may not come from plant-based sources; you’ll need to contact the manufacturer to be sure. There’s a possibility that niacin, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, and folic acid all come from non-plant-based sources.

However, given that these are all present in trace amounts and that there’s only a possibility that they’re non-vegan, we suggest that you don’t worry about them. It’s better not to sweat the small stuff – and it’s better to be 99.9% vegan than 0%! Just for your peace of mind, however, we didn’t include any products in this list that contain ingredients that are likely to be non-vegan – just those where there’s a slight possibility.

Our article on sugar clears up our position on trace ingredients and you can also refer to PETAs article here.

Making Your Own Vegan Pancake Mixes at Home

It’s very easy to make pancakes at home – so pancake mixes are also a breeze. Instead of completing the entire recipe in this video, just combine the dry ingredients and pour them into a jar. When the time comes for you to make pancakes, scoop some of your dry mix out, combine it with your wet ingredients, and you’re ready to go!

If you’re trying to eat more salads, don’t underestimate the impact that a vegan salad dressing can have on your meals. The main difference between a delicious restaurant salad and the ones you take to work is probably the dressing; it can make or break the entire thing!

Unfortunately, many people’s favorite salad dressings tend not to be vegan. We’re taking the stereotypical unhealthy dressings full of saturated fat and cholesterol: ranch, thousand island, and other thick mayo-based dressings. These tend to have eggs in them and sometimes milk or anchovies. Vinaigrettes and the lighter dressings tend to be vegan, which makes things easy; you don’t need to seek out specifically-vegan brands for these types of dressings.

Luckily, when you have an unquenchable desire for ranch, you can find a bunch of vegan options both online and in stores to satisfy that need.

It’s not very hard to find vegan salad dressings in-store; many are accidentally vegan, as in they don’t contain animal-derived ingredients even if they don’t explicitly list that they’re vegan. However, this varies greatly by the dressing type.

Dressing Flavors Most Likely to Be Vegan

Most Italian dressings, some tomato-based dressings and most vinaigrette dressings are already vegan; just double-check the ingredients, but they rarely contain ingredients that make them non-vegan. Be on the look out for eggs, milk, anchovies and bacon which can easily sneak their way into salad dressings.

Because so many non-creamy dressings are vegan, it didn’t seem worthwhile to list them here. Instead, we rounded up the vegan alternatives for creamy dressings. All of the links below go right to the company's store locator, so check them out and see if you can find them locally!

Follow Your Heart

Follow Your Heart has a massive list of salad dressings that you should be able to find in store, including a range of creamy ones. See if they're available near you!

Just Salad Dressings

Just, which makes Just Mayo, does Ranch, Caesar, Chipotle Ranch, Thousand, and Sweet Mustard creamy salad dressings is available across a lot of the nation.  They also make cookies and even cookie dough!

Annie's Salad Dressings

Annie’s creamier vegan dressings include their Goddess Dressing, Organic Goddess Dressing, Organic Papaya Poppy Seed Dressing, Organic French Dressing, and Woodstock Dressing. They also have a bunch of other options of the non-creamy variety.

OrganicVille Salad Dressings

And OrganicVille has the Non Dairy Coleslaw Dressing and Non Dairy Thousand Island Dressing. Although not really super creamy, their Miso Ginger dressing is also quite delicious!

"Accidentally" Vegan Salad Dressing Brands

There are a couple of other brands that don’t specifically identify as vegan or vegetarian, but have created creamy vegan dressings accidentally. When you pick up these products, be sure to check the ingredients every time – they can easily change, and since it’s not listed as vegan they won’t need to alert you.

Brianna's

Brianna’s has a Rich Poppy Seed Dressing, which is one of its most popular and also vegan.

Walden Farms'

Walden Farms’ whole range except for Zesty Italian, Italian, Asian, and Honey Dijon dressings are vegan, including a wide range of creamy dressings. This is one of the more impressive ranges, in our opinion – there’s so much to choose from!

Trader Joe's

Trader Joe’s Goddess Dressing developed a cult following after people realized it was accidentally vegan, but we’re unsure as to whether it still is – or whether it’s still available at all. Keep a look out.

Making Your Own Vegan Salad Dressing at Home

Vegan salad dressings are pretty easy to make; you usually just have to combine your ingredients and shake. If you want to make some creamy ones, you might need to find a good blender which we talk about in our Kitchen Appliances section. Making your own is going to be the most economical option. We've compiled some of the best recipes we could find so that you can make something to please any crowd!

Balsamic Vinaigrette, Citrus Ginger, and Creamy Bacon Ranch

This video (embedded above) shows you how to make three different salad dressings: a balsamic vinaigrette, citrus ginger dressing, and a creamy bacon ranch. Hot For Food is a great website and YouTube channel to follow if you’re new to veganism, because their recipes are both delicious and really easy.

Vegan Caesar Salad

This Vegan Caesar Salad, with dressing of course, by Oh She Glows is a great one to have in your recipe arsenal. The dressing isn't only good for salads, you can use it for dipping celery, carrots, or anything else you can imagine. We like to use vegan caesar dressing on sandwiches and wraps!

Vegan Ranch Dressing

If you didn't feel like watching the video above for the Vegan Creamy Bacon Ranch recipe, don't worry. This vegan ranch dressing by Eat Within Your Means is delicious and easy to follow with only a few ingredients. You'll never want the "real" thing again!

Vegan French Dressing

French dressing traditionally is ketchup mixed with mayo (not vegan), but that doesn't mean that's the best way to make it. This recipe by Happy Cow shows how you can make it with just a few ingredients, including tahini (which we linked above). You can likely replace the tomatoes with ketchup if you were in a pinch, but fresh flavors are always best!

Are Vegan Salad Dressings Healthy?

A very common inquiry people have is whether a salad dressing is healthy just because it doesn't contain any animal products. The answer is of course no. Determining the "healthfulness" of a food comes down to a few factors, but the main one being whether or not it is a plant-based whole food. If it is a plant-based whole food the second question to ask is are you eating it as a part of a reasonably balanced whole-food plant based diet?

Determining the Healthfulness of Any Given Food

Although a bit lengthy, we highly recommend the above video by Dr. Fuhrman on this subject. While not specifically about salad dressings, Dr. Fuhrman gives you the base knowledge you need to determine if a food is healthy on your own! When it comes to feeding you and your family, knowledge is your most powerful tool.

Is Your Vegan Dressing Made from Whole Foods?

Making a salad dressing from whole foods such as nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, etc. is going to be a huge step above making one out of oil. The reasoning behind this is simple: whole plant foods are the richest source of phytochemicals and antioxidants which are crucial for disease prevention. Processed foods and animal foods simply can't measure up in these categories and also come with baggage such as saturated fat and cholesterol.

If you've been confused about saturated fat and cholesterol, we highly recommend you check out this press release from the American Heart Association.

You can learn more about phytochemicals and nutrient density here or in the video above.

Does the Vegan Dressing Make Up a Big Chunk of Your Daily Calories?

If you've watched the presentation above, you'll have learned that a majority of Westernized people (specifically Americans) get most of their calories from processed food and animal products. This means that there's very little caloric room in the diet for disease preventing foods. Check out Dr. Greger's Daily Dozen app if you want to ensure you're getting a good range of health promoting foods in your daily diet.

If you're eating 100 calories of vegan salad dressing (even if it isn't whole foods based) and the rest of your diet is a variety of whole plant foods - it's not such a bad thing! Trouble presents itself when you have 500 calories of processed dressing and hardly any whole greens, nuts, seeds, beans, etc!

What About Sugar in Vegan Dressings?

Unless a salad dressing is specifically designed to be vegan, there is a chance that any added sugar could have involved bone char in the processing of it. However, we (and many other vegan organizations) hold the position that vegans (especially new ones) should not worry about added sugar or other dubious trace ingredients. Focusing on avoiding all specifically labeled animal products is going to have the biggest amount of harm reduction to animals.

Without the direct demand for animal products, using bone char for commercial processes would likely phase out anyway since the cost for it would increase. To learn more, read our full position on vegan sugar.

Here's the Stauffer's Animal Cracker's ingredient statement (please note that other smaller brands might be different):

ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), SUGAR, SOYBEAN OIL, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SALT, BAKING SODA (LEAVENING), SOY LECITHIN (AN EMULSIFIER), NATURAL FLAVOR, SPICE.

As you can see they are mainly comprised of flour, sugar, and oil. There's no milk, eggs, or anything that can be stated with 100% certainty that it was animal derived. You don't have to feel guilty about eating them, especially if you're new to veganism. Sugar is a controversial ingredient within veganism and there's a chance that if the sugar isn't organic that animal products were involved in the processing of it.

Veganism is a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.

The keywords in this definition is possible and practicable. While this is not an excuse to go out and eat products blatantly made from animals, veganism isn't something to be overthought, especially for someone that's new to it. Veganism is grounded in maximum harm reduction simply because 100% harm reduction is impossible. 

While one doesn't necessarily need to eat Laffy Taffy in order to survive, it is not constructive for a new vegan to over think ingredient statements that aren't blatantly labeled with animals, especially if it makes veganism too complicated for them. A more experienced vegan may opt to give up questionable products as a matter of principle, but the harm reduction to animals isn't going to be anything of impact.

Water, *Apple Cider Vinegar, *Molasses, *Soy Sauce (Water, *Soybean, Salt, *Wheat, *Alcohol), *Cane Sugar, *Tamarind, Sea Salt, *Cornstarch, Xanthan Gum, *Garlic, *Onion, *Clove, *Chili Pepper. *Organic Ingredients.

ANSWER: Some Bisquick products are indeed Vegan, however there are variations of it that definitely aren't. For example, they have a Buttermilk Pancake and Waffle Mix which contains both milk and eggs placing it in the non-vegan category.

Also, given that the instructions may call for eggs or milk, you'll have to make some easy vegan substitutes when using Bisquick. We've compiled the vegan products and the non-vegan products below!