Soy, for/against?

[Lyubov]

Not a single food online and on youtube with the amount of bro science videos produced have I seen two sides that completely disagree with each other. One side says fermented is bad, raw is okay, another side says both is bad, and finally another side that says the other two are morons and are completely wrong. What do you all think? Does soy raise estrogen and is it good for you to eat processed or unprocessed? 

[Flowerfaeiry]

Welcome to health advice on the internet. I don't think it's bad. Don't eat a bunch of it  (like pretty much everything) and you'll be fine. 

[Michael569]

9 hours ago, Lyubov said:

Does soy raise estrogen

Nothing raises a mammalian (natural) oestrogen in the body. No food has that sort of impact. This is a common misconception. Food may "sit" in oestrogen receptors but it cannot impact your natural steroid secretions. Same when people thing [add food] raises or decreases testosterone. Nothing does that. What decreases natural testosterone secretion is hypogonadism, being castrated or having a genetic defect or something like a pituitary tumour. There may however be things externally that are interfering with hormonal balance and that can be "stealing" your testosterone and making it into oestrogen (through a process called aromatisation). Things like sugar, being fat, being insulin resistant and being inflamed do that generally and so does lack of physical activity. 

Soy is beneficial overall. Despite all the fearmongering on the internet, there is no harm to consuming it. It does not give you manboobs or cancer or anything. As a guy soy protects you from prostate cancer. It is not a goitrogen and it is not going to make your dick shrink or turn you into a woman  

I would however eat it organic and fermented simply due to glyphosate pesticides being used but hey, pesticides are an issue with everything these days so this argument is not valid just for soy.

That being said I would absolutely avoid soy concentrates like soy protein , soy powders as those are most contaminated and at such amount it may stimulate IGF-1, a growth factor. But so can dairy and chicken. ...For same reason you should also avoid casein, whey and all dairy concentrates as well. 

So, long story short, Soy is good for you, don't be afraid of it. Fermented is preferable because it is easier to digest and you lose some of the pesticides. If you can get your tofu or tempeh organic even better.

A lot of broscioence is based on nothing, these people don't know how to interpret the research and how to read studies or distinguish shit studies from high-quality ones. A lot of studies against soy are mechanistic or in-viro, the largest systemic trials and meta analyses all show beneficial effects. 

 

[Lyubov]

nice take @Michael569

so don't worry too much about soy affecting estrogen/testosterone and focus more on getting exercise, eating healthy diet and losing body fat to have a more optimal hormonal level?

[Michael569]

10 hours ago, Lyubov said:

so don't worry too much about soy affecting estrogen/testosterone and focus more on getting exercise, eating healthy diet and losing body fat to have a more optimal hormonal level?

exactly! The thing about body fat, especially the type that accumulates around the belly is that it is not just idle tissue but it is very metabolically active. That fat tissue is like a factory for pro-inflammatory molecules (cytokines) and it also aromatises your testosterone into oestrogen so yah, drop any excess bellyfat and it will impact hormones positively for sure  Besides that it also damages your microbiome and it may be contributing to brain fog 

[TheDao]

Sure it can be part of a health food intake. Nothing wrong with it. A lot of unproven fairytales are around the internet , probably created by meat eaters.

[ilja]

This is a credible medical source: https://www.pcrm.org/good-nutrition/nutrition-information/soy-and-health

Edited May 7, 2021 by ilja

[Superfluo]

6 hours ago, Michael569 said:

Besides that it also damages your microbiome and it may be contributing to brain fog

After seeing a lot of posts on this health subforum I'm like: "What does NOT contribute to brain fog?"

[Michael569]

17 minutes ago, Superfluo said:

What does NOT contribute to brain fog

well, brain is the first to feel that something is wrong so it is a good sign that something needs to change Unfortunatelly it is a common one so people just learn to live with it or cover with caffeine plaster

[Hap E-Boi]

I think it depends on how your body react to it, for most people it should be fine. I do get sick if I eat any soy. For the large majority who has no major issues eating soy, different amounts are good for different people. One has to figure out for themselves through elimination.

Edited May 7, 2021 by Hap E-Boi