What is so bad about soy?

[jthompson99]

I have been trying to eat Vegan and I notice all of products have Soy in them. Then I have people telling how bad Soy is for your health and that it raises estrogen levels. Just wondering if anyone has any solid evidence that shows whether soy really is good or bad.

Thanks for the help.

[Simon]

Hey, Welcome to the forum. I don't know too much about the soy issue but I can remember reading a few articles in the vegan health section of the forum a few years back. Might be worth a peek in there. From what I remember the estrogen claim is largely unfounded. I certainly haven't sprouted man boobs yet anyways!

[jthompson99]

Ok cool, I will try and find those old threads.

[Keane]

Cow's milk contains oestrogen doesn't it? So if you've been used to drinking that and haven't grown any tetas yet, don't worry about soya giving you any.

[harpy]

Hi - this is one of those soya threads Simon mentioned: http://www.veganforum.com/forums/sho...or-your-health

My feeling after having read a bit about it is that soya is probably fine in moderation but I wouldn't want to it (or any other food in huge quantities or in highly processed forms). A lot of the anti-soy information is reputed to be sponsored by the meat and dairy industries. The John Robbins article mentioned in that thread makes sense to me and there is an update here: http://www.johnrobbins.info/blog/what-about-soy/

Having said that some vegans avoid soy for one reason or another (e.g. allergies) and it is pretty easy to do so - just steer clear of the manufactured vegan foods and focus on fresh fruit and veg, legumes, nuts and seeds. That's probably a better way to go anyway - eating a lot of manufactured food tends to mean you get stuff you don't want such as fat and salt.

[jthompson99]

Cow's milk contains oestrogen doesn't it? So if you've been used to drinking that and haven't grown any tetas yet, don't worry about soya giving you any.

Yeah, good point. I did quit drinking cow's milk years ago though.

[jthompson99]

Hi - this is one of those soya threads Simon mentioned: http://www.veganforum.com/forums/sho...or-your-health

My feeling after having read a bit about it is that soya is probably fine in moderation but I wouldn't want to it (or any other food in huge quantities or in highly processed forms). A lot of the anti-soy information is reputed to be sponsored by the meat and dairy industries. The John Robbins article mentioned in that thread makes sense to me and there is an update here: http://www.johnrobbins.info/blog/what-about-soy/

Having said that some vegans avoid soy for one reason or another (e.g. allergies) and it is pretty easy to do so - just steer clear of the manufactured vegan foods and focus on fresh fruit and veg, legumes, nuts and seeds. That's probably a better way to go anyway - eating a lot of manufactured food tends to mean you get stuff you don't want such as fat and salt.

Thanks for those links. What you said makes a lot of sense, probably isn't the best idea to eat prepackaged soy stuff everyday.

[Korn]

I have been trying to eat Vegan and I notice all of products have Soy in them.

Look closer.
None of the foods I eat have soy in them - but (like many non-vegans, and quite a few Chinese) I sometimes use some soy sauce when I cook.

We don't need soy at all, but since this topic often comes up (probably due to the oldmisunderstanding that people who don't eat meat needs soy), we have a subforum dedicated to soy/soya, here.