Is soy good for you?

[Kanin]

I'm so confused about whether tofu and other soy products are healthy. I think I heard a long time ago that soy is unhealthy for women, but is there any truth to that? I'd like to start cooking some more Japanese dishes. 

[prairiewindmomma]

It's not great for those with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, though there continues to be debate on whether general thyroid function is affected. (See this study as an example of one of many on possible impacts to general thyroid function: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6408586/ 

For many people, I think it's just fine.

[alysee]

For many people it's fine, unless you have thyroid problems. The current recommendation is to eat things like tofu, edamame, miso tempeh but stay away from soy protein isoflavones. 

[Selkie]

I recently attended a webinar with Dr. Kristi Funk, who is one of the top breast cancer surgeons in the US. She gave a list of the top foods she recommends for women, and soy is #1 on the list. 

https://www.forksoverknives.com/wellness/surgeon-kristi-funk-diet-reducing-breast-cancer-risk/

“This is another area where I dove into the science while writing my book. … I’d been planning to tell people to avoid soy. It turns out that soy is absolutely anti-estrogenic and anti-carcinogenic. 

“I go over the studies briefly in the book, but basically, since 2009, every single study in humans as it pertains to soy shows a dramatic reduction in breast cancer occurrence, breast cancer recurrence, and death. Consuming soy leads to around a 60 percent reduction in getting breast cancer and, for estrogen-driven breast cancer patients, a 60 percent reduction in recurrence risk and 29 percent reduction in mortality. And these are huge studies following thousands of women for years. The largest study to date followed women of different ethnicities for an average of 9.4 years and they found a dramatic decrease from just a half a serving of soy a week. 

“So I encourage women to consume soy, and it doesn’t even have to be that much. I advocate for two to three servings daily in all women and especially in breast cancer patients.” 

 

[mathnerd]

I wish that I knew for sure if Soy is good or bad for women. I also seem to have heard that it is bad for men as well as it messes up with their hormones. I was told to take Soy supplements or increase soy intake for perimenopause symptoms, but I am hesitant because I don't know for sure.

What I have been doing is to add Soy products 2 times a week to my diet hoping that moderation is the key.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

I hope it's okay because my diet has been heavily based on soy products for over 30 years.

For what it's worth, I've had no known adverse effects.

[Rosie_0801]

A mug or two of miso each day alleviates a peri-menopause symptom I'd been having trouble with. 

[busymama7]

I think at minimum it should be eaten in traditionally prepared ways, such as fermented.  Used as a substitute for otherwise whole foods or additive in every single thing, or as an isolated protein drink is not as great in my opinion. 

[Selkie]

Here is an article explaining the health benefits of soy from Dr. Michael Greger at nutritionfacts.org, and links for his videos on the topic.

https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/soy/

[Katy]

I suspect whether it’s good or bad is probably genetic, and it’s better than animal protein for most. There are definitely people it seems to cause frequent heavy periods, cysts in breasts and ovaries instead of normal ovulation, and bad cramping. I suspect for those people it functions as an estrogen, is inflammatory, and makes their health worse in both the short term and long term. Others find eating it increases fertility, decreases all hormonal issues, and makes them feel happier. If you can tune out what everyone else says and listen to your body you’ll probably know. 

[mathnerd]

24 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:

A mug or two of miso each day alleviates a peri-menopause symptom I'd been having trouble with. 

Thank you for this! Do you just mix miso with warm water or do you make a miso soup everyday? This would be so convenient for me compared to other soy based recipes to make!

I don't drink miso as often as you, but it is a regular item on my menu and I enjoy the taste very much.

[Shoeless]

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

It's not great for those with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, though there continues to be debate on whether general thyroid function is affected. (See this study as an example of one of many on possible impacts to general thyroid function: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6408586/ 

For many people, I think it's just fine.

I hear this about Hashimotos and soy frequently, but only from self-proclaimed thyroid experts. Do you know of medical studies that demonstrate negative impacts of soy for Hashimotos? I would like to read them if they exist.

I have received so much weird advice over the years about Hashimotos, and it's all contradictory. 

[Rosie_0801]

2 hours ago, mathnerd said:

Thank you for this! Do you just mix miso with warm water or do you make a miso soup everyday? This would be so convenient for me compared to other soy based recipes to make!

I don't drink miso as often as you, but it is a regular item on my menu and I enjoy the taste very much.

It depends how lazy I'm feeling and how long it has been since I was near an Asian grocer!

[ikslo]

It’s probably fine, but I really hate how it’s in everything these days. My DS is allergic; it is hard to shop for everyday things sometimes because you look at the ingredients and oh what a surprise there’s soy. Again.

[Kanin]

16 hours ago, mathnerd said:

Thank you for this! Do you just mix miso with warm water or do you make a miso soup everyday? This would be so convenient for me compared to other soy based recipes to make!

I don't drink miso as often as you, but it is a regular item on my menu and I enjoy the taste very much.

I've been putting a spoonful of miso paste into chicken broth, and then adding whatever random things I have around - thinly sliced zucchini, scallions, broccoli, etc, sometimes throw in shredded chicken from a previous meal. I love the flavor the miso gives without having to add anything else. I'm sure it's not authentically Japanese at all but it tastes great!

[mathnerd]

1 hour ago, Kanin said:

I've been putting a spoonful of miso paste into chicken broth, and then adding whatever random things I have around - thinly sliced zucchini, scallions, broccoli, etc, sometimes throw in shredded chicken from a previous meal. I love the flavor the miso gives without having to add anything else. I'm sure it's not authentically Japanese at all but it tastes great!

It sounds pretty close to authentic to me 🙂 

Mine is a lot more basic recipe: I add scallions, bok choi, broccoli, shredded carrots, turmeric powder, ginger, slices of tofu and some mushroom powder to hot water to make the broth. I live in an Asian neighborhood with several japanese grocery stores, so I have an assortment of miso in several shades of color which are made from different grains. I make miso glazed carrots, add miso to noodle soup bases and miso based salad dressing occasionally, but that is the full extent of my miso-repertoire. I have not yet experimented with fermenting my own miso yet.

[kbutton]

18 hours ago, alysee said:

For many people it's fine, unless you have thyroid problems. The current recommendation is to eat things like tofu, edamame, miso tempeh but stay away from soy protein isoflavones. 

This is what I have heard. My women’s health nurse practitioner prefers I avoid it as I already have sky high estrogen.

18 hours ago, Katy said:

I suspect whether it’s good or bad is probably genetic

This would not surprise me if it were to turn out to be true.

[prairiewindmomma]

20 hours ago, MissLemon said:

I hear this about Hashimotos and soy frequently, but only from self-proclaimed thyroid experts. Do you know of medical studies that demonstrate negative impacts of soy for Hashimotos? I would like to read them if they exist.

I have received so much weird advice over the years about Hashimotos, and it's all contradictory. 

This was advice I got from my endo. She said studies at the time show soy diminishes thyroid uptake more in the AI crowd and that many discover they feel better as if they are intolerant of it once they are off it. Soy is dang hard to avoid. I allow it in my diet as it’s a part of nearly everything, but I don’t eat tofu or other things predominantly soy. 
 

I can dig up studies next week when I have a bit more time. It’s probably time for me to update. The ones I have bookmarked are not super relevant to the Hashimoto’s point. They are more on the subclinical thyroid point because that was the most relevant tidbit I needed to know this year for a kid. Fwiw, on that point—cardiovascular, bp and cholesterol improve on soy but thyroid uptake was impaired in a study from OUP.

[Teaching3bears]

It causes spaciness in my oldest son.  Would there be any reason for this? It’s one of the only foods he reacts to.  He doesn’t have thyroid issues.  We’ve tested manny times.