The Great Unknown
...The Myth and Legend of Soy.
As vegans, most of us consume a lot of soy in our diets. Because of this we are often told many myths, and falsities as to what eating soy can do to our health. There are some pretty serious allegations about soy being thrown around the medical and science fields, perhaps the most rampant of these myths is that of infertility.
As we know most scientific studies start out with little mice and rats who hardly have a comparable DNA makeup to humans. In the studies featuring soy, rodents who were fed soy isolates during pregnancy and lactation, as well as some being fed during infancy, had "...negative reproductive outcomes"(Being Vegan and Eating Soy... p1).The problem with these studies is the amount of estrogen a rat will be exposed to during pregnancy and infancy as compared to humans. As written in the same article as above, it is key to know that "Rats are typically exposed to very little estrogen in comparison, which might make them more sensitive to soy isoflavones." It is also important to note that "Soy consumed as a whole food, including soy milk, tofu and fermented soy products, must be metabolized in order to extract the isoflavones.Feeding or injecting an animal with purified isoflavones skips over this metabolic process and is basically the same as giving the animal high doses of a drug." In other words, rats who are injected with soy isoflavones do not process them the same way we do when we eat soy. Not only is it going directly into their systems, but it is at a very high dose.There have been no studies to show negative effects to HUMAN infertility to date.
Also in the area of animal studies to test soy and soy isoflavones is the relationship of soy to cancer.Christa Novelli of Vegfamily.com reports the debate of soy causing cancer as being ultimately untrue. Although some studies of animals that were implanted with cancer cells and then fed soy showed increase to certain cancer cells, the majority of the cases actually showed that soy helped reduce the risks of some cancers like breast, colon and prostate. It is clear that there needs to be more definitive studies in order to conclude the possible negative effects of soy.
On the other side of the coin, in HUMAN studies, soy has had positive effects to lower cholesterol and other diseases. Although you do not have to eat a ton of soy products to benefit from it, it does not hurt to increase the soy in your diet. Soy nutrition.com states in their "Myths about Soy" article that "Asian epidemiologic studies still show that individuals eating above average amounts of soy have lower disease rates than those consuming the average or less."
The reality is that the public can often misinterpret health benefits from some soy products, just as often as they can misinterpret the negative effects. ALL soy products are NOT healthy. Of course we know that soy protein can be a healthy alternative to animal protein, but just as any other food, the way Soy is prepared can make all of the difference in its nutrition. If your tofu is deep-fried, your favorite dessert is soy ice "cream", or you snack on soy chips, you could be consuming just as much fat as the food you are attempting to replace. In these cases soy should be considered a treat. It is also key to remember that soy isoflavones can react differently depending on the form they take. When eating soy it is always best to eat it at it's purest (tofu, soy milk, and other unprocessed forms) as to avoid any fear you may have of it.
