4 ms·

Irreversible effects on female brains from soy products

6 points by hhm 18y ago

zain 18y ago
A blogspot blog plastered with ads doesn't ooze with trustability. I'd like to see a better source before I believe this.
- hhm 18y ago
  I found these too: http://www.physorg.com/news136738827.html http://www.physorg.com/news136738827.html http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731140030.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731140030.ht... and the paper: http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:15053943 http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:15053943 But actually I posted this here because I wanted some expert here to comment on the article, as it worried me a lot.
ken 18y ago
I look forward to more research in this area, but note that the "female brains" in the title refers to laboratory rats, not humans. Just about everything fucks up laboratory rats; it's not the smoking gun the headline suggests.
- SwellJoe 18y ago
  It may not be a smoking gun, but there is definitely smoke around phytoestrogens in soy products. There have been a few human studies in Japan that indicate reduced testosterone in men, and other effects in women. Though some studies have also indicated positive impact...reduced cancer risk and hints of greater longevity being the most impressive. Perhaps alleviating some of the alarm, many soy products have drastically reduced levels of these compounds (tofu) or practically none at all (tempeh, real fermented soy sauce), and in these cases the benefits of soy (high quality protein, no cholesterol, low fat, etc.) almost certainly outweigh the negatives, compared to almost any other source of protein (meat, for example, becomes quite carcinogenic when grilled or cooked in pretty much any way that produces browning or blackening in the meat, in addition to containing cholesterol, no fiber, and lots of "bad fats"). So, while I'm not cutting tofu and tempeh and good soy sauce out of my diet, or even reducing it (I'm a vegetarian, and it's a staple of my diet), I avoid any form of raw soy: soy flour, edamame, soy milk, etc. Also worth noting, soy in the forms that Americans most often consume it is a new phenomenon. Soy was considered inedible until the past 20-25 years, and it's only through extremely heavy marketing and lobbying pressure that soy has become part of every Americans diet (whether they know it or not, in cereals, in breads, in oils, and dozens of other places you would never think to look). In the cultures where soy has been consumed for hundreds or thousands of years, it has been in processed forms: tofu, tempeh, and soy sauce. Though young salted soy beans (called edamame in the west) are a popular snack in Japan and a few other places. Anyway, I'm suspicious of any food that has been foisted on me by huge corporations...and soy popularity in America is very much the result of a major corporate push. Corn is another fine example of money making for dangerous agricultural policy, leading to serious nutritional problems for a large segment of the population.
  - Prrometheus 18y ago
    There's been so many studies in the news about so many compounds that jiggle your risk of this or that disease (usually cancer) up or down that I have decided to just live a normal life and not worry about it while avoiding obviously stupid things (like smoking tobacco regularly or ingesting plutonium). Then again, I usually find myself in the minority in any internet discussion.

6 points by hhm 18y ago

zain 18y ago

A blogspot blog plastered with ads doesn't ooze with trustability. I'd like to see a better source before I believe this.

hhm 18y ago
I found these too: http://www.physorg.com/news136738827.html http://www.physorg.com/news136738827.html http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731140030.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731140030.ht... and the paper: http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:15053943 http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:15053943 But actually I posted this here because I wanted some expert here to comment on the article, as it worried me a lot.

ken 18y ago

I look forward to more research in this area, but note that the "female brains" in the title refers to laboratory rats, not humans. Just about everything fucks up laboratory rats; it's not the smoking gun the headline suggests.

SwellJoe 18y ago
It may not be a smoking gun, but there is definitely smoke around phytoestrogens in soy products. There have been a few human studies in Japan that indicate reduced testosterone in men, and other effects in women. Though some studies have also indicated positive impact...reduced cancer risk and hints of greater longevity being the most impressive. Perhaps alleviating some of the alarm, many soy products have drastically reduced levels of these compounds (tofu) or practically none at all (tempeh, real fermented soy sauce), and in these cases the benefits of soy (high quality protein, no cholesterol, low fat, etc.) almost certainly outweigh the negatives, compared to almost any other source of protein (meat, for example, becomes quite carcinogenic when grilled or cooked in pretty much any way that produces browning or blackening in the meat, in addition to containing cholesterol, no fiber, and lots of "bad fats"). So, while I'm not cutting tofu and tempeh and good soy sauce out of my diet, or even reducing it (I'm a vegetarian, and it's a staple of my diet), I avoid any form of raw soy: soy flour, edamame, soy milk, etc. Also worth noting, soy in the forms that Americans most often consume it is a new phenomenon. Soy was considered inedible until the past 20-25 years, and it's only through extremely heavy marketing and lobbying pressure that soy has become part of every Americans diet (whether they know it or not, in cereals, in breads, in oils, and dozens of other places you would never think to look). In the cultures where soy has been consumed for hundreds or thousands of years, it has been in processed forms: tofu, tempeh, and soy sauce. Though young salted soy beans (called edamame in the west) are a popular snack in Japan and a few other places. Anyway, I'm suspicious of any food that has been foisted on me by huge corporations...and soy popularity in America is very much the result of a major corporate push. Corn is another fine example of money making for dangerous agricultural policy, leading to serious nutritional problems for a large segment of the population.
- Prrometheus 18y ago
  There's been so many studies in the news about so many compounds that jiggle your risk of this or that disease (usually cancer) up or down that I have decided to just live a normal life and not worry about it while avoiding obviously stupid things (like smoking tobacco regularly or ingesting plutonium). Then again, I usually find myself in the minority in any internet discussion.