how much soy is too much?

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rh091
rh091 Posts: 100 Member
in Food and Nutrition
As a vegetarian I find that convenient high protein foods like tofu are useful in my diet to ensure I get enough protein. I've heard that it isn't good to have too much soy in your diet as it can cause hormone imbalance. How much soy is too much from day to day, and within the week? Also, do soy beans like edamame count towards that soy intake that should be in moderation?

Note that I don't eat a lot of processed soy foods like "fake chicken" or "fake sausage" and other substitutes like that. I on occasion get simulated soy chicken nuggets but eat quite a bit of tofu.

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  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,949 Member
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    You should probably ask your doctor. Since you're not using soy chicken and such... do you really think you're eating too much? Have you had hormone problems? People have been eating tofu and edamame in Japan for ages without many problems, right?
  • rh091
    rh091 Posts: 100 Member
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    I had a bit of a hormone imbalance a few years ago but haven't had it checked recently, which I will do since I need to book a physical soon. I'm just wondering what is considered too much.. For example, last week I was eating tofu for dinner almost every night in a stir fry.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
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    If you spend some time mucking about in the research on soy consumption, you'll find lots of conflicting findings. At one point, it was thought that excess consumption of soy-based textured vegetable protein might be related to gynecomastia in boys. Lots of research has produced conflicting results on the effect of soy consumption on things like breast and endometrial cancer. It may be causative or protective or not! The Chinese are doing lots of research on soy consumption and, once again, the results are mixed. It may be associated with lower cognitive skills of some rural populations. It may be associated with less arteriosclerosis. Soy-based textured vegetable protein consumption may help improve lipid numbers for Type 2 diabetics.

    So, basically, with such results, based on the present state of our knowledge, it seems your intake of soy is unlikely to hurt you, it may help you. But the research is still all over the place -- so neither does it make sense for you to avoid soy or for me to start eating it to excess.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
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    As a vegetarian I find that convenient high protein foods like tofu are useful in my diet to ensure I get enough protein. I've heard that it isn't good to have too much soy in your diet as it can cause hormone imbalance. How much soy is too much from day to day, and within the week? Also, do soy beans like edamame count towards that soy intake that should be in moderation?

    Note that I don't eat a lot of processed soy foods like "fake chicken" or "fake sausage" and other substitutes like that. I on occasion get simulated soy chicken nuggets but eat quite a bit of tofu.
    Soya does not effect your hormones it's a myth. Soy has in it phytoestrogens known as plant oestrogen. People have leapt onto the name and some suspect studies involving rats the only relationship it has to the hormone oestrogen is a similar name. As a 15 year Vegan soy is one of the main stays of my diet I have yet to turn into a woman

    You'd have more chance of getting a hormone imbalance by eating meat and dairy considering the amount of hormones pumped into those products. If you have hormone problems go and see your doctor it is not going to be soya as the problem but it needs looking into

    http://freefromharm.org/health-nutrition/vegan-doctor-addresses-soy-myths-and-misinformation/

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