Why do you think soy is good or bad?

It's gross.

I eat soy because its in a few foods I enjoy but I always try to have additional fiber when I eat it. Soy is fed to chickens, cows, and pigs. I don't think my body is meant to digest it properly. I don't recall my family eating the animals feed. 80 percent of soy if fed to animals. Also like TrishLG said its mostly GMO.

My dad who is very successful doctor who I trust often gives me nutritional advice (he himself is very healthy for a 65 year old man and participates in marathons and had a great diet), says that soy is healthy. I haven't asked him reasons why, though, so when he wakes up I will ask him to go more into detail. I am surprised to hear so many people are against soy. I love it and eat it everyday! Low calorie, delicious, and healthy as far as I know. A great substitute in rice dishes when I want to avoid the really carby/slightly calorie-rich (though delicious!) rice.

My dad who is very successful doctor who I trust often gives me nutritional advice (he himself is very healthy for a 65 year old man and participates in marathons and had a great diet), says that soy is healthy. I haven't asked him reasons why, though, so when he wakes up I will ask him to go more into detail. I am surprised to hear so many people are against soy. I love it and eat it everyday! Low calorie, delicious, and healthy as far as I know. A great substitute in rice dishes when I want to avoid the really carby/slightly calorie-rich (though delicious!) rice.

thanks Kelsey-cyan ~ I'll look forward to hearing about it! Like all things there is conflicting information. But Japanese live the longest and probably eat the most soy, so I'm not going to get rid of it from my diet that easily!

Isn't soy eaten mostly fermented in Japan?

Following this thread, I became open and undecided as to the effect of soy on the body.

This is interesting: http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/04q0151/04Q-0151-emc0002-vol4.doc

It contains a great deal of soy studies and will give you the basis of research should you want to look into it further as I will

This is what I found on food politics (I question whose behind every study) according to her the jury is still out:

I would put it this way: if you are not confused about soy foods, you must not be reading product advertisements or newspaper accounts of research. For every study in my files demonstrating health benefits of soy foods, I have another disputing those benefits. Soybeans are high in good quality protein (meaning that their proteins are similar in amino acid content to those of meat and dairy foods), contain a good balance of carbohydrate and fat, and are loaded with minerals. Enthusiasts say that soy foods protect against practically any disease you can think of. No one food can possibly be that good. Overall, I find the science to be painfully inconsistent. Some studies find benefits, some find none, and others actually suggest that soy foods might cause the very health problems they are believed to prevent. Soybeans contain proteins found to reduce blood cholesterol levels and the risk of heart disease. They also contain isoflavones that behave in the body like weak estrogen (“phytoestrogens”). Although isoflavones work with soy proteins to reduce blood cholesterol levels, they also act like estrogens–and estrogens are known to increase the risk of breast and other cancers in women. As I explain in the soy chapter of What to Eat, the research is so inconsistent that it is difficult to draw conclusions. I can’t make sense of the health debates about soy foods, not least because so much of the research is sponsored by industries with a vested interest in its outcome. My feeling at this point is that soy is a food, not an essential nutrient. Like any food, you can eat it if you like it, but you don’t have to if you don’t.

i read there is a link between soy and cancer

There's also a link between eating soy and not having cancer.

Some cancers are oestrogen sensitive. Like some forms of breast cancer, the type that taxotere/tamoxifen could be used in treatment. Some prostrate cancers too. BUT, there are also variants of breast or prostrate cancer that have absolutely no relation to oestrogens.

It's like saying because some people die in car accidents that everybody who rides in a car will die in one. Or that everybody who walks will live forever.


Overall, who lives longer, who is healthier for a longer duration of their lives and who has lower overall incidences of serious illness?


Use that to make your decision. And remember that soy produce in Japan tends to be as the bean, as a product of the beans crushed. Soy products elsewhere tend to be with it added as additional 'stuff' in a packet of nondescript 'something'.

besides the fact that 98% of soy used in processed foods is GMO, it can create issues with males in providing too much estrogen. I still eat edamame, but I try not to eat much of it in processed foods.

It's bad for me because I'm allergic to it

I went veg seven years ago, which involved a switch from a lot of read meat and chicken to a lot of soy and vegetable protein. Based on the information from my annual physicals, it has definitely helped make me healthier. My cholesterol is down, my blood pressure is down. My doctors tell me that my cancer and heart disease risks are way down this most recent time over the first time ten years ago. I can't speak for everyone, of course, but for me, it has definitely had a positive impact. I also feel better and have more energy than I used to. I don't feel like a stone is sitting in my stomach after a meal when I eat soy rather than meat (and a lot of my part-time veg friends say that feeling is why they try to eat veg a couple times a week).

It's a high allergen food. Like gluten, like peanuts. If you avoid gluten because of an intolerance or an allergy then you can understand why soy can be such a problem.

I, personally, miss eating soy since my allergies prohibit. BUT when I started reading labels due to my allergies, I was shocked at how soy was in everything. Soy Lecithin, sure...that's a popular and common emulsifier, but Soy protein? In everything?! It's not meant to be our primary food source. It's ubiquitousness is probably what made it such a common allergy.
Plus the GMO thing; Plus the hormonal thing... Soy is best eaten in moderation, like ALL FOODS.
Also, it is best eaten in the ways the OP is talking about: edamame and Tofu are Great! Mystery "Soy protein" in every power bar, cookie, cracker, frozen meal, cake and processed food product on the shelf: Dangerous.

I have yet to taste anything where soy was the main ingredient that I liked, except for soy sauce, and even then, soy sauce only taste good on a few certain things, like rice.