of soy

[Hidden Tell]

Alright, I have a bit of a random question. I'm just starting out as a vegetarian, and thought I might try soy milk. (What dairy cows go through is pretty disgusting actually =+_+=) But I was talking to my health-conscious boss about it, and she mentioned that while it doesn't taste that bad soy milk might actually increase a person's estrogen levels. Apparently doctors recommend it to menopausal women or some such? Has anyone else heard of this? It definitely has me second guessing the whole soy thing...

[Drake]

Yeah, I read about that on the internet a while back. Now I stay clear of anything soy. Of course, I'm probably just being paranoid. A little soy ain't gonna kill me, but still...

[ZenFrost]

If you frequented the body issues section you'd see an occasionally recurring theme of 'girls! I just found out that soy can increase estrogen! have any of you tried it for breast growth? I'm going to start drinking it everyday!'

The end result is inevitable the same, like pretty much all of the unusual 'natural' ways to grow breasts. Nuh-uh.

For one thing, the amount of estrogens in soy are tiny, for another, plant hormones =/= human hormones. Perhaps if you drank enough to literally make yourself sick you could conceivably increase your estrogen levels a miniscule amount. Soymilk has tiny amounts of plasmatic phytoestrogens, which are not the same as the estradiol produced by a human body.

To quote a well put reply on one of the Soymilk/estrogen threads:

If drinking soymilk grew breasts or feminized your body, McDonalds would be selling it, it would be in every vending machine in the world, and Coke would go bankrupt in less than a month.

Karen Starlene

This soy thing is an urban myth. Studies have shown that, wow, plants have plant hormones. And it's kinda vaguely similar to people hormones. In fact, soy has some plant estrogens. And apparently people thought that meant drinking soymilk somehow made estrongen levels go way up or something. If you drank a lot (like, waaaaaay a lot) they might go up slightly, but I think you'd probably get toxicity from added vitamin A first.

Now, if you're really worried anyway or don't like soymilk, there's: rice milk, oat milk, hazelnut milk, almond milk, tiger white, and other assorted dairy substitutes.

I love soy, but I did not always drink it. Comparing blood results from pre-soy me, to yes-soy me... no estrogen increase. Not even a little. No affect on my hormone therapy or T levels.

Drinking cow's milk, with all the [r]BGH ([recombinant] bovine growth hormone, which is an animal hormone as opposed to a plant one) is more likely to increase your estrogen levels. A disturbing trend has been noted by scientists, with increasing use of BGH/rBGH, girls are entering puberty at younger and younger ages, regularly starting periods earlier than ever before.

Drinking soy milk increases your estrogen? Nonsense. Cow's milk? With all the things they're doing to the animals, I wouldn't be surprised.

[DanielMacBride]

What Zen said. I'm vegan and have been for 5 years, drink exclusively soy milk and have never had any issues with it affecting my estrogen levels or causing any feminization.

I think the amount that came up in one of the bajillion threads on soy milk that the girls were discussing was that you would need to drink like 2 litres per day of soy milk before it would even start to have any noticeable effects.

[Gemma Bee]

I second what Zen has said. There are so many myths circulating about Soy (Soya) Milk, all of which are untrue. In fact it has been known to make men more virile, contradictory to the myth that it can make them sterile.

So called "scientists" keep making claims and publishing them in the press before they can be verified by an independent source. You should never believe all what you read in newspapers and magazines.

[Adam]

i used soy milk for all my adult life and its not affected me infact pre t my t levels where high i cant have dairy so its just what i have instead

[deja true]

... You should never believe all what you read in newspapers and magazines.

But everything you read on the inter-tubes is absolutely guaranteed to be 100% accurate.

So...if you wanna end up looking like Anna Nicole in as little as 2 weeks you should be eating nothing but soy, saw palmetto, fenugreek, and the other dozen or so herbal concoctions that promise you bigger boobs, better skin, brighter eyes, shapely bootie and girly thoughts!

Totally serious here.....NOT!

(And btw, to keep your gf from getting pregnant, there's this little trick with coke and aspirin I can tell you about! I read it on the 'net!)

[Gemma Bee]

But everything you read on the inter-tubes is absolutely guaranteed to be 100% accurate.

True. Although, the information about Soy (Soya) milk making men more virile actually came from my GP. It doesn't increase fatality, however, but it's meant to increase sexual stimulation.

[Sandra]

Hi guys hope you don't mind me butting in

I'm menopausal and take soy tablets, and it was suggested by my doctor as I didn't want to go on hrt. It was suggested to me that the soy mimic's estrogen, not increases it hence making menopausal women feel normal.

[ZenFrost]

Hi guys hope you don't mind me butting in

I'm menopausal and take soy tablets, and it was suggested by my doctor as I didn't want to go on hrt. It was suggested to me that the soy mimic's estrogen, not increases it hence making menopausal women feel normal.

I've heard of that use before, but of course all the tests show effects for menopausal women only and like you said, it doesn't increase estrogen levels just acts as a substitute when there isn't enough. And the big thing to note is that the amounts of the phytoestrogens in the soy tablets are specifically concentrated. As Daniel mentioned, you'd have to drink like a liter or two every day to be getting that much. Even if you used it in all your cooking and drank it often, consuming that much per day, every day, is very unlikely.

[Robertacd]

I hope you guys do not mind me posting in your area but...

I recommend Almond Breeze not Soy based but does contain a small amount of Soy Lecithin.

[sabo10]

Drinking soy milk increases your estrogen? Nonsense. Cow's milk? With all the things they're doing to the animals, I wouldn't be surprised.

Woah. Considering switching to soy in 3.. 2.. 1..

[Hidden Tell]

Thanks much for your replies all! Certainly has been a help, and I recently picked up some vanilla flavored soy milk. Tastes way better than cows milk ever did. Now I've gotta look into that almond milk stuff. Sounds delicious! ^^

[DanielMacBride]

I make my own almond milk, and it is YUMMY It's very easy to make, all you need are ground almonds (not toasted, just raw - I usually buy bulk raw almonds and grind them myself) and water