Will soy cause men’s breasts to grow due to estrogen? Well, that was quite a nice scare to get people off soy. If you are a man and trying to grow breasts, may I suggest dairy? Tons of hormones in dairy! Estrogen actually helps in anti-aging, but it needs to be balanced. Eating too much soy can surely throw your hormones out of whack.  Another scare commonly heard lately is that estrogen in soy causes cancer. What about soy and cancer? Is there anything to the allegations coming from the anti-soy camp that soy consumption causes cancer? Such charges are certainly incompatible with the findings of the Health Professionals follow-up study, which found a 70 percent reduction in prostate cancer for men who consume soy milk daily.  

While soy is better than animal products, there are still better options than soy ( almond, or hemp milk is better for us). Most soy products have been altered greatly. If we all just ate edamame, that would be a different story. Soy is still acidic when processed by man and hard to digest.

Ninety-seven percent of North America’s soybean crop has been genetically modified. Although the soybean, when analyzed in a laboratory, has a plethora of nutritional components, including the essential amino acids, it is virtually impossible to absorb these nutrients. This mishap is due to the millennia of hybridization of this legume. Mixing one bean with another time and time again has radically changed the soybean's molecular structure, making it almost impermeable for the digestive system. This is why there is growing evidence that most people suffer digestive problems associated with the ingestion of soy products. It has also been found that soy harbors phytic acid, which interferes with the assimilation of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, and zinc. Processed soy foods contain high levels of MSG, fluoride, and aluminum, all of which are toxic to the nervous system. When food manufacturers process soy, it not only becomes acidic but carcinogens, such as lysinealanine and nitrosamine, are created. Alas, many people who eat large quantities of soy develop allergies or sensitivities to soy over time.[i]

Cow's Milk vs. Soy Milk

Other anti-soy crusaders, most notably the U.S. dairy industry, clearly have a financial agenda. In recent years, the dairy industry has been waging a war against soy milk. They have attempted to keep soy beverages from being included in the milk group in the dietary guidelines for Americans. They have sued the manufacturers of soy beverages for using the word "milk," claiming that the dairy industry alone has a right to use the term, and they have tried to keep soy beverages from being sold alongside cow’s milk in the grocery aisles. A spokesperson for the National Milk Producers Federation made it clear why the industry was upset. “It is,” he said, “a clear attempt to compete with dairy products.” Meanwhile, there are a few more things the dairy industry isn’t telling you about the nutritional comparison between cow’s milk and soy milk. For example:

• Cow’s milk provides more than nine times as much saturated fat as soy beverages, so it is far more likely to contribute to heart disease.

• Soy beverages provide more than 10 times as much essential fatty acids as cow’s milk, and so they provide a far healthier quality of fat.

• Soy beverages are cholesterol-free, while cow’s milk contains 34 mg of cholesterol per cup, which again means that cow’s milk is far worse for your heart and cardiovascular system.

• Soy beverages lower both total and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels, while cow’s milk raises both total and LDL cholesterol levels, providing yet more reasons that soy milk is better for your health.

• Men who consume one to two servings of soy milk per day are 70 percent less likely to develop prostate cancer than men who don’t.[ii]

What would be a healthy relationship with soy in the diet? 

Soy in small quantities can be fine. The best way to take advantage of soy’s health benefits is perhaps to follow the example of the older, traditional Asian diets. As a population, these are cultures that, when they have eaten their traditional diets, have tended to be healthier and live longer than Americans. They have traditionally eaten moderate amounts of whole soy foods, such as edamame and fermented versions of tamari and miso. These are the better soy foods to eat,  rather than the soy products made with soy protein isolates, soy protein concentrates, hydrolyzed soy protein, partially hydrogenated soy oil, etc. There are legitimate questions about certain soy foods, and much we have yet to learn. Becoming "soy-a-holics" and automatically downing anything made from soybeans is not the road to health, but neither is shunning and stigmatizing all soy foods.