Is Soy That Bad?

[Koa]

New article on T-nation:

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/is_soy_that_bad

What's your opinion? Trypsin inhibitors (what about them in other beans)?

Also, Hofmekler is not a fan of soy:

http://books.google.com/books?id=9TIFOfKY-SgC&pg=PT86&lpg=PT86&dq=hofmekler+soy&source=bl&ots=9PK2ZjHzHP&sig=6XPrH9XxZf8aJZpKZOMWWL5N30k&hl=en&ei=_iKlTp_5MtD1-gbdyoCsBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=Yu7ip- ... &q&f=false

Neither is Mike Mahler:

http://www.mikemahler.com/articles/vegan_diet.html

Incidentally, I had just started eating my tofu when I opened the link.

[sosso]

Short answer: It's alright. Just don't go eating a block of tofu, soy milk and some soy ice cream for every meal of the day.

[baldy]

Short answer: It's alright. Just don't go eating a block of tofu, soy milk and some soy ice cream for every meal of the day.

[Alistar]

Such a big load of bullshit. All these people freaking out cause it has "unmanly" oestrogen –like compounds in it etc.
Interestingly my 12yr old daughter hasn't hit puberty yet like a lot of her omni classmates. So where's her precocious soy– induced puberty from eating all that evil soy is what I'd like to know?

[tal]

It's also amusing that the most ardent anti-soy people due to it having estrogens or whatever will happily chug milk from a cow or eat meat that has been pumped full of growth hormones.

Yeah, whatever. More tofu for me.

[powerlifer]

Phyto-estrogens which soy contains actually dock the receptor sites so more harmful estrogens arent absorbed thus promoting hormonal balance. Soy's phyto-estrogens have shown health benefits in numerous studies such as improved bone density, preventing various hormonal induced cancers such as those of the breast and much more.

[Lordmuppet]

If we could have just one soy thread that would be super ... *sigh*

edited to add: in any case, I second what sosso said.

[loveliberate]

I like soy products. My concern is more with mono-crop focused industrial agriculture (= bad) and eating / encouraging others to eat varied diets that don't overly focus on any one plant (= very nice!).

[Konstantin]

It's also amusing that the most ardent anti-soy people due to it having estrogens or whatever will happily chug milk from a cow or eat meat that has been pumped full of growth hormones.

Exactly. Same for pesticides - like the animals they're eating have never eaten food with chemical additions.

And while I'm ranting, can people stop assuming that if we've vegan we nessesarily must eat a load of soya? Not all of us try to eat what an uninspired meat eater eats by replacing the animal food with soya.

[Mark Osborne]

I try to avoid processed soy foods.
However soy milk, edamame and tofu tend to show up in my diet quite a lot as these are readily available in coffee shops and restaraunts. So I am interested in the health affects of soy.

What I've gleaned is that minimally processed soy is beneficial. Organic and non-GMO would be a better choice when available - but that can be tricky given that is one of the big conventionally farmed crops.

[thestoatyone]

Why do people get that excited about tofu? Tempeh is clearly superior...

[loveliberate]

I like them both (+lots of other soy "products") myself but sure, eating tempeh, edamame & similarly less processed soy stuff seems to eliminate the majority of even potentially concerning factors. Then again, tofu & other processed soy foods tend to be cheaper and/or far more commonly available....

[knackers]

Shit, I hope it aint bad.

I have been hammering the soy intake recently.

[powerlifer]

As far as its potential issue for causing hypothyroidism this like other goitrogens only really are of issue to those with existing thyroid disease or consuming low iodine diets.

The latter can be an issue on vegan diets as produce is grown in poor soil and seaweeds are the only other good source and rarely ate by most.

[gabrielxxx]

What have you guys heard about TVP?

Tofu, tempeh, etc are really expensive around here, and TVP sells for R$4/Kg(about US$2,00), and I have been eating it like a beast, along with lentils, beans and rice.