While waiting to retrieve my daily non-Starbucks iced Chai soy latte yesterday, a 40-year-old-looking man whispered in my ear in a very incospicuous manner to watch out for soy milk, since it has high levels of estrogen, and this had made him shrink. I didn’t say anything back, especially not to ask exactly what type of shrinking had gone on with this man, but smiled nervously and walked away. I don’t think a little bit of estrogen would really have an effect on a girl.
So then I began to think, really, of how much soy I ingest on a daily basis. And I am not even a vegetarian! The soy trend is probably just that, a trend, even though it started as an alternate source of protein for vegetarians and vegans.
Soy milk is a good alternative for all my lactose intolerant friends whose fate I am not jealous of, because there is yet to be some sort of close replacement for cheese. There have been studies though that have shown men who have at least one glass of soy milk a day to have a lower sperm count (back to not-Starbucks character) and that it will never be a good replacement for breast milk, unlike formula.
There are all types of arguments regarding the use of oy. There are women who use the hormones to help them through menopause. There are arguments that it may reduce breast cancer, since the cases are much less in Asian countries, where the consumption of soy is much higher than western countries. The health benefits though are still a little controversial.
Most of these myths have yet to be proven. The opposite side of the argument though is the food you are replacing when eating soy, which tends to be greasy, fatty foods. For adults replacing red meat with soy products is a safe bet, same as those suffering from heart disease.
Some soy products really have no downturn to them, like Tofu, which has magnesium, iron,calcium, omega-3 fatty acids, selenium and copper and it is extremely easy to digest.
Here are my favorite tofu recipes, as a random but yummy aside:
Spicy Stir-Fried Tofu With Bok Choy
Miso Soup! (although this recipe uses regular mushrooms, I recommend Shiitake)
My conclusion being, what you are not taking in when taking soy is proven to be unhealthy, while the effects of soy have yet to be determined quickly. Asian people do tend to be healthier than us, so, why not adopt a healthier habit?
3 Comments
April 21, 2009 at 12:31 pm
I wish I could write this well! great blog thanks.
May 4, 2009 at 3:13 am
Hi, good post. I have been wondering about this issue,so thanks for writing. I will definitely be coming back to your blog.
May 6, 2009 at 8:25 am
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