Soy/Tofu

[Angry_eel]

My manager recently scared me about Soy or products made from soy recently because as he claims it increases estrogen. Hence, its bad if you are doing weights as you need low estrogen and high testosterone. Now I couldn't find any study for it but there I did see a few convos on bodybuilding forums about avoiding it. what do you think?

 

[roopy]

estrogen is important for heart health.
Men need it for that reason, and possibly others we have no idea about.

People get obsessed with the idea that estrogen is the 'female' hormone and testosterone is the 'male' hormone, and they are important in sexual characteristic development like hair growth and fat distribution etc - but men and women have both hormones and need both hormones, as well as others.

Women with low estrogen are supposed to benefit from soy/linseed products that are said to naturally increase estrogen, and some people claim it is an alternative to hormone replacement therapy for middle aged women, and i believe there are studies that prove that works in some people - but i think people claiming soy increases estrogen in men are drawing a long bow if they are relying on those studies. There is a bloody huge difference between unhealthy middle aged women who would naturally produce more estrogen if they were healthy, and healthy young men who would not naturally produce a lot of estrogen.

 

[Geohood]

Ive been having alot of it lately... 1-2 cups with weetbix then 1 cup with oats each day, as well as soy protein isolate for a shake every now and then... I've been making gains over the past few months, who knows if I could of made more with the extra testosterone if thats true, but meh Ive stopped having dairy and still love milk so Im not giving it up lol.

 

[Joker's Wild]

Read this article, it offers a very balanced and informed opinion on the subject of soy and soy protein extracts

http://www.bodybuildingforyou.com/health-nutrition/soy-protein-benefits-use-1.htm

 

[roopy]

Read this article, it offers a very balanced and informed opinion on the subject of soy and soy protein extracts

http://www.bodybuildingforyou.com/health-nutrition/soy-protein-benefits-use-1.htm

I don't think you can call that 'balanced', although it does seem well informed (although not peer reviewed and he doesn't list any qualifications, so it could be bullsh*t).
It's not 'balanced' because he basically dismisses the health benefits of soy as irrelevant because he is only looking at it from a body building point of view.
He mentions that it has benefits for heart health and anti-cancer properties in some forms, but doesn't look at this in depth, basically because that isn't important to him.

As an average punter, not interested in body building, i'd rate the cholestrol lowering and anti prostate cancer benefits of having soy milk over cow milk as my number one reason for considering it. Same with tofu over meat etc.

He also doesn't make a conclusive link between estrogen and soy in men - just implies there could be a link.

 

[Joker's Wild]

I dont really think he was dismissing the health benefits roops. The fact that he mentioned them at all puts him ahead of many other articles alone

The article mentions both the good and (percieved) bad effects of soy. When I was researching the topic I found a lot of articles saying only negative things like how it raises the estrogen levels in men, reduces muscle mass, etc but this was the only one I found that mentioned the tissue specific nature when it came to the effect soy has on the hormonal balance in men, challenging the notion that it has any effect on muscle mass at all.

Im not interested in body building either but I was curious if the protein powder that I have at home, that is a soy derivative, was undoing my strength gains. Given the info in this article it seems that soy protein, while not as readily absorbed as whey or egg, will still do the job of supplying the body with what it needs to maintain muscle mass.