Tofu / soy and phyto-oestrogens? What's it all about? (I need answers from sciency people, not new agey paranoiacs)

[AdamAnt]

So soy products apparently contain(?) / produce(?) phyto-oestogens. What does that actually mean?

We eat quite a lot of tofu, and I have a vague unease about turning my DS into a hermaphrodite . I've tried googling it, but well...you know what t'internet's like.

Not my area of expertise afraid but the FSA has a good report on them here

I say good report. I mean conflicting and vague.
But y'know, good in that they seem to think they're not dead;y or likely to give your son breasts.

Thanks for that slur It's still quite confusing though, isn't it

At the risk of talking to myself...

Phytoestrogens are naturally occuring little compounds that are similar in structure to oestrogen. So smiilar they can bind to oestrogen receptors. So iow the body treats and receives them like oestrogen.

Whether thats a good or bad thing is really up for debate.

There has been recent advice to reconsider their presence in formula, there is aslo the awkward fact of chinese folk living forever and eating lots of soy.

So who knows. My guess, not thought of as unsafe for your family, but watch this space.

Thank you slur

DS does have slight moobs, but as he's only 19 months I rather enjoy wibbling them

I personally don't think you'll turn your DS into a hermaphrodite by eating lots of tofu. If that was the case then you would find lots of oriental hemaphrodites.

There are plenty of other dietary sources of oestrogen in general (not just phyto oestrogen) so no point in just picking on soys products IMO.

BBM - really? That's interesting.

Are there plant sources of androgens as well?

Apparently fermented soy products (as in tofu and soy sauce) are fine, it's the more "direct" soy products such as soya mince and products containing soya oil/hydrolised soya proteins you have to keep an eye out for.

If you look, the Chinese and Japanese only ever eat fermented soy products and have been for hundreds of years, without dubious side effects.

So what about just plain soya beans that haven't been processed? Which camp do they fall into

Yep there are phyto-androgens too.

Had to look this up but apparently pine pollen is androgen-rich!

I did wonder this too, as the article I read only spoke about fermented soy versus processed/hydrolised soy, which is really the bad guy. I should imagine that they're OKish in not very large doses, but this is only based on the (non scientific) fact that the Japanese eat a lot of edemame, which are soy bean pods, yet don't seem to have suffered adverse side effects.