Is soy sauce safe to eat in pregnancy?

[Hotdog78]

Hello, is soy sauce safe to eat in pregnancy? NHS says it's alright as part of a healthy balanced diet, but then goes on to discuss it's hormonal properties so just wondering if I should avoid it altogether. Anyone have any strong views either way? Don't eat much of the stuff but it's nice in stir fry ! First baby so apologies for stupid question....

Yes.
If the NHS guidelines say it is safe, it is safe.

Looking to "ban" things you have been told are safe is a recipe for stress and anxiety.
And ignore people's "strong feelings" unless they are experts (on respected medical things nor random Internet people) ... there are a lot of crazy, restrictive and wrong things out there causing needless guilt and shame to mums.

This is the official NHS site: soy sauce isn't even listed in the contents at the top. Just stick with this you'll be OK.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/foods-to-avoid-pregnant.aspx#close

The only thing I'd watch is the salt content but if you're only using a dash or two occasionally then it shouldn't be a problem. Also you can get lower-salt versions.

It's fine

What Squizita said.

Um if it's not safe there won't be any babies in the Far East. I don't think you even switch to the low salt version. Just go easy on the salt if you are worried!

Thank you guys! Really helpful. And I agree about not restricting things you don't need to.

What hormonal properties does Soy sauce contain?

Yes. And you can pretty much eat everything as normal bar a very small few items (avoid vitamin A and mercury rich fish, rinded soft cheese is a listeria risk but it would be rare enough). I would stop worrying about every little food and eat what you fancy, as normal.

Thanks, Droflove. Hello Floggingmolly - this is the NHS site info:

"Soya contains compounds called phytoestrogens that occur naturally in plants. For some groups of people, phytoestrogens may act as a weak form of the human hormone oestrogen and may produce weak biological effects. Much research has been carried out to try to understand the dietary risks and benefits of phytoestrogens. Phytoestrogens ..are also thought to disrupt the production of hormones and cause potentially harmful effects on health."

So nothing relating to pregnancy but prompted me to write the OP. Also found some really dodgy suspect info on a few crazy websites about soy being banned in Japan for pregnant women(!) which I took to be a lot of rubbish and ignored.

I think that "some groups of people" meant overweight men eating a LOT of soya beans/soya bean products - they would ne the group at risk of too much oestrogen ... not a bit of soy sauce!