Hi all, got a question on soy. - JP Fitness Forums

goldwave84 · 09-22-2004, 12:30 PM

Hi All,
Used to be a regular on menshealth.com but this is much better. Anyway, I was hoping someone could explain to me the whole story about Soy. I do not really understand the whole concept of isoflavones and how they effect the body, especially if someone is trying to build muscle. I cannot consume cow's milk as I am lactose intolerent so soy seems to be a good alternative.
Can anyone give me good advice?

Thanks
Ashley

wunbusyguy · 09-22-2004, 12:34 PM

Sounds like a Johnka question to me. Though he doesn't mention much about consuming soy himself I am sure he has some knowledge about the stuff tucked away somewhere.
Johnka?

Evolution · 09-22-2004, 01:00 PM

isoflavones are currently under intense research. preliminary results indicate a benefit of hormone disorders such as breast cancer. they apparantly do this by occupying the receptor site for estrogen therefore, lowering some of the risks for excessive estrogen. However, if you body is estrogen deprived such as in menopuase they can mimic estrogen and ease some of the symptoms. tampeh is a great source of isoflavones and they are relatively stable when used during cooking. HOpe this helps

Johnka · 09-22-2004, 01:05 PM

Goldwave, glad you could make it over here!

Soy seems like something that you can safely include in your diet, in moderation. There are some disturbing long-term studies that linked a high soy diet with dementia in Japanese men, but there are no real studies that show how much soy is bad. It is one of those things where you're probably best taking a middle ground between the extremists who say that soy will make you a eunuch if you even look at it, and those who make it out to be a miracle food.

I don't eat a lot of soy, simply because I don't really like it. Give me real meat over some slimy tofu any day.

But even if you're lactose intolerant, you can still have whey protein. Go for the isolate, which has less than 0.1 gram of lactose per 20 grams of isolate. You're probably better off avoiding whey concentrate though, since it has more lactose, and the level of lactose varies with brands.