Now, I’ve been telling people about the dangers of ’soy’ for a minute now and even pointing out that the feminization (limp wrist) phenom) of the ‘conscious-eating’ community is a direct result of heavy soy intake. Now that the scientist have released a study confirming my suspicions hopefully they’ll listen and take heed.
via Mail Online
Too much tofu could affect a man’s fertility, scientists warn.
Researchers have found that eating even a modest amount of soy products - which are popular with vegetarians - could significantly lower your sperm count.
Men who ate an average of half a serving of soy food a day had lower concentrations of sperm than those who did not, the study found. And for those who were overweight or obese, the effects were more pronounced.
Low sperm count is known to make it harder for a man to conceive.
It is thought that soy compounds called isoflavones, which mimic the female sex hormone estrogen, are behind the effect. Animal studies have linked a high consumption of isoflavones with infertility.
But until now there has been little evidence of their impact on human reproduction.
In the latest study, U.S. researchers found that those with the highest soy intake produced much less sperm than those who ate none.
Led by Dr Jorge Chavarro, from the Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston, they questioned men about consumption of 15 soy-based foods. These included tofu, tempeh, soy sausages, bacon, burgers and mince, soy milk, cheese, yoghurt and ice cream, and soy products such as roasted nuts, drinks, powders and energy bars.
Men in the highest intake group had an average soy food intake of half a serving per day.
The association between soy consumption and sperm count may be stronger for those who were obese or overweight, because their bodies produce more oestrogen than slim men, the researchers believe.
For those with higher sperm counts, the effect was also stronger. Dr Chavarro said: ‘The implication is that men who have normal or high sperm counts may be more susceptible to soy foods than men with low sperm counts.’
In the journal Human Reproduction, the researchers concluded: ‘We found an inverse association between the consumption of soy foods and sperm concentration which was more pronounced at the higher end of the sperm concentration distribution and among overweight or obese men.’
