Soy products, including tofu, miso, soy milk, soy flour and soy sausage, are among the most nutritious foods known. These foods are high in protein, fiber and unsaturated fats, and rich in vitamins, minerals and salts. Isoflavones in soy products, which are plant estrogens, possess many healthful properties linked to soy. You should limit the soy products in your diet, as soy can produce undesirable side effects, like everything else.
Breast Cancer
Soy foods are a source of isoflavones, naturally occurring phytochemicals with weak estrogenic cellular effects. Soy isoflavones act in some ways like anti-estrogens and compete with the endogenous estrogen and negate its effectiveness. Because increased estrogen exposure increases breast cancer risk in women, soy isoflavones may exert an inhibitory effect on the growth of cancer cells in the breast, according to a study by University at Buffalo and Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
Heart Disease and Stroke
Soy protein and its isoflavones exert anti-platelet aggregation activities, which reduce the incidence of blood clot development that can cause heart attacks and strokes. Platelets are essential components of the blood that are responsible for helping blood clot. Myocardial infarction, or heart attack, can be caused by a blood clot that blocks a coronary artery in the heart. In a similar way, a blood clot can cause a stroke when it blocks a cerebral artery that supplies blood and oxygen to the brain.
Thyroid Disease
Soy may adversely affect the thyroid gland, disrupting its normal functions. Isoflavones in soy are potent inhibitors of thyroid peroxidase enzymes, which are responsible for the stimulation and incorporation of iodine into the thyroid gland. Your thyroid gland must be able to obtain iodine from the bloodstream to produce thyroid hormones.
Gout
Hyperuricemia -- high levels of uric acid in the blood -- is considered the precursor for gout. Uric acid is formed when purines are broken down by the body. Purines are natural components in your body's cells and are also found in many foods. If you have gout, you should avoid foods rich in purines, including soy. Excess uric acid that does not eliminate from your body can store in body tissues in the form of urate crystals and cause swelling, redness, intense pain and inflammation, known as gout.
References
- University of Maryland Medical Center; Soy; December 2009
- University at Buffalo; Soy Isoflavones Decrease Risk of Invasive Breast Cancer, Large Breast Tumors, Study Shows; Anne Weaver; November 2010
- Baylor College of Medicine: Educational Component
- University of Southern California; So Far Soy Good; Alicia Di Rado
- "The Anti-Estrogenic Diet"; Ori Hofmekler and Rick Osborn; 2007
- Florida Agency for Health Care Administration; Soy; May 2009
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