Posted on 07/27/2008 5:40:42 AM PDT by xtinct
Eating a half serving a day of soy-based foods could be enough to significantly lower a man's sperm count, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.
The study is the largest in humans to look at the relationship between semen quality and a plant form of the female sex hormone estrogen known as phytoestrogen, which is plentiful in soy-rich foods.
"What we found was men that consume the highest amounts of soy foods in this study had a lower sperm concentration compared to those who did not consume soy foods," said Dr. Jorge Chavarro of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, whose study appears in the journal Human Reproduction.
"It was a relatively large difference," Chavarro said in a telephone interview.
Chavarro said studies in animals have linked high consumption of plant-derived estrogens known as isoflavones with infertility, but so far there has been little evidence of their effect in humans. "We wanted to know if it would affect sperm production and could serve as a marker for the effects on the reproductive system," Chavarro said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.aol.com ...
I am a bit skeptical. Soy is a major staple of the Japanese diet and they have no sperm count problems. I told my wife about this, who is Japanese, and she seemed a bit skeptical as well. Perhaps there are other parts of their diet that counteract the effect.
To verify that statement, a study would have to been done on significant numbers of Japanese men eating a traditional Japanese diet, comparing their sperm count to a comparable group of Japanese men eating a diet without soy.
Anyway, although this is an interesting fact, Japan's (and Europe's) death-spiral birthrate is due to deliberate sterility, not low sperm counts.
It only takes one. A bbc article I read on the same story said a reduction of 41 percent.
I wonder if this study was funded by the dairy industry? I drink a glass of vanilla soy milk every night and have made three babies in the past three years, one-year old twins and one on the way! My wife induced me to go mostly veggie and have lost twenty-five pounds. Maybe my sperm count is down but I make up for it (if you know what I mean) thanks to my better health!
U.S. researchers= meat ind ad.
China too. They eat a LOT of soy and there is no sign they are having trouble making kids.
seafood, and seaweed, ?
Doesn't seem to have affected the billions of Asians who eat tofu every day.
I used to work with married guys at the airport who believed if one stood in front to the plane’s radar during testing, it would lower their sperm count. They tried to get the treatment done every week, before their days off.....
“I am a bit skeptical.”
And you offer perfect evidence as to why you should be.
These “doctors” tend to get their conclusions backwards.
Soy doesn’t cause the low sperm count.
Men with low sperm counts choose to consume soy.
Soy sauce == fermented
Tofu == not fermented
When soybeans are used in a fermented food such as soy sauce or miso, then it is very good for you. When soybeans are used in any other way that doesn’t remove the phytates from the bean, then it is bad. And sperm count is only one of the many bad effects of eating non-fermented soy.
I just sprayed my tea all over the table. I can’t stop chuckling....
I apologize in advance. I will be stealing this response and using it every chance I get. It is brilliant.
I’m still chuckling....
Very informative. DP goes through phases of drinking soy milk, but I’m sure I’d be expecting post-haste if I relied upon lower sperm counts. (*aspira*)
Considering the source of that “report”, no thanks.
You should argue the facts, not the man. The dangers of soy have been documented for decades by many different sources, and you would serve yourself well to get as educated as you can in order to make wise choices for your family.
Soybeans are pushed hard by agribusiness as a magic food, not because of the nutrition, but because of how easy they are to grow and how durable and transportable are the foods you can make out of them. This is, of course, the same crowd that pushes high-fructose corn syrup as the sweetener to cure all that ails us!
I've heard it said that the Japanese and Chinese don't actually consume Soy as-is, but they ferment it. Fermenting might neutralise the oestrogen-like compounds.
Maybe the rest of the world swallowed the whole thing with a poor translation, and will suffer for it.
He's nothing more than an internet charlatan and alarmist whose only interest is separating you from your money. He does a good job of scaring people but his "findings" are rarely based on sound science.
Price, Mercola, CSPI, Citizens for Health, et al are all in the same boat and should be totally avoided if you're serious about debating the relative health and safety of food ingredients and food products.
Thank goodness the bio-fuels industry will save us all from the deadly effects of soy oil and corn starch.
Funny thing research.
Hm. There’s no mention of other dairy alternatives in the article, so for now, I guess I’m gonna have to stick with my soy milk and soy yogurt and soy/tofu ice cream bars... not that I’d have to worry about sperm count anyways. The only problem I have with soy is that it hasn’t been made into a good cheese substitute yet =(
Since fewer people is a tree hugger goal, glad to hear they’re doing their part to make that happen.
Tofu is not fermented it is soaked and cooked soybeans that are made into a curd. The soaking process used traditionally to make tofu reduces the the phytates that some here may be concerned about. These people probably don't realize that lots of plant foods are high in phytates along with other foods such as other beans, grains, nuts and seeds. Are all these foods lowering male sperm counts? I don't think so.
Hell, I’m no tree hugger, but given my desire to not have any more kids, this sure does make me rethink my aversion to soy.
I wondered about that too... lol
Even though fermented soy contains more isoflavones than isolated soy protein? Are isoflavones good for you or not? Aren't these phytoestrogens what so many people fear and believe are turning boys into girls?
When soybeans are used in any other way that doesn’t remove the phytates from the bean, then it is bad. And sperm count is only one of the many bad effects of eating non-fermented soy.
What is it about phytic acid that's so bad for you? Unless you're relying on foods high in phytic acid for the vast majority of your calories you are not going to experience any relevant problems with mineral absorption. Do you know anybody who lives on soybeans and wheat bran?
There is no credible evidence that people diets high in soyfoods suffer from mineral deficiency.
Weston might be a dubious source, but he’s right-on about soy. The solution is: a) don’t buy anything from him, and b) get as much information as you can get.
This is the wrong thread to try to convince me that he is wrong about soy, BTW.
I have no interest in convincing you about anything regarding soy, however, I am willing to prove that your feelings and your conclusions about soy are wrong and are based on a misunderstanding of the science. Feel free to convince me otherwise. Be as technical as you'd like.
Thank you for the correction on tofu.
Franks and Beans ping.
Perhaps they CAN make kids, but they aren’t.
Fertility rate for China is 1.77, considerably lower than the US and right in there with a number of the demographically suiciding European countries.
Japan (1.22) and South Korea (1.29) are even lower.
China has a lot of people, but few of them are kids.
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