From: Priyanka
Subject: Soybean Phytoestrogen Content
Message Body:
Hi!
First and foremost, this website is awesome! Thanks for compiling all of these resources in an easy to access website.
Second, I am a first year medical student who has had a problem with her skin since high school. I noticed in college that I would get bad acne cysts on my face when I consumed tofu/soy. Since then, I avoid those like the plague. I’ve still suffered from slightly less severe breakouts though, and I’m coming to wonder if soybean oil/soy lecithin is still messing with my hormones in some way. (I also react poorly to flax seeds, another food with high phytoestrogens).
I was wondering if you’ve had any contact with a viewer of this website who has correlated soybean oil to hormonal problems, but not true allergies. It’s astonishing how much soy can disturb the endocrine system, and I cannot believe the FDA for allowing soybean oil in 90 percent of our food based on scant research.
Well wishes!
Priyanka
—————————
Hi Priyanka,
All of my readers (up until you) have only been concerned with allergic reactions to soy. I’ll be curious if anybody else has had any experiences like you. Due to a 2006 article about the high estrogen content in soy, we were already avoiding soy in our home, having kids with soy allergies has required us to be more vigilant.
Hi Priyanka!
YES! I’m late to the party, but I want to chime in. I have also experienced hormonal trouble with phytoestrogens (soy is the worst), and no one will believe me about it! Flax seeds and garbanzos are runners up as well. They all mess with my cycle and my mood. I avoid when I can and try to externalize my feelings, if the food was unavoidable.
I hope you’ve been able to find a way forward. I’m doing my best. I’m sorry for your struggle, but grateful to know someone else out there has experienced this and knows it is real.
Thanks,
N
soy of any kind gives me a really bad Migraine. So think about it when you are going to eat what it might be in.
Thyroid suppression is how soy affects me. At least that is absolutely the symptoms. Too many clinitians get either skeptical or lazy so thus far nothing *medically* proven. But too many accidental blind “studies” tell me I am right, and my wife often tells me just as I start to ask her. Past few years it happens only when eating at a well intentioned relative’s home. (Does little good to prepare a soy free dish when the pan is sprayed with Pam!) Live & learn, at least I have no discernible risk of anaphylaxis. Just turn into a temperature sensitive slug for a week or two.