in today's video we are going to be talking about soy
is it healthy or unhealthy a lot of people claim that soy is a good
source of plant protein but then you have another group of
people who claim that soy is a big cause of inflammation
whenever i make videos like this i try to look at the topic
objectively because oftentimes the answer
isn't black and white my goal in this video today
is to present you with all the facts and from there
let you draw your own conclusions in today's video we are going to talk about
the pros and the cons of soy and whether it is helping or hurting
your health
hey guys welcome back to my channel if you're new here my name is kait i'm a
health coach and i post videos on a high fat nutrient dense way of eating
if you like this video give it a thumbs up feel free to share
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facebook where i share new posts every single day so what's the deal with
soy as i said at the start of this video
some people claim that it is a healthy source of protein while others claim
that it can lead to negative health implications we're going
to start off today's video talking about what soy is and why some
people believe it is beneficial and then we're going to get into the
dark side of soy and see why other people swear off it entirely
soybeans are a type of legume native to asia
soybeans are used to make tofu soy milk soy sauce
soybean oil and more recently mock meats soy has been a staple in asian diets for
thousands of years although the soy bean consumed in asian
countries is a lot different than the soy we eat
in the western world and we'll get to why that is a little
bit later in the video in terms of nutrition soybeans have
pretty equal macros with 100 grams containing 36 grams of
protein 30 grams of carbs and 20 grams of fat
with most of the fat being polyunsaturated fat
soybeans also contain a decent amount of fiber vitamin k1
and copper now here is where things start to get
a little bit controversial soybeans are one of the richest sources
of the phytoestrogen isoflavon which is also known as dietary estrogen
isoflavones have a similar structure to our body's own
estrogen which can cause problems because these isoflavones
bind to our estrogen receptors and leave the real estrogen
to circulate the body since phytoestrogens are weaker than real
estrogen this can cause suboptimal function
to put into perspective just how much dietary estrogen
is in soy 100 grams of beef that has been implanted with hormones
contains just 1.7 nanograms of estrogen when we compare this to 100 grams of
tofu the tofu has 22 million
nanograms of dietary estrogen we will come back to
whether this is a good thing or a bad thing a little bit later in the video
but let's start off talking about the benefits the pros of soy
number one is reduced disease risk there have been studies done
linking soy consumption to reduced breast cancer risk
and also reduced heart disease risk but with these studies it is important to
note that they are all observational this means that the
researchers looked at large groups of people and tried to draw
conclusions between their habits and their health now i've talked about
this before on my channel but there are a few problems with these
type of studies first off they can't prove causation
only correlation when a correlation is found
researchers are meant to do more rigorous studies to either prove or
disprove causation so while observational studies
do have a place it is important to note that they do not
show the whole picture now i've used this example before but
it's too good not to mention again in florida there is a correlation
between ice cream sales and shark attacks it's probably not
likely that one of these caused the other
it is more accurate to assume that when it is hotter
people are buying more ice cream and also swimming more
so there is a whole third component that is the cause of both
and the same applies anytime you hear that x food
is linked to y disease number two soy is a complete protein source soy is
technically a complete protein meaning that it contains all essential
amino acids however it does not include them in
balanced amounts and is very low in the essential amino
acid methionine this makes it inferior to animal protein
which is also a complete protein but has
everything in balanced amounts so yes soy is a complete protein
technically but to rely on it as your only protein source
will lead to deficiencies number three increased
estrogen as i mentioned previously soy contains a
very high amount of isoflavones which act like estrogen within the body
this is thought to be beneficial for post-menopausal women
because they produce less estrogen after menopause
and now let's get into the potential downsides of soy
the cons of soy number one increased estrogen
yes increased estrogen is both a pro and a con because isoflavones act like
estrogen in the body this can lead to hormonal
imbalances estrogen levels are higher in women than
men as estrogen's main role is women's fertility
a bit of dietary estrogen here and there yeah that's probably not an issue for
most people as it does have a weaker effect than
true estrogen but if you are consuming these foods in
mass amounts you might run into some issues okay and
you're probably thinking to yourself what about people in asian countries
where soy is a large part of their diet a big
thing to point out here is that most of the soy consumed in
asian countries is fermented whereas here in the western world
it's not people in these countries are consuming soy in the form of
miso natto tempeh and tamari whereas people in the western world are eating
soy burgers soy protein isolate and soy bars fermentation reduces the
amount of isoflavones in soy tempeh which is fermented tofu
contains 18 of the isoflavones tofu does that is a huge reduction the one
downside to fermenting soy and fermenting any foods in general is
that it increases the histamine content now this isn't an issue if you're not
histamine intolerant and if you're not sure if you're
histamine intolerant or not check out my video on the topic after
this one in one case study done on a 60 year old man who developed gynecomastia
he had very high estrogen levels four times the reference range
thanks to the soy in his diet he reported erectile dysfunction
and decreased libido mind you he was consuming
three quarts of soy milk a day which is a lot and when he stopped
drinking the soy milk his estrogen slowly returned to normal
and his breast tenderness subsided number two thyroid
dysfunction other hormones that could be impacted by
soy are our thyroid hormones now this is mainly an issue if you are
not getting enough iodine in your diet which unfortunately is a lot of us
isoflavones deplete iodine stores which leaves less iodine
to be synthesized into thyroid hormone it is estimated that one third of the
world's population is not consuming enough iodine although
this is something that isn't often tested for a group of iodine researchers
tested 35 000 people and of those 96 were deficient
in iodine the best sources of iodine are seaweed kelp and seafood and this
may be another reason why people in asian countries do seemingly
better with soy because seafood is such a large part of
their diet but it is worth noting that while there
are lower rates of prostate and colon cancer
in asian countries there are higher rates of other types of cancer
including thyroid hashimoto disease as is evident by the name
actually originated in japan there are also things in our environment that
block iodine absorption such as fluoride which complicates
matters further i've spoken several times about iodine
on my channel and i think it is just so important i
have tested deficient for it in the past and i think
it was largely to blame for some health issues i went through previously
mainly surrounding my period and borderline hypothyroidism
and i will pop the link to that video up above if you want to know more about
that in the 1950s there were several cases of
goiter which is an enlargement of the thyroid
gland caused by soy-based baby food iodine was then added to the products
and the issue went away another case study done on a 72 year old
woman found she developed hypothyroidism and a
large goiter from a supplement she was taking
containing soybean extract both were reversed when she stopped
taking the supplement so if you are getting enough iodine in
through diet then soy shouldn't impact your thyroid
but unfortunately a lot of us are not getting enough
number three is gi distress soy contains several anti-nutrients that
can damage the gut wall they create holes in the surface
membrane of the gut allowing a variety of substances to get
through and this leads to a wide range of other
health complications one of these anti-nutrients saponins can
also block nutrient absorption including that
of vitamins a b12 d and e and disrupt your body's
ability to digest fats carbs and protein now some people
believe saponins can be beneficial in small doses they provide a mild
stress to the body which will make it stronger in the future but i'm not so
sure that the pros outweigh the cons here in conclusion
fermented soy is better than unfermented soy
for several reasons but it does not come without side effects
dr kayla daniel who is a nutritionist and author of the book
the whole soy story has said thousands of studies link soy to malnutrition
digestive distress thyroid problems cognitive decline
reproductive disorders immune system breakdown
even heart disease and cancer possible benefits are far outweighed by proven
risks anyways guys that's all i have for you
today let me know in the comments section down below
what your experience with soy has been did you notice any benefits
cutting it out of your diet if you like this video you might also like my video
on iodine that i mentioned earlier you can check it out here if you
want to catch up on my most recent upload you can click
here and if you want to check out my coaching programs you can find them here
thanks again for watching guys i'll see you next time bye