I think soy milk every now and then or a soy protein shake after a hard workout isn't going to have any serious consequences other than helping recovery. I didn't read the article but did it mention what kind of dosage this guy was getting into? I like my soy milk and tofu and as long as I supplement it with those bull testicles I love so much I think it'll balance out. ;)

i've been a vegetarian/vegan for a while, and i haven't seen any of the estrogenic effects. there is controversy regarding whether soy really has cardiac benefits, but like everything else, moderation . . .

Moderation is what us triathletes do best. I wasn't trying to say women are losers but if you are a guy and you are eating something which is robbing your strength then it may cause you to lose races. I wasn't referring to a loser in the "dregs of society" sense but rather the not winning the race sense.

In moderation I agree it is fine. But if you are drinking soy milk, making soy protein shakes, and eating tofu on a regular basis (not to mention the race products that are loaded with soy) then you are probably not performing at your highest level. Unless of course you are supplementing your soy intake with a steady stream of bull testicles like tri it out.

Bottom line is, anything that is going to act like estrogen in a man’s body is going to slow him down. Estrogen does not promote muscle growth. The fact that many of the products you eat to make you faster are actually doing the opposite should upset you. For recovery whey is just a much better choice of protein.
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I agree that people should know about the health detriments of soy. Since I only have half of a thyroid gland, my endocrinologist says I should not eat any soy. It's a known thyroid disruptor and inhibitor. Anything that disrupts your endocrine system is simply not good for an athlete in my book. Probably one of the reasons I ended up with thyroid cysts so bad that the surgeon had to take half of my thyroid out is all of my years as a vegetarian/vegan where I ate too much soy. The cycsts started 2 years after I went vegan and replaced all of my former dairy with soy milk, soy yogurt, etc. Bad move.

As for my kids, when they've eaten vegetarian I've told them that's fine, but very minimal soy. No soy milk, maybe an occasional soy hot dog or something. Thankfully they've both gone back to eating meat now.

That being said, I do eat the occasional Clif bar or something, but no soy protein powders and try to stay away from any bars with Soy. Mostly I'm trying to be vaguely Paleo (I say vaguely because I do eat some eggs and raw milk).

+1 There is a very short list of things that I consume 12 cups of per day.

just to clear this up, men and women both have "male" hormones (testosterone and derivatives) and female hormones (estrogen and derivatives). i don't think that there is strong evidence of soy as a thyroid "disruptor." a small study showed a significant increase in tsh, thyroid stimulating hormone, but not in the thyroid products itself. there was a study in dogs which showed an increase in total thyroxine (a thyroid product), but not in total body condition.

it is hard to give lessons in how to read the medical literature, but the best advice is, if you are really concerned, is to ask your dr. also, there are alternatives for vegetarian/vegan proteins, like beans and nuts. if you aren't vegan, there area also dairy products.

anyway . . .

I was wondering why my "little buddy" kept shrinking, even after the "manscaping". I've been drinking a half gallon of soy chocolate mile per week for the last couple years. It makes sense now. I used to be leaner before taking in the soy. Plus, my "little buddy" used to be about a half inch longer. I'll just stick to whey protein.

Well, since my own endocrinologist (one of the most highly respected on the west coast) was the one who gave me the original information on avoiding soy, and on soy being an endocrine disruptor, I think I'll take his word for it. But if you don't want to do that, there are tons and tons of studies that show the effects of soy on thyroid, and you can page through the abstracts online. Suffice it to say that after reading many of the studies, I've come to the conclusion that my endocrinologist was totally right.

In my own anecdotal evidence, I have no family history of thyroid disease. My mom, two grandmothers, and four aunts have never suffered from thyroid disease. Yet within a couple of years on vegetarian/vegan diets, both my sister and I had to have surgery for thyroid cysts. She was lucky, her cysts were on the outside of the thyroid and easily removed. I was not so lucky, mine were intertwined with the thyroid (and vocal chords and trachea), necessitated major surgery and removal of half my thyroid.

Since living with half of a thyroid is very difficult for an athlete, I would love to spare anyone else going through what I did. I think it's best for anyone concerned with their health to severely limit soy consumption. For adults, just 30 mg of soy isoflavones per day is the amount found to have a negative impact on thyroid function. This amount of soy isoflavones is found in just 5-8 ounces of soy milk. Soy protein powders and protein bars for athletes contain more than enough to affect thyroid function in many people.

Here's just one of the many studies you can read on this subject:
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Anti-thyroid isoflavones from soybean: isolation, characterization, and mechanisms of action.
Divi RL, Chang HC, Doerge DR.
Biochem Pharmacol 1997 Nov 15 54:10 1087-96.
Abstract
The soybean has been implicated in diet-induced goiter by many studies. The extensive consumption of soy products in infant formulas and in vegetarian diets makes it essential to define the goitrogenic potential. In this report, it was observed that an acidic methanolic extract of soybeans contains compounds that inhibit thyroid peroxidase- (TPO) catalyzed reactions essential to thyroid hormone synthesis.

National Center for Toxicological Research, Jefferson, AR 72079, USA.