Soybeans and soy-derived products have become insanely popular in the USA today, despite known dangerous side effects of soy products. Well, maybe not known, at least to most of us. But the industry knows, and they're doing their best to conceal soy's dangerous side effects.
How can you tell? Well, look at advertising for soy products. Unless it's soy protein powder specifically marketed to bodybuilders, you never see men in soy advertisements. That's because soy is much more dangerous to men than it is to women, though it's bad for both.
Muscle Powder
Here are the three big nasties about soy that no one will tell you:
· Soy has an extraordinary amount of estrogen in it - every 100 grams of soy protein you consume has as much estrogen as a high-dose birth control pill! This is especially damaging to infants, making soy formula particularly vital to avoid, but it's dangerous to men - I believe it's responsible for the recent rash of "man-boobs" hitting America - and women (in whom it can cause early menses, PMS, and other hormone-related issues).
· Soybeans contain phytic acid (as do normal beans and grains if you don't soak them well before you cook them). Phytic acid has all kinds of negative effects on your body, but chief among them is that it eats away vitamins and nutrients that your body has stored in it's muscle and bone tissue, making soybeans actually negatively nutritionally valuable.
· Finally, soybeans contain chemicals called trypsin inhibitors that prevent your stomach from breaking down proteins - so the big benefit of soybeans (the high protein content) is negated by another chemical that occurs naturally in soybeans themselves.
There is no good reason to consume soy products - with one exception: soy products that have been fermented, like real Chinese tofu, tamari soy sauce, and Japanese natto, don't have any of these problems. Several other common foods have similar health effects, but there are experts out there who have put the warnings together for you.