Can soy be harmful to the thyroid? ?

Question

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i just heard this and i want to see if its true.

Answer 1

Scientists say the isoflavones in soy products can depress thyroid function. But hey they also say animal testing is good and meat is needed for a healthy diet so it's up to you to believe them or not.

Answer 2

In high quantities, I'm sure it can be.

However, you have to realize that the isoflavones in soy are natural and your body can normally process them very quickly, these phytoestrogens remain in the body VERY shortly and have little effect on the body. Any effect is temporary.

There are various effects on the endocrine system, including the thyroid (which, other than inconclusive studies that said soy "MAY" "inhibit" thyroid function, has little evidence that can be applied to all people - certainly the words "may" and "inhibit" can be interpreted in many ways, as are most studies in general).

People with impaired endocrine function (especially overweight and obese men) experience the most endocrine impairment, including some reproductive system side effects like reduced sperm count. That is also temporary though, not something that will remain forever. If you stop eating soy your body will return to homeostasis, unless your endocrine system is ruined beyond repair. I would compare that to someone with immunodeficiency disease like AIDS - while someone normal can get a cold and be fine two days later, someone with AIDS can suffer intense complications and die, unable to fight off even a little head cold. Someone with an already belabored and impared endocrine system will have a hard time handling the phytoestrogen in soy.

I would bring up xenoestrogens into the arguement though - these are present in many plastics around us (like plastic food containers, plastic bottles, etc), as well as in chemicals sprayed on produce and other foods, chemicals in our cleaning supplies. Unlike endocrine disruptors found in food naturally (like isoflavone in soy), xenoestrogens are artificial and your body reacts to them in a much more exagerrated way. They do not metabolize quickly and often build up and have lasting effects. Almost all people eating a Western diet and living a modern lifestyle have a high exposure to xenoestrogens, which are KNOWN to play haphazard games with our thyroids.

I think the fear of soy's impact on endocrine function, including thyroid function, is entirely fear mongering. It's a means of deflecting the attention from what the medical community as a whole is MORE concerned about (artificial xenoestrogens in thousands of everyday items) onto a very easy scapegoat like soy, which has MUCH MUCH fewer clinical cases of affecting someone's thyroid function. People latch onto sensational stories - kind of like people freak out about something like flying, out of fear of a terrorist attack, when the odds of dying on a plane are the tiniest fraction of the odds of them dying just walking down the street, or driving in their car. It's something rarer and more exotic, and it gets tons of media attention and people flip out about it, but things we do everyday are much more likely to hurt us.

So soy, in moderation, is hardly ever harmful, but the few cases where it did seem harmful are blown out of proportion. Meanwhile, the general public as a whole is slowly being poisoned by xenoestrogens and little is being done to stop it. Consider the sponsors of the media, of publications, of research studies, and think about where the corporate interests lie...