Here’s some stuff I dug up:
““Traditionally fermented soy products make a delicious, natural seasoning that may supply important nutritional factors in the Asian diet. But except in times of famine, Asians consume soy products only in small amounts, as condiments, and not as a replacement for animal foods - with one exception. Celibate monks living in monasteries and leading a vegetarian lifestyle find soy foods quite helpful because they dampen libido.””
Hmm. That dampen libido thing sounds like the phytoestrogens do a bit more than "protect" you from estradiols.
““Male infants undergo a “testosterone surge” during the first few months of life, when testosterone levels may be as high as those of an adult male. During this period, the infant is programmed to express male characteristics after puberty, not only in the development of his sexual organs and other masculine physical traits, but also in setting patterns in the brain characteristic of male behaviour. In monkeys, deficiency of male hormones impairs the development of spatial perception (which, in humans, is normally more acute in men than in women), of learning ability and of visual discrimination tasks (such as would be required for reading). It goes without saying that future patterns of sexual orientation may also be influenced by the early hormonal environment. Male children exposed during gestation to diethylstilbestrol (DES), a synthetic oestrogen that has effects on animals similar to those of phytoestrogens from soy, had testes smaller than normal on manturation.””
Oh well, those testicle things just get in the way most of the time...they'll just be more streamlined.
““New data indicate that environmental oestrogens such as PCBs and DDE (a breakdown product of DDT) may cause early sexual development in girls. In the 1986 Puerto Rico Premature Thelarche study, the most significant dietary association with premature sexual development was not chicken - as reported in the press - but soy infant formula.
The consequences of this truncated childhood are tragic. Young girls with mature bodies must cope with feelings and urges that most children are not well-equipped to handle. And early maturation in girls is frequently a harbinger for problems with the reproductive system later in life, including failure to menstruate, infertility and breast cancer””
Sounds good to me. I'm running right out to buy a barrel of soy protein for my kids in the morning!
Whey is part of milk. Mammals have evolved over millions of years to grow from milk in their early years. Casein, same deal. Eggs also are full of energy to pass on to the chick as it grows in the shell. Soy beans are loaded with natural pesticides to protect the bean from being used as food so another soy plant can grow from it instead. Those are the anti-nutrients (toxins) that are a part of the problem. If you want to chow down on a bunch of soy be my guest. I’ll stick to real food.