opinions on soy

  • Thread starter Thread starter imported_eric.malitz
  • Start date Start date
I

imported_eric.malitz

Guest
I am a vegetarian as of a couple months ago and, obviously, I have lost some muscle. I have tried to supplement with protein (which before I simple tried to eat a lot of meat to maintain muscle). But I am interested in what people here think about soy, in general or specific.

For example, does anyone have insight on the "controversy" of soy's ill-health effects?

Will the estrogens in soy make me fatter?

Or will it actually have the opposite effect (burning MORE fat, I think I read this somewhere, something to do with thyroid hormones).

Is Soy "lower quality" protein, and how does this effect me if Im trying to put on muscle?

Will excess soy protein give me dreaded undesirable characteristics?

thanks
 
<div>
(eric.malitz @ Nov. 19 2007,03:30)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Will excess soy protein give me dreaded undesirable characteristics?</div>
You mean, like, other than breasts...?
sad.gif
 
Ok, first of all, if you have lost muscle and your workout is decent, you are not getting enough calories and/or protein -- it has nothing to do with being a vegetarian.

That said, I still think that the jury is out on potential adverse effects from soy.  There are contradictory studies and some folks have done quite well on it.  I started lifting on soy protein and got the usual newbie gains while on it.

Some soy protein appears to be fine and is beneficial to your health, but there is enough concern out there to make me think it should not serve as the majority of your protein.  If you are a regular vegetarian who uses milk products, you have whey and casein protein powders available, besides just regular dairy products (cheese, yogurt, etc).  If you are vegan, pea protein is your best non-soy powder option, perhaps with a little rice protein to improve the amino mix.  On the plus side, it appears that pea protein is now cheaper than whey.

As an aside, while I never buy Muscle &amp; Fitness anymore, I do glance through it and they had a major article on protein recently where they ranked soy second after whey.  There was not a single mention of estrogenic effects, which surprised me given their usual approach.  It indicates to me that they either don't consider it an issue or (more likely) didn't want to alienate any advertisers.
 
I don't think there is decisive enough information out there on soy protein as Ruthenian said. Does this mean soy protein is better for woman, and whey is better for men though? It's a good debate over what effects there are from both types of protein powder. IMO, at the end of the day, the protein is just protein but I'm not well versed in soy protein, so that's just my two cents!
 
I think the concerns about soy are overblown. the protein bars I've been making lately have tofu &amp; soy protein powder in them &amp; I'm still far too ugly to be mistaken for a woman
biggrin.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top