There are so many people in my life that when I tell them I'm vegan they freak out and ask if I'm eating soy. "Oh, that shit will give you cancer." "Don't eat too much soy it will mess with your estrogen and give you ovary cancer" and so on.

I always thought that soy had been proven safe? Like it's plant estrogen, our bodies don't absorb it, right?

What do I say to these kinds of people? I like tofu :vegan-tofu:

Edit: Thanks for the info folks, you rule. :bean:

  • Quimby [any, any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    ugh. I had an effort post on this a long time ago, somewhere, that I was proud of and can't find now. but the short answer is that no, there's nothing harmful about eating soy!

    I had the same worries as you, likely inspired by faint memories of seeing things like "Soy and estrogen??" on magazine headlines in the supermarket checkout aisle or whatever. Couldn't actually tell you the source of that mental association with certainty though. But, regardless of the origin, it's wrong. Tofu/soy is perfectly safe, even in relatively large quantities. And if it weren't, we'd know by now. Soy is consumed in massive amounts globally each year--it's not exactly a niche food.