Does soy make you more feminine? Nutrition myths BUSTED part 12

I thought it was time to bust some more nutrition myths, this time focusing on myths about plant-based diets.

A plant-based diet is made mainly from plants, as opposed to animal products. This means focusing on grains, cereals, beans, legumes, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. The number of people eating more plant-based is growing every year in the UK. 

The myths I’m going to cover this time are:

• ‘Soy makes you feminine’
• ‘Plant based milks are better than cow’s milk’
• ‘You can’t get enough protein on a plant-based diet’

Let’s get right in…

Soy makes you feminine – MYTH

I’ve seen this pop up over the years, suggesting that men eating lots of soy-based foods makes them feminine. 

Oestrogen is a female hormone that has many roles such as regulating the menstrual cycle, promoting puberty, and developing breast tissue. While it’s a female hormone, men have oestrogen in their body too. It helps with the development of sperm and is important for bone health.

So how does soy get into this? Soy contains isoflavones, which are a type of plant-based oestrogens (phytoestrogens). These phytoestrogens can react with our body’s oestrogen receptors. This means the phytoestrogens from soy can mimic oestrogen in the body. 

There’s lots of ongoing research into what this means for women and their reproductive cycles, but this myth is focusing on men. 

The belief is that by eating soy as a man, you consume extra oestrogen, and it makes you more feminine. There is lots of research into this over the years and the conclusion is the same. 

Soy intake does not affect levels of testosterone or oestrogen in men. It doesn’t make men grow breasts, it doesn’t reduce the muscle mass of men, and it doesn’t make men more emotional.

This is because phytoestrogens are much weaker than human made oestrogen. The amount typically eaten from soy isn’t enough to have an effect on men’s health.

Of course, there is always exceptions to the rule in nutrition. If someone had excessive soy intake, then we may see an effect. I found an interesting case of a Japanese man that developed breasts after drinking 1.2 litres of soy milk every day for 3 years. But this is not typical consumption, and most people don’t drink over a litre of soy milk a day. 

In general, consuming soy products does not make men more feminine and it doesn’t affect hormone levels. 

Plant based milks are better than cow’s milk – MYTH

If we’re looking at a purely nutritional point of view, then unfortunately plant-based milks don’t stack up when it comes to cow milk. But when you consider the environmental impact of milk production then plant-based milks become a serious contender. 

The main nutritional difference is that plant milks don’t contain a lot of protein. They also lack essential vitamins and minerals like calcium and vitamin B12.

I’ll be comparing cow’s milk to a couple other plant milks, to give you an idea.

Recommended daily amount: protein 55g (for men), 45g (for women), calcium 700mg, vitamin B12 1.5ug

Cow milk: protein 3.6g, calcium 124mg, vitamin B12 0.3ug

Soya milk: protein 2.4g, calcium 13mg (not fortified), vitamin B12 nil

Almond milk: protein 1g, calcium 110mg (fortified), vitamin B12 nil

It’s essential to get a plant-based milk that’s fortified with vitamins and minerals. This means that these nutrients are added in to make it the same as cow milk. A lot of organic products won’t add in these nutrients so it’s important to check this when buying organic.

Plant milks also don’t fortify the protein. The plant milk with the highest protein content is soy, as shown above. 

If looking just at nutrition, then plant milks aren’t better than cows. They lack the protein, and the vitamins and minerals if not fortified. 

You can’t get enough protein on a plant-based diet – MYTH

I know I’ve mentioned that plant milks aren’t a source of protein, but there are lots of other good plant sources of proteins.

People really underestimate the protein power of plants. Just because plant products contain less protein compared to animal products; it doesn’t mean you can’t get enough. And research shows that protein is one nutrient we’re eating more than enough of, so skipping out on the meat once in a while won’t do you any harm.

I’ll show an example day of plant-based eating, with the protein content so you can get a better picture. This day of eating will be aiming for 50g of protein a day (as that’s in between the recommended amount for men and women). 

• Breakfast: 2 Weetabix with soy milk – 8g of protein
• Lunch: falafel salad sandwich with a packet of crisps and a pear – 15g of protein
• Snack: 3x biscuits and an apple – 2g of protein
• Dinner: 6 Quorn ‘chicken’ nuggets with chips and beans - 25g of protein 
• Total: 50g of protein

As you can see, you can get enough protein from a plant based diet, without anything fancy. If you’re an athlete or have specific goals, then you may need some extra snacks to reach a higher protein goal.

I’ve got a whole blog post on protein that I’ll link here for further reading.

Key points:

• Soy contains plant-based oestrogens but these don’t affect hormone levels in men, unless eaten in large excess.
• Plant based milks don’t contain the same amount of protein, calcium, and vitamins as cow milk.
• A plant-based diet can provide enough protein for the average person.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

Bye for now 👋

References:

Soy and men:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19524224/ 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6057888/#Abs1 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890623820302926#sec0040 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9593161/ 

Rising plant-based eating: https://vegsoc.org/facts-and-figures/ 

Soy milk nutrition: https://quadram.ac.uk/UKfoodcomposition/foods/milk-soya-non-dairy-alternative-to-milk-unsweetened-unfortified/ 

Protein consumption: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/ndns-results-from-years-9-to-11-2016-to-2017-and-2018-to-2019 

Calcium: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/calcium/ 

Vitamin B12: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-b/