Many friends like to eat tofu (literally) and drink soy milk. But there are rumors:
Long-term consumption of soy products can lead to the accumulation of unabsorbable phytoestrogens in the body, causing high estrogen levels, promoting breast hyperplasia, and increasing the risk of breast cancer. Some men who drink too much soy milk have even developed breasts like women's. Are soy products really inedible?
Eating soy products will not make estrogen levels too high
Phytoestrogens are similar to but not the same as human estrogen.
Human estrogen is essential for female growth and development and the prevention of many diseases; it cannot be lacking nor excessive.
If the level of estrogen in the body is too high, there is indeed a risk of triggering diseases such as breast cancer, breast hyperplasia, endometrial cancer, and uterine fibroids.
Soy isoflavones are not real estrogen; they only got their name because their chemical structure is similar to estrogen and they can bind to estrogen receptors in terms of function.
Moreover, the activity that soy isoflavones can exhibit is only 1/100 to 1/1000 of human estrogen.
There is another very important point: soy isoflavens can balance and stabilize the body's estrogen levels.
When the body's estrogen level is insufficient, it can slightly compensate for the lack of estrogen;
When the body's estrogen level is high, its binding to estrogen receptors restricts the normal binding of human estrogen to estrogen receptors to some extent, and overall it reduces the high estrogen level in the body.
This clever two-way regulatory ability of soy isoflavones is very important for health.
Eating soy products in normal amounts will not lead to excessively high estrogen levels in the body.
So how much is considered a normal amount?
Many modern people eat too much meat and fish, and high-fat and animal-based foods are a bit excessive. Over time, the risk of obesity, various chronic diseases, and even cancer is much higher.
And if you can replace them with high-fiber, low-fat soy and soy products, you can get more health benefits.
Eating tofu and drinking soy milk is also beneficial for some other cancers, osteoporosis, and heart diseases, and even breast cancer patients can eat it with confidence.
To ensure balanced nutrition, the "Chinese Residents' Dietary Guidelines" recommend consuming 30-50 grams of soybeans per day.
How much is that? 50 grams of dry beans is nearly two large handfuls (a medium-sized hand), but it's quite a bowl when soaked or cooked.
Converted to commonly eaten soy products:
It's about 200-300 grams of tofu, which is more than half a box of boxed tofu;
Or 800 milliliters to 1 liter of soy milk, which is about 4 cups.
Actually, this is quite a lot. If you can eat 15 grams of soybeans a day, it's already more than the current average for Chinese people.
In this regard, there is even less to worry about eating soy products making your estrogen levels too high.
Besides, it's not as if there is a health risk if you eat a lot of tofu and drink a lot of soy milk one day, and the total amount of soy exceeds 50 grams.