Soy Consumption Linked To Low Sperm Count In New Study

A study has linked excess soy consumption to low sperm count in men. Soy is a powerful phytoestrogen that has found its way into the average American’s diet. As soy is a versatile high-protein alternative to meat, the fact that it is cheap to produce has enabled soy to find its way into most processed foods. For those concerned about processed food, harmful endocrine disrupting chemicals such as Glyphosate is used to drench soy and other crops — and are added to processed foods and used for livestock feed.

According to a Harvard study, eating half a portion of soy protein per day can decrease sperm count in men, with the most drastic effects occurring in obese men, and may play a role in male fertility. The World Health Organization recently reported that one-in-six Americans of childbearing age suffer from infertility, with obesity being one of the main culprits.

“There have been a lot of interest in estrogen and isoflavones in particular and a potential relationship to fertility and other reproductive disorders,” said lead researcher Dr. Jorge Chavarro, a research fellow in the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The estrogenic effects of soy are well-documented in the animal kingdom. Male catfish fed soy isoflavones became 100% biologically female in one study. Male monkeys became sexually inactive, aggressive but submissive loners, when placed on a soy-based diet. Genetic and neurological disorders were recorded in mice when fed soybean oil — the most commonly used oil in America — becoming a cause for concern.

Related Trump Wants 'Battle Plans' To 'Attack Mexico,' Destroy Cartels: Report “Research in animals has shown that isoflavones and estrogen can have a potentially negative affect on reproduction, including decreased fertility,” Chavarro said. “However, there is very little evidence of how these findings apply to humans,” he said.

“It’s way too early to say stop eating soy foods,” he said. “It’s not time to worry about whether you’re eating too much soy. There’s not enough information to conclusively say that. “

For the study, Chavarro and colleagues collected data on 99 men who attended a fertility clinic for evaluation. The men were asked about how much of 15 soy-based foods they ate in the past three months.

The foods men were asked about included tofu, tempeh, tofu or soy sausages, bacon, burgers, soy milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream and other soy products like roasted nuts and energy bars.

Because different foods have different levels of isoflavones, half a serving of soy is equal to about one cup of soy milk or one serving of tofu or soy burgers every other day, Chavarro noted.

The study found that men who ate higher quantities of soy had 41 million fewer sperm per milliliter of semen compared with men who did not eat soy foods. Normal sperm counts range between 80 million and 120 million per milliliter. Although obesity could be a contributing factor, high soy consumption in men correlates with sperm levels between a third to a half of the global average.

The researchers believed that since excess visceral fat in men leads to higher estrogen levels due to increased aromatization, additional soy consumption would further reduce sperm counts due to soy’s estrogenic qualities.

“When patients are overweight, the fat tissue converts male hormones to more female hormones,” Dr. Hossein Sadeghi-Nejad, an infertility expert, said. “So, it is possible that the combination of this estrogenic source [soy] and the extra internal estrogen that is caused by the conversion of androgen to estrogen through the fat has a more deleterious effect in that group of patients.”

In a previous article, we covered the curious case of a man who grew breasts and suffered from erectile dysfunction after consuming 3 liters of soy milk per day, lending credence to Sadeghi-Nejad’s statement. Another report linked consuming more than 60 grams of soy protein per day could lead to reproductive issues in women. The occasional protein bar or processed snack won’t do much to lower sperm count. However, the combination of excess body fat and regular consumption of soy products could put you in the danger zone.

The study is from 2008, and there’s all kinds of problems with it. The article traces to another article which traces to an ABC story. Traceability dies out from then. This is how complete bs gets spread here on FR.

So I looked for the original, and a very good summary popped up from WebMD, published rigth after thestudy came out:

“
Infertility and ReproductionNews
MENU
Soy Foods, Sperm Concentration Link?
Study Links Soy Foods to Lower Sperm Concentration; Soy Foods Industry Critical of Study

Written by Miranda Hitti
Medically Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD on July 22, 2008
FROM THE WEBMD ARCHIVES
July 23, 2008 — Men who eat a lot of soy foods may have a lower sperm concentration than men who don’t eat soy foods, according to a new study.

But the study, published online in Human Reproduction, doesn’t claim that soy foods are to blame for those lower sperm concentrations, most of which were still in the normal range. Meanwhile, the soy foods industry is drawing attention to the study’s limits.

The study’s data came from 99 men who visited the Massachusetts General Hospital Fertility Center with their partners between 2000 and 2006.

The men submitted semen samples and completed a questionnaire that included a question about how often they had eaten 15 different soy foods (such as tofu, soy milk, soy burgers, and edamame) and how much of those foods they ate in the previous three months.

Almost all of the men — 90% — had sperm concentrations that were within the normal range, and 42% of the men had normal semen analyses, which include sperm shape and motion in addition to sperm concentration.

Most of the men — 39 of them — said they hadn’t eaten any soy foods during the previous three months. Another 18 men said they ate soy foods less than twice a month, 22 said they ate soy foods between twice a month and twice a week, and 20 said they ate soy foods at least twice a week.

Men who ate soy foods tended to have lower (but still normal, in most cases) sperm concentrations than men who ate no soy foods. That was especially true of overweight and obese men.

Soy foods weren’t associated with any other aspects of the semen analyses, such as sperm’s shape or movement.

Since the study was a snapshot in time, it doesn’t prove that eating soy foods affected the men’s sperm concentration; the researchers note that other factors — including being overweight or obese — could have been involved. And the men who took part in the study may not be representative of all men.

“The clinical significance of these findings remains to be determined,” write the researchers, who included Jorge Chavarro, MD, ScD, ScM, of Harvard School of Public Health’s nutrition department.

Soy Foods Industry Responds
WebMD contacted the Soy Foods Association of North America for their response. Nancy Chapman, RD, MPH, the association’s executive director, replied by email.

In her email, Chapman notes that the study showed no association between soy foods and “the important measures of sperm quality and male fertility,” and she underscores the study’s limits noted by Chavarro’s team, especially the possibility that extra weight, not soy foods, affected the men’s sperm concentration. “Men with high levels of body fat are likely to produce more estrogen than their slim counterparts,” writes Chapman. She adds that compared to men who didn’t eat soy foods, the men with the highest soy foods intake produced more ejaculate volume but about the same amount of sperm, leading to the lower sperm concentrations.

Chapman also points out that the study was “very small and fails to acknowledge the large normal variation in sperm counts,” and that in Asia, where soy foods have been eaten for generations, there haven’t been increased medical reports of fertility disorders.

Chavarro’s study acknowledges that traditional Asian diets high in soy haven’t been shown to harm fertility. But the researchers point out that men in the U.S. and other Western countries are more likely to be overweight and that extra pounds might shift men’s sensitivity to phytoestrogens (estrogen-like plant compounds). That theory needs further study, Chavarro’s team notes.”

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.