Healthy Food Chart

A new analysis seems to put to rest concerns that eating too much soy could affect testosterone levels in men.  Soy contains weak plant estrogens and many have worried that the increasing popularity of soy products (and the ubiquitous use of soy-based additives and ingredients) could be de-masculinizing our men.

After analyzing the pooled results of 15 different studies, including two which concluded that soy DID affect testosterone levels, researchers say "No significant effects of soy protein or isoflavone intake on testosterone or SHBG [sex hormone-binding globulin] were detected."

Perhaps we were focused on the wrong culprit.

In an opinion piece for the New York Times on Sunday, Nicholas Kristoff warns that endocrine disruptors widely used in agriculture and industry are being linked to "evidence of increasing abnormalities among humans, particularly large increases in numbers of genital deformities among newborn boys."

Kristoff cites a statement released by the Endocrine Society as a "wake-up call."  According to the paper, endocrine disruptors are affecting both men and women, causing reproductive problems, deformities, cancer, and may even be related to rising obesity rates.

You can avoid soy. You can eat only organic produce. Yet these chemicals are so widely used and so poorly contained that, as Kristoff notes, "everyone is exposed."

The chemical companies are crying foul, claiming that it's all unproven conjecture. What do you think? Should the chemicals be presumed innocent until proven guilty? Or have we seen enough to take action to limit the use of these chemicals?