Knowledge Base

Regarding soy, I am a vegetarian who drinks soy milk, eats tofu almost every meal and I DO have cysts in my breasts but everyone says soy helps with that! I heard you talking about soy being an estrogen enhancer and that especially females should not be using it. Why do they say Asians never get breast cancer because they eat soy? - Louise in Santa Ana

Dear Louise - The soy that Asians use, that helps to prevent breast cancer, is probiotic fermented soy, such as miso, natto, tempeh, certain soy sauces, tofu and soy milk that are prepared in Asian countries and the label certifies how they are made. It takes a long time to properly ferment soy to provide health benefits and should NOT be equated to what is widely available in America. Tofu, soy milk, soy beans and nuts, soy sprouts, whole-fat soy flour, okara and yuba are normally NOT fermented, so be sure to read your labels. These soy products are often indigestible and cause gas, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal disorders. Further, they enhance estrogen in an already estrogen-dominant American culture. This leads to hormone imbalance, breast and uterine cysts, PMS and other female disorders. It may also lead to prostatitis in males. Consequently, we believe it is also harmful to feed soy-based formulas to babies of either sex.

We believe it makes more sense to switch to unsweetened whole-grain brown rice milk and to stay away from soy products altogether.