I’ll start the blog by saying that I love soy. The humble soybean is full of nutrients, especially protein. For many people that don’t eat meat, soy is a life saver. You can find soy in tofu, soy milk, TVP, and alternatives. It’s super versatile and can fit in any dish perfectly fine. Soy is also very popular in the vegan community for the properties that I mentioned. However, this “vested” popularity has brought with it criticism and fear mongering, in addition to stereotypical comments that completely diminish the plant.
In this blog article, I will be uncovering and rebutting some of these claims, in hopes of spreading awareness and a different perspective.
Quick History
Before we dive into the claims, let’s quickly look at the history of soy and how it entered the mainstream.
Many botanists believe that the soybean plant was domesticated from wild soybean in central China, over 9,000 years ago. Unfortunately, documentation on the origin of soy domestication is scarce due to little archaeological and genealogical studies, which means that it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where soy originated from. Nevertheless, the soybean’s prominence in the region does not go unnoticed. People in the region have used soybean for food and medicine for millennia. Tofu is a great example, which has been around for 2,000 years.
Centuries later, soy entered the West (notably the US) through agriculture in the 1800s and more predominantly in the 1900s. There are two components of a soybean – soy meal and soy oil, which represent a 80-20 split respectively. 97% of the soy meal goes towards feeding animals, with 3% acting as human food. Soy oil represents various values, which involves direct oil usage in human foods, as biofuel, and industrial uses. To put this into perspective, soybean production in 2021 sat at almost 400 million metric tons, which is a lot of soy, and most of it goes towards animal feed.
Claim 1
This leads me nicely to the first claim, which says that vegans are responsible for the deforestation of The Amazon.
Personally, I don’t think I need to spend too many words on this because of two simple reasons. The first reason is that vegans don’t eat meat. As stated above, the large percentage of soy goes towards feeding animals. If we compare beef and soy production head on, we find that the environmental impact of soy is actually 32.5x lower than beef. I can see why people might blame soy for environmental destruction. However, this resource plunder comes at a hefty price, and that is our taste buds. Interestingly enough, if 10,000 people went vegan for a week, it would save us 147,000 kg of CO2 (equivalent to a round-trip to the moon).
The second reason is even simpler. Vegans make up a minute percentage of the global population, at around 1%. It would be absurd to believe that a small population can invoke such demand at an unprecedented rate. When we couple this with the previous reason, we start to uncover the reality of this claim. It becomes hysterical to entertain such distortion of truth because it undermines the effectiveness and altruism of a vegan diet. However, if you want to be on the safer side, you can always purchase the organic ranges and check the soy’s country of origin.
Claim 2 :
The second claim that I want to bring up — Is soy bad for your health? This is something that I’ve heard people argue and talk about. Some say that soy causes breast cancer in women, others say that soy reduces testosterone in men. There is even a pejorative (Soy Boy) that defines men that lack perceived masculine characteristics. This negative connotation around soy has caused many to avoid it. So, what does the science say?
In order to tackle this claim, we need to first identify the culprit. The reason soy gets a bad rep is because of something called isoflavones. Isoflavones are a type of phytoestrogen, a plant compound, that expresses female hormone effects. Isoflavones can bind to many estrogen receptors in the body. However, these effects vary from person to person. Because of this, people will experience soy differently, which can mean different forms of benefits and side effects.
From a research perspective, isoflavones seem to show promising health benefits. Although further research is required for some of the studies, isoflavones can reduce risks of breast cancer, hot flashes in menopausal women, and blood pressure as well. For men, isoflavones do not affect male reproductive hormones (testosterone), according to a 2020 meta-analysis. It’s important to note that it will take some time to ascertain genuine health benefits, but the research is seemingly positive. However, excessive soy consumption and allergies / intolerances can cause negative effects.
As someone that eats a lot of soy, I can say that it’s an amazing source of protein. Tofu helps fuel my meals and helps me progress in my fitness journey. I haven’t experienced side effects from soy, so I can’t say much regarding the negatives. The way I look at soy is the way I look at any other food — always in moderation.
Claim 3
In the previous claim, I briefly mentioned the term “Soy Boy”, which is something that I’m going to discuss here. There is a stereotype that a vegan diet, which includes eating soy, is inferior to a diet that contains meat. These claims can involve health, but there are other conversations that are societal based. It’s not a shock that meat pertains manly aspects because men would hunt animals to feed their families. However, most men in today’s world don’t hunt, so the narrative doesn’t fit the current context.
Given that societies shifted from nomadic lifestyles to those that are more sedentary, food choices also changed. Meat consumption declined as societies became hierarchical. As such, people in higher social statuses ate meat, and those in lower statuses didn’t. This representation perpetuated a symbolic attribution to meat — power (and wealth). This food choice clearly defined a way of living, but also a way of being. However, meat consumption has steadily increased in the last half century, facilitated by increased production. As populations become richer, their demand for meat increases, which ties us back to status and wealth, and not necessarily “manliness”.
If we look at the numbers, we can clearly see that there are more vegetarian / vegan women than men. So does this mean that veganism can’t be “manly”? Personally, I think food choices are just that. Manliness is a state of being, and can be classified differently depending on who you’re asking. In my opinion, I think that showing compassion and defending the rights of others is a sign of manliness, which aligns with veganism. Being a man takes time and comes with age, completely irrespective of one’s food choices, which includes eating soy.
Conclusion
This article is really a promotion for soy, which I think is an amazing food. The main aspect that I like about soy is its protein content. Additionally, soy (namely tofu) is super versatile and can be very tasty if cooked correctly. However, I tackled claims that can give soy a bed rep.
It’s important to note that most of the soy goes towards feeding animals, which contribute a lot to deforestation and global warming. Eating soy products causes far less damage to the environment, but I do think that buying organic and locally produced soy is even better. Additionally, soy can be beneficial for our health. Although more research needs to occur, soy is showing promising results, especially in women. However, it’s important to keep things in moderation. Finally, there is no point gendering certain foods and dietary choices. It doesn’t make sense in today’s world to call a diet “less manly”, when the majority of the world buys their food from a shop. I can see the banter in calling someone a “Soy Boy”, but I also think that it undermines the plant and masculinity.
In short, soy is plant royalty, and I’m very grateful for it.