03/28/2024

Is Soy Feminizing Our Men?

By CHARLOTTE E. McDONALD
The Response
04/20/2023

Not every man can be Superman. Likewise, not every man can be Jimmy Olsen either. However, the latter seems to be taking the stage these days, in Hollywood as in life. Most of us have noticed the recent rise in popularity of the beta male. Sometimes called soy boys, these men lack machismo, often to the point of femininity.

Why this explosion in the beta male population, and why the societal push toward acceptance of this over the virile male? I’ve pondered these questions at length and am consistently led to the same basic conclusion: diet; what is in our food?

In my 63 years, I have maintained a strong interest in food as it relates to health. Nutrition is far more than a hobby for me. My kitchen often resembles a lab, sporting multiple large mason jars filled with foods in various stages of fermentation. Our small cupboard of supplements now threatens to overtake the pantry. On the up-side, I take zero medications.

In the 80’s I read an abundance of articles touting the feminizing effects of soy phytoestrogens on men. Today, those articles have vaporized. My steadfast belief that soy phytoestrogens are responsible for the recent explosion of beta males appears unsupportable. However, in my research I noticed there was an association between low sperm count and high soy intake[i]. There was also an abundance of articles recommending a high soy diet for males transitioning to females. How very curious. This seemed inconsistent with reports that soy phytoestrogens had no effect on male gynecomastia.

I decided to take a look at another component of soy – the introduction of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready GMO soy. Here, I believe, lies a culprit. The active ingredient in Roundup is glyphosate. Glyphosate has been shown to significantly lower testosterone levels[ii]. Glyphosate acts as an endocrine disruptor and exhibits xenoestrogenic effects[iii]. Interestingly, Roundup Ready soy became commercially available in 1996[iv]. By 1999 testosterone levels in American men began to drop significantly[v], meanwhile U.S. soy consumption continues to rise[vi]. Ninety four percent of the soy produced in the U.S. is Roundup Ready GMO.

The U.S. soy industry is driven by Bayer- Monsanto, the largest chemical and pharmaceutical company in the world. Big pharma funds 45% of our FDA[vii]. Is there really any question as to why there are so many conflicting studies[viii] regarding the effects of soy consumption? Is glyphosate feminizing our men? Are you willing to bet yours or your son’s manhood that it’s not?


Sources:

[i] https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/23/11/2584/2913898

[ii] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278691516304896

[iii] https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/48553

[iv] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundup_Ready
[v] https://www.urologytimes.com/view/testosterone-levels-show-steady-decrease-among-young-us-men
[vi] https://ussoy.org/ten-reasons-why-soyfoods-are-increasingly-in-demand/

[vii] https://today.uconn.edu/2021/05/why-is-the-fda-funded-in-part-by-the-companies-it-regulates-2/#
[viii] https://www.montana.edu/hhd/graduate/dietetics/blog_posts/Soy_hormonal_health.html