When I was a young man growing up in rural Alabama it seemed my friends or brother were always sticking some kind of food in my face with the assertion, “that’ll put hair on your chest.”  Likewise I often heard my father refer to something as, “sissy food.”  More than once I’ve heard that real men don’t eat _______.

Soy was one of the things real men don’t eat.  Except, of course, as soy sauce.  Some how that’s butch.  But soy milk, soy nuts and especially soy burgers have always meant an immediate revocation of one’s man card.  Well, there has been a lot of scientific data recently that suggests soy actually does have an effeminating effect on men.

In a 2005 study the Journal of Nutrition reported that soy protein is inferior to casein protein (meat) for building muscle tissue.  That one is a no brainer.  There is absolutely no reason to believe that protein from a legume would build more muscle than protein from actual muscle.  The universe just doesn’t work that way.  But it was nice of the Journal of Nutrition to prove it on paper for all to see.

In a recent Harvard study submitted by Jorge E. Chavarro, M.D., Sc.D there is a significant amount of evidence that soy protein decreases testosterone while increasing estrogen.  This leads to lower sperm counts and Gynecomastia (he-hooters, papa’s tatas, man-mories, dude boobs, man teets, gentleman jugs, etc.).  It appears science has actually proven that soy really does turn you into a girl.

Now my question is did pre-Monsanto soy have the same effect?  The majority of the soy growing on this planet today is the result of the genetic mutations of a chemical company in St. Louis, MO.  Monsanto has genetically modified soy beans to survive it’s chemical herbicide Round Up and, as they did with their frakencorn, have made sure that their frankensoy has infected virtually all of the soy farms on the planet.

The only cultures to largely incorporate soy into their daily diet before the 1970’s were those in Asia.  I don’t recall anyone ever referring to Asian men as effeminate.  Certainly you wouldn’t call Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan or Jet Li a sissy.  Same for Yao Ming or Sammo Hung so it kind of makes you wonder if it’s the GM soy that is in fact the problem.  Of course we can’t exactly compare the two since Monsanto has all but eradicated non-GM soy.  At the same time, there has long been a 10 percent higher incidence of erectile dysfunction in Chinese men so maybe Monsanto’s genetic modifications aren’t to blame.

I don’t think anyone should abandon consuming soy but like we are finding out with everything on earth the key is moderation.  I might suggest keeping your soy milk and soy nuts but getting rid of tofu.  Let’s all be honest here for second shall we?  No one likes tofu.  As you folks who always profess your love of tofu know, deep down in the places you don’t want people to see your internal voice screams “yuck!” every time you eat that crap.

What must be addressed is that this information is yet another blow to the rapidly collapsing house of cards about the safety of vegan diets.  After all vegans rely heavily on soy to replace the protein their body is supposed to get from animal sources.  Sure they can consume other legumes for protein but few are as versatile as soy.  Could this mean the quinoa burger is the next big craze?  Maybe and I bet it’ll beat the hell out of a tofu burger.

For more on the health risks of veganism check out this experiment by independent health researcher Matt Stone or the shocking article by a self-described, “hardcore, self-righteous and oh so judgmental vegangelical” entitled Vegan No More.  The revelation that veganism was killing her has actually earned death threats from all of those meat-is-murder vegans.  For more about the new findings about soy you can check out this extensive article by Jim Thornton of Men’s Health Magazine.