Red Pill Reality Dispelling Blue Pill Delusions: Soy

An installment in a series: Red Pill Reality Dispelling Blue Pill Delusions

I've written about Soy before on the Spearhead (hence the recycled graphic...I particularly like this one as I made it myself).

I guess you could say I sort of also covered this topic when I included an installment in this series  on Veganism.

But when it comes to Soy, it holds a special place in my heart. I used to be an enthusiastic soy consumer back in my dietary blue pill days. I regularly ate soy-substitute meat products like "vegetable chicken nuggest" and "vegetable hot dogs." I used to drink vanilla and chocolate soy milk on a daily basis. I'd even eat the abomination of all soy products...soy ice "cream."

I wretch at the memory of it all.

Those of you who are familiar with my commentary at Roissy's  know that I had plunged into the depths of utter beta-tude in my mid to late 20's.

I'm now wondering if all of that damn soy-based foods I was eating had played a part in suppressing my natural expressions of masculinity. Some people may find that a bit ludicrous, but two recent articles posted on PubMed now show that Soy does in fact mess with the human bodies production of sex hormones and can certainly effect your libido and sex drive.

With a hat tip to the latest tweet over at paleo blogger Melissa McEwen's at Hunt, Gather, Love:

Hypogonadism and erectile dysfunction associated with soy product consumption.

Previous research has focused on the beneficial effects of soy and its active ingredients, isoflavones. For instance, soy consumption has been associated with lower cardiovascular and breast cancer risks. 

This is the "blue pill" with regards to the supposed healthy benefits of Soy consumption. Of course, the real reason these claims are made in the first place is because they are usually based on surveys and statistical manipulations, instead of real, double blind studies employing the scientific method. In short, the kind of person that would eat soy, is also the type of person who would most likely not smoke, drink alcohol in excess, regularly exercise and avoid commonly recognized "junk foods." In other words, it's not the soy that leads to a healthier lifestyle, it's the person that strives to live a healthy lifestyle being tricked into believing Soy is a component of that healthy lifestyle.

Here's what happens when researchers actually look at the physiological results in a case study for which a patient switched to Veganism and used soy as his primary source of protein:

However, the number of reports demonstrating adverse effects of isoflavones due to their estrogenlike properties has increased. We present the case of a 19-y-old type 1 diabetic but otherwise healthy man with sudden onset of loss of libido and erectile dysfunction after the ingestion of large quantities of soy-based products in a vegan-style diet.

Blood levels of free and total testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) were taken at the initial presentation for examination and continuously monitored up to 2 y after discontinuation of the vegan diet. Blood concentrations of free and total testosterone were initially decreased, whereas DHEA was increased.

These parameters normalized within 1 y after cessation of the vegan diet. Normalization of testosterone and DHEA levels was paralleled by a constant improvement of symptoms; full sexual function was regained 1 y after cessation of the vegan diet.

This case indicates that soy product consumption is related to hypogonadism and erectile dysfunction. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a combination of decreased free testosterone and increased DHEA blood concentrations after consuming a soy-rich diet. Hence, this case emphasizes the impact of isoflavones in the regulation of sex hormones and associated physical alterations.

Now is Viagra and all it's spinoffs like Levitra really necessary? If you are experiencing erectile dysfunction, you may want to consider looking at your ingredient labels on our food and avoid all that Soy that is now in our food supply. You should also avoid deep fried foods in most restaurants to boot, as most now use either Soybean oil or Canola oil in their deep fryers (canola is not much better either...).

While soy affects the sex hormone production in men, it seems to have a different effect on women:

Persistent sexual arousal syndrome associated with increased soy intake.

INTRODUCTION: Persistent sexual arousal syndrome is an uncommon sexual complaint. Patients with this disorder can be distressed by the escalation of tension in the pelvic region and the prevailing necessity to diminish the pressure by self-stimulation. Patients frequently suffer from guilt or shame and often do not seek medical care. There are many potential causes of this disorder; however, a definitive etiology has yet to be elucidated.


CASE: The patient is a 44-year-old female who presented to her gynecologist for evaluation of dysmenorrhea and menometrorrhagia. During the review of systems, the patient reported 5-6 months of increased pelvic tension, not associated with an increase in desire that required her to self-stimulate to orgasm approximately 15 times daily. Upon further inquiry, the patient disclosed that her dietary regimen included soy intake in excess of 4 pounds per day that began approximately 1 month prior to the onset of symptoms.


RESULTS: Treatment consisted of supportive counseling and dietary modification. At the 3-month follow-up visit, the patient's menstrual difficulties and sexual complaints resolved.


CONCLUSIONS: Although no known cause or cure of persistent sexual arousal syndrome has been identified to date, the success of reducing dietary of phytoestrogens in this patient may provide insight into the etiology of the disorder and suggest potential treatments.

Now, of course, this woman ate in excess of 4 lbs. of soy a day...damn, now that's a lot of soy...but nevertheless, it does point to the fact that soy isoflavones definitely alter the bodies hormone productions in both men and women.

Perhaps this is yet another reason why we have so many more feminized men and masculinized women in today's Brave New World Order?