Tofu / Soy Is Toxic To The Brain

haidut

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Ray wrote in one of his articles that tofu is associated with dementia. It is likely that it is the tofu's (and all soy products for that matter) highly estrogenic effects that are to blame. There was a study back in 2009 that confirmed Ray's views and this latest (and larger) study adds even more weight to the guidelines to stay away from soy.
It is also worth noting that meat consumption was protective.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25114086

"...Similar to earlier studies, results showed that a higher weekly intake of tofu was associated with worse memory performance using the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (β = -0.10, p = 0.01) after controlling for age, gender, education, being vegetarian, and weekly intake of fruit/juice, green vegetables, and orange/red vegetables. Furthermore, among older elderly (≥68 years of age), high tofu intake increased the risk of cognitive impairment indicative of dementia (OR = 1.27, 95% CI = 0.99-1.64, p = 0.04), after adjusting for all covariates. Consumption of meat and green vegetables independently also reduced risk of dementia. To conclude, high intake of tofu was negatively related to cognitive performance among community-dwelling elderly in China. Similar findings were reported in Indonesia and in Japanese Americans in the US. These findings suggest that the effect of tofu on cognition in elderly should be further investigated."
 

jyb

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Maybe it is estrogen, as tofu and soy lecithin for example are highly estrogenic. I once found an old study suggesting it favouring some bad fermentation in the gut. So, maybe the effect on the brain is related to endotoxins. I found this gut effect to be plausible, because I noticed getting acne specifically when eating chocolate with soy lecithin (which I will never do again).
 

burtlancast

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jyb said:
Maybe it is estrogen, as tofu and soy lecithin for example are highly estrogenic. I once found an old study suggesting it favouring some bad fermentation in the gut. So, maybe the effect on the brain is related to endotoxins. I found this gut effect to be plausible, because I noticed getting acne specifically when eating chocolate with soy lecithin (which I will never do again).

Do you know if sunflower lecithin is as estrogenic as soy lecithin ?
Many people use sunflower lecithin to prepare liposomial vit C.
 

jyb

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burtlancast said:
Do you know if sunflower lecithin is as estrogenic as soy lecithin ?
Many people use sunflower lecithin to prepare liposomial vit C.

No idea. I've only seen comparisons between soy products. I've also noticed sunflower lecithin in some food and health products as alternative to soy.
 
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@Westside PUFAs what do you think about this? Do you like tofu, tempeh and other soy products?

It's not a good study because it's not controlled. It's just an observation of 517 old Chinese people from Shanghai. Haidut tends to post sensationalized thread titles about certain foods. I only use things like natto and miso occasionally. Some tempeh and other things are ok once a week or so. It's a unique food that comes in many forms. I think natto and miso may have undiscovered nutrients. Soy is fatty so the best soy is fat free. But there are better sources of plant protein like cooked greens, potatoes and other legumes. There are foods that should be in the daily category and foods that should be in the once a week or less category because they have unique properties and or should only be used as a condiment or therapeutically. Whether it's the Weston Price type people who think soy is really bad or the type of vegan who eats nothing but it, I think both are wrong.
 
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