(for avoiding tofu)Eating soya could slash men's sperm count.
Men who eat just half a serving of soya a day have drastically fewer sperm than those who do not consume such foods, according to a small, preliminary study.
The study's researchers say larger trials are needed to determine whether men hoping to conceive a child should try to avoid soya foods, such as tofu, tempeh and soya milk. However, soya industry representatives caution that the new findings contradict earlier studies that have shown no impact on sperm count from soya-based products.
Soya foods contain high amounts of isoflavones, compounds that mimic the effects of oestrogen in the body. For this reason, women sometimes increase their intake of soya foods to treat hot flushes caused by declining oestrogen levels in menopause.
Oestrogen-like compounds can also have a dramatic impact on the male body. And previous rodent studies have suggested that high intake of soya products can reduce male fertility. This has led scientists to wonder how isoflavones might influence men's reproductive function, which is highly sensitive to hormones.
I'm skeptical of everything about nutrition and health but one of the important things about this study is that it alerts people to the presence of strange chemicals in natural plant foods. This is something that most people need to know in order to put nutritional studies into perspective. There are a lot of potentially dangerous chemicals in plants but the vast majority have no effect whatsoever.
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