Soybean isoflavone and feminizing effects in Men

Posted by Chantel M. Contributed by US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health

In the study of "Soybean isoflavone exposure does not have feminizing effects on men: a critical examination of the clinical evidence" by Messina M., posted in US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, found that In contrast to the results of some rodent studies, findings from a recently published metaanalysis and subsequently published studies show that neither isoflavone supplements nor isoflavone-rich soy affect total or free testosterone (T) levels. Similarly, there is essentially no evidence from the nine identified clinical studies that isoflavone exposure affects circulating estrogen levels in men. Clinical evidence also indicates that isoflavones have no effect on sperm or semen parameters, although only three intervention studies were identified and none were longer than 3 months in duration. Finally, findings from animal studies suggesting that isoflavones increase the risk of erectile dysfunction are not applicable to men, because of differences in isoflavone metabolism between rodents and humans and the excessively high amount of isoflavones to which the animals were exposed.