Soy benefits versus dangers

There are many soy products on the market, many of them containing things other than soy. For example, plain soy beans and tofu are roughly 50% healthy fat and 50% protein and very little carbohydrate by calories. Soy yogurt, on the other hand, has a massive amount of carbohydrate (sugar) added. Just becaue a product has "soy" in the title or in the ingredients does NOT necessarily mean that it is healthy. In terms of soy itself (with no additional ingredients), it has been correlated to reduced cancer, bone markers indicating that it may help with bone density (although actual bone improvements have not been shown) and other health benefits. A meta-analysis of the published data has shown that moderate daily intake of soy each day REDUCES breast cancer risk by 10%. This is in spite of the fact that soy isoflavones bind to estrogen receptors. It is likely that soy intake higher than what is consumed by the average person eating it every day or most days of the week (i.e. very large intake of soy) would increase breast cancer risk, but no research has looked at such large quantities of consumption or found an increase in breast cancer risk. Medical doctors who recommend against soy intake for patients who have either been diagnosed with breast cancer or who are at high risk of breast cancer understand full well that most breast cancers are estrogen-positive, but the scientific facts (when looking at all the credible published research by meta-analysis) show a slight BENEFIT from soy. Again, benefits are shown for regular average intake (even daily intake). Large amounts in the diet (if you eat soy products constantly) may very well increase risk (we simply do not know at this point in time). Since soy isoflavones act as weak estrogens, you might assume that soy lowers testosterone levels. In studies with mice and with human infants, large amounts of soy chow and soy infant formula (respectively) were shown to marginally reduce tesosterone levels, but more recent work studies with men showed NO reduction in testosterone with soy intake. There is one potential negative with soy intake that does warrant caution: Soy is naturally high in manganese, which negatively impacts neurological development. Studies with baby monkies have shown measurable decreases in brain function. Therefor, I would limit (but not necessarily eliminate completely) soy infant formula use with a baby until more research has come out.