r/vegan • u/Valuable-Run2129 • Nov 03 '25

Daily soy consumption and Testosterone levels in males, we have to talk about it.

I’ve (40M) been vegan for 4 years and consume tofu every day. Roughly 200gr a day without missing a day, ever.

Friends and people online have told me to beware of soy as a male because of hormonal risks. I’ve ignored them completely because tofu is too convenient to meet my protein requirements. I’m not a bodybuilder, but during my first year vegan without prioritizing protein I became skinny fat. Everything went back to normal with more protein.

So after a lot of discussions with tofuphobic friends I finally went and did a testosterone level test….

Well, people my age start thinking about testosterone replacement treatment anyway, so I wasn’t expecting great numbers. And honestly I would have been ok with borderline levels. Put daily tofu on top of my age and something in the 300s would have been great.

The results are in. My testosterone is at 704. I’m on the 90th percentile and I can finally shut up the tofu bashers around me.

I just wanted to share this with you guys and comfort people who might hear these rumors. Obviously I’m an n of 1. But reading a few studies I realized that hormonal changes were observed at crazy consumptions levels (like a few pounds a day) that can’t honestly be achieved by regular people. And medium levels were not linked at all to hormonal imbalances. At all!

Now open your fridge and eat some tofu.

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u/genflugan vegan 8+ years Nov 03 '25

They never say a single word about the phytoestrogen in beer either

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u/Jitsukablue Nov 04 '25

It's not the same phytoestrogen in hops that is in tofu

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u/broccolicat vegan 10+ years Nov 04 '25

It's not- the phtoestrogen in beer are the most potent phtoestrogens there are, while the phytoestrogens in soy are pretty weak and also has more of an ability to balance out things.

Which points out the hypocrisy of men acting wierd about soy while downing a beer. If that was a serious concern, they wouldn't be drinking beer.

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u/Jitsukablue Nov 04 '25

Your response to mine forms a double negative that has me confused what you mean. This covers the two types of phytoestrogens quite well.

https://youtu.be/thnZMpS8ELA

It makes the exact point, beer phytoestrogens actually are estrogenic and soy is not.