Soy has been heavily promoted by the soybean industry as being "the perfect food." The truth is, it is more like "the perfect storm" for anyone with diabetes.

Soy is thyrotoxic. Isoflavones in soy foods block receptors for thyroid hormones and causes people to become hypothyroid. Since lowered thyroid function raises blood sugar and leads to weight gain, lowering your thyroid by eating too much soy is the last thing anyone with diabetes needs to do to themselves. For people who are already taking thyroid hormones, soy makes it necessary to take a much higher dosage to get to a healthy hormone level than you'd get if you did not eat soy.

Soy causes other problems. It contains too much manganese, a mineral that can build up to toxic levels in people. And phytates in soy foods block the absorption in the gut of other minerals that your body needs. There's some evidence that toxins in soy may also lead to the development of "leaky gut syndrome" which causes food intolerances.

Soy also mimics estrogens. Eating a lot of soy foods can decrease androgen levels in males and lead to ED and the unwanted growth of breast tissue.

Some mainstream research has found higher levels than normal of dementia in populations who eat a lot of tofu. There's also there's some evidence that soy promotes hormone sensitive cancers and gut cancers.

But avoiding soy is not easy, especially if you are trying to cut back on carbohydrate and looking for sources of protein rich food. Soy hides in many foods under names like "textured vegetable protein" and "hydrolyzed plant protein." It's the main ingredient in many "protein" bars. It's in all high protein breakfast cereals. And it is often used as an extender in restaurant meats.

But it's worth taking the time to read labels and ask questions so you can avoid these industrially produced soy foods. There's just too much evidence that the only real benefit they provide is for food processors who get high profits from a cheap raw material.

REFERENCES
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The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food. Kaayla T. Daniel, Ph.D. An extensive look at the problems of soy and how the soy industry has spun the facts to turn a toxin into a "health" food. Extremely well footnoted.

Soy Brain Atrophy Link? An excellent analysis of the research on this topic with links to all relevant journal articles.

Use of soy protein supplement and resultant need for increased dose of levothyroxine.

New Findings on the Soy Thyroid Connection Pointers to research from thyroid expert Mary Shomon.