Watch out Male Friends!!! (Impossible Burger)

To my male friends!!!  WATCH OUT!!!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2019/12/26/dear-men-theres-no-evidence-that-eating-impossible-whoppers-will-give-you-breasts/

James Stangle, a doctor of veterinary medicine in South Dakota, has sounded the alarm on the Impossible Whopper, which, he says, contains so much estrogen that the mock-meat burger could grow breasts on men who wolf down too many of the Burger King sandwiches.

In a recent report for Tri-State Livestock News, Stangle crunches some serious numbers. He compares the estrogen levels found in the Impossible Whopper to those in the original Whopper, based on their protein sources (beef for the original, and soy for the plant-based one). The Impossible Whopper, Stangle concludes, has 44 milligrams of estrogen compared to just 2.5 nanograms in the beef Whopper.

“Now let me refresh your metric system,” Stangle writes. “There are 1 million nanograms (ng) in one milligram (mg). That means an Impossible Whopper has 18 million times as much estrogen as a regular Whopper. Just six glasses of soy milk per day has enough estrogen to grow boobs on a male.”

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The Impossible Whopper has soy-based plant material, and soy has estrogen.  Another report has this:

“Nutrition Action, a resource website produced by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, noted that the soy scare may have originated with a “2008 report in a medical journal about a 60-year-old Texas man who complained of sore, enlarged breasts and a decreased libido.” Blood tests showed his estrogen levels were up to eight times higher than those at the top end of the normal range, the site reported.”

Back to the original source: “

Soy contains a high concentration of isoflavones, which according to an Environmental Health Perspectives report “belong to a class of compounds generally known as phytoestrogens.” According to Harvard School of Public Health’s Nutrition Source, these plant compounds are “similar in function to human estrogen but with much weaker effects.”

Fears over soy are nothing new, New York University nutrition professor Marion Nestle told The Washington Post on Thursday. She remembers reviewing a wealth of research material for her 2006 book, “What to Eat.” One book, she recalls, basically came to the conclusion that “soy is poison,” while another volume said that “soy is the best health food ever.”

“Whether this is good, bad or indifferent depends entirely on who you read and what you read,” Nestle said. “There is an enormous, enormous, enormous amount of literature on soy estrogens, and it comes to sort of baffling conclusions. Some studies show harm, some studies show benefits. What do you do in a situation like that?”

“Asians have been eating soy products for millennia and don’t seem to be any the worse for it. They have among the longest lifespans and best health, at least in classic diets,” she said. “There is a special concern about . . . men and boys who eat soy products, but again, if you look at populations that eat a lot of soy products, there is no evidence of particular problems. 

So what’s the bottom line for human adults on soy products?

“My take on soy products is that they’re foods like any other, and like any other, they should be eaten in moderation,” said Nestle, the nutrition professor.

And what does moderation look like?

“I was afraid that you would ask that,” Nestle said. “I don’t know. Once in a while. Not every day.”

The Harvard school’s takeaway is this: “Soy is a nutrient-dense source of protein that can safely be consumed several times a week, and is likely to provide health benefits — especially when eaten as an alternative to red and processed meat.”

As Nestle puts it, “Eating it once in a while is unlikely to be harmful. Eating it every day and having it as a main source of calories, I don’t know anybody who does that.”

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So, for my male friends - you can eat the Impossible Whopper (and some other sources say it tastes better than the original) without any worries about growing breasts.

For me (who IS growing breasts), I’ll stay with my Estradiol pills!!

Hugs!!!

Karen