soy and 1st trimester

kat81

Hi everyone,

I just had nearly an entire bag of edamame (there are supposed to be 3 servings.) But I haven't been eating a lot of soy otherwise. After eating the bag I just remembered I heard that soy is supposed to have estrogen, which is supposed to cause miscarriage in high quantities. Therefore, it's recommended that you don't go overboard in the first trimester (even though it's still a good thing to eat, especially if you're vegetarian). I'm not in the very beginning, but I'm still just 9 weeks, so I'm not in the clear, either. Has anyone heard about how much soy is too much? And is it ok to have a lot at once, but not have it regularly, so it averages out to a smaller amount?

I'm assuming I'm totally fine, but this just made me curious as to what people had heard about soy.

Mrs_July09

I use to do this all the time! I figured Edamame beans were in the health food section so they were good for me. But they are definitely something that you should limit in your diet. My understanding is that the estrogen impacts your thyroid - if you add too much estrogen to your system then you can make yourself develop hypothyroidism. And hypothyroidism can cause miscarriage. When you get pregnant your doctor may do a pre-natal screening for you which is a a bunch of blood tests - one of which can be your TSH levels - if these numbers are over 4 then you have a problem. When I went in to have mine done, my levels came back at 8 (and I was eating a bowl of edamame beans every morning - BAD idea!!). It's totally treatable and once your on the meds the risk of having a negative impact on the baby is essentially gone. Having almost a whole bag isn't so bad as long as you don't do it for a whole week There's some websites out there that you can google that can better explain the chemical imbalance that can happen because of the extra hormones - they're worth a read. I'm sure that you're fine, I'd just try to limit the soy intact - moderation is key to most things. Hope this helped

kat81

Mrs_July09:

I use to do this all the time! I figured Edamame beans were in the health food section so they were good for me. But they are definitely something that you should limit in your diet. My understanding is that the estrogen impacts your thyroid - if you add too much estrogen to your system then you can make yourself develop hypothyroidism. And hypothyroidism can cause miscarriage. When you get pregnant your doctor may do a pre-natal screening for you which is a a bunch of blood tests - one of which can be your TSH levels - if these numbers are over 4 then you have a problem. When I went in to have mine done, my levels came back at 8 (and I was eating a bowl of edamame beans every morning - BAD idea!!). It's totally treatable and once your on the meds the risk of having a negative impact on the baby is essentially gone. Having almost a whole bag isn't so bad as long as you don't do it for a whole week There's some websites out there that you can google that can better explain the chemical imbalance that can happen because of the extra hormones - they're worth a read. I'm sure that you're fine, I'd just try to limit the soy intact - moderation is key to most things. Hope this helped

VERY helpful, thanks. I did go ahead and finish the bag, actually, because I was hungry and there's not much food in the house. In spite of my concern. But I'm not doing this every day. Most of the time I have hardly any soy.

I didn't realize the thyroid issue. That actually really hits home because my GYN (not OB) had noticed that my thyroid levels were creeping up for a while. I told the OB about that, and they just said "ok" because nothing had actually been diagnosed. And they did nothing. But they did take my blood to do some other tests...hopefully that was included as well? We'll see. I thought that high numbers meant hyper, not hypo...'cause my old doctor did nothing to explain this to me. Actually she might not have even been talking about TSH. She just said "your thyroid is high." wtf. I'm a scientist. I prefer numbers, units, and explanations. But I guess it's my bad for not needling her for more info. 

Anyway, thanks for the help. I won't cook the other bag we have in the fridge for tomorrow. heh.

sandradpage

I really do not know how true this is, but it always stuck with me....i remember reading something awhile ago that said that too much (what is too much??) soy products when pregnant could lead to infertility in baby boys....again i dont know much about it.....

jenvalet

My friend lived on edamame with her first pregnancy. She's had 3 healthy babies now. 

I swear, sometimes ignorance is bliss.