There is a lot of (perhaps misguided?) information on men having to exercise caution when it comes to eating foods that contain isoflavones and other phytoestrogens, e.g. soybeans (even fermented), alfalfa, licorice (both isoflavones and chalcones), chickpeas, other legumes... because it can cause an excess amount of estrogen in them. I am thinking though that this might not be true, since phytoestrogens seem to have this amphoteric effect when it comes to regulating estrogen balance in the body. Is this true? Do men really need to exercise caution when it comes to these foods or not?

Rich said: Yes, this is misguided or to be more frank, just plain wrong information. There is simply no real evidence in any way that for instance eating beans is harmful to a man's hormonal balance. It is actually kind of a ludicrous notion -and really based on a misunderstanding of the phytochemistry. For how long have men eaten legumes? We can also look at an herb like licorice, which has been used by men for millennia and there is no reason to avoid its use in men whatsoever. I have seen people here and there caution that licorice is a "women's herb" - I find that people saying that are not practitioners trained in the use of licorice, but are either functional med dabblers in the use of herbs, or people in the herbal med "community" but not practitioners themselves who are letting a more simplistic understanding of the phytochemistry drive their clinical advice. So, this is a generalized answer and there may be exceptions to the norm for unusual reasons. for instance, yes, you could also overdo phytoestrogen intake by mega-dosing. Also if someone had some unusual and delicate hormonal balance I would want to consider the details. Also sometimes for instance I see people using red clover leaf instead of flowers, which is much higher in phytoestrogens and not historically consumed/ingested by humans. I advise against that. So we can think of uncommon scenarios where caution is warranted. Eat your beans!