Pregnancy food safety · 1 entries
Soy during pregnancy
Soy foods are fine and genuinely useful: tofu, tempeh, edamame, miso, soy milk. Good protein, iron and calcium, and an easy way to eat less meat without eating less well. No US health authority sets a limit on soy in pregnancy. The isoflavone worry you may have read about comes from animal studies at doses far beyond what anyone eats. Choose pasteurized soy milk, keep tofu cold and use it by its date, and cook it as you would anything else.
Every soy entry, with a verdict
Sorted with the ones worth knowing about first. Avoid means skip it entirely; take care means it depends on how it was prepared.
Products made from soy like tofu
SafeSoy is a highly nutritious and low-calorie food, and a good source of protein, iron and calcium. It does contain isoflavones (which are phytoestrogens, or chemicals that mimic the hormone estrogen in the body), and you will find plenty of worrying about that online — but no US health authority limits soy in pregnancy, and ordinary amounts of soy food have never been shown to affect a baby's development. Some experts recommend fermented soy products, such as tempeh and miso, rather than soymilk and tofu, because fermentation helps neutralize the phytic acid in soy, making the nutrients easier for the body to absorb.
Other categories
Still not sure about a specific dish?
Photograph it. Hello Belly reads the meal, tells you whether anything in it needs care at your week, and logs the nutrition — protein, iron, folate, calcium, DHA — without you typing a gram.
See how food tracking works