Natural Peanut butter is "estrogen-ic"???

[bassinyoface]

I read in a Charles Poliquin article that natural peanut butter contains phyto estrogens and should be avoided by those looking to put on muscle mass. I immediately bought almond butter instead (Pb is like my poison, I love the stuff!) and have been unenjoyably eating that for months. I already have low testosterone levels...I googled this, but haven't found much info or studies, but I did find some mommy-blog claiming that doctors have breast cancer post op patients eat lots of natty pb because it helpes regenerate breast tissue....

does anyone have any evidence of this or is Poliquin BSing again?

[rdelgallo]

I eat so much natty pb i should be a woman by now LOL
I really hope not I have not heard anything about this before.... curious to see who chimes in though

[bassinyoface]

i guess no one knows!

[THElabCHIMP]

peanuts are a large contributor of phytoestrogens, similar to soy beans.
but then again, so are a lot of foods, plastics and household products.

probably the biggest culprits for phytoestrogens in entering the body are beer and instant coffee.

how many regular drinkers of cheap instant coffee and beer do you know of who have a bad case of gyno and a pregnant looking belly? quite a large number.
compare that to the other end of the scale.
there sure are a lot of lean ripped athletes out there who encourage the consumption of natural peanut butter.

unless youre on some sort of 2lbs of natty pb a day diet, its nothing worth worrying about.

[tden99]

Haha well that analogy kind of sucks because people eating natty PB would tend to be on a healthier diet. While people consuming tons of beer are of course going to be fat because of the calories and the fact that people who drink a ton of beer probably aren't looking to be healthy. That being said, phytoestrogens aren't well understood and there are so many that its hard to figure out. If you go by the anecdotal evidence presented above, all vegetarians would have boobs because soy has the most phytoestrogens and they tend to eat lots of soy products. That being said they are a part of every animals diet and really don't need to be avoided.
I can't post links yet but search Soy, photoestrogens and their impact on reporductive health on Pubmed. Its a pretty good study.

From what I've read it seems they have very little effect.

[THElabCHIMP]

Haha well that analogy kind of sucks because people eating natty PB would tend to be on a healthier diet.

my point being, if you were any kind of competitor, the costs of any phytoestrogens outweigh the benefits of peanuts. nobody would regularly willingly consume or advise the conumption of any substance, if the threat of phytoestrogens was significant enough to compromise your physique.

i wonder how long before people start jumping on PCT after eating natty on haha!

[tden99]

well first of all what benefits of peanuts? Its just good for getting some fat and a little protein. There isn't any significance from what I've read of eating lots of soy which has way more phytoestrogens than peanuts. Also, what are the problems with phytoestrogens. From what I've read there seems to be effects in vitro but during actual studies there is very little to show that there are any deleterious effects of photoestrogens in vivo.

[THElabCHIMP]

benefits of peanuts- good for getting some fat and protein.

disadvantage of peanuts- source of phytoestrogens.


clearly, getting the fats and proteins from peanuts outweighs the risk of the phytoestrogens, otherwise anybody with any idea about hornones would avoid them.



for there to be any noticeable effect. you would have to eat a LOT of pb.

there are worse sources of exposure to worry about with regards to phytoestrogens

[NxtGenAesthetic]

i thought it boosts testosterone so much for that :/

[THElabCHIMP]

i thought it boosts testosterone so much for that :/

yes! well sort of. the fats contribute to a healthy male reproductive system. which in turn improves testosterone production

[bassinyoface]

ahh finally some discussion!

Thanks for the insight fellas!

[luka3991]

The monounsaturated fats found in abundance in peanuts and (natural) peanut butter encourage healthy testosterone levels, and slightly elevated testosterone levels have been observed in a clinical study regarding the consumption of peanuts (peanut butter) and the effect on testosterone/luteinizing hormone levels in adult males.

I wouldn't worry too much about the phytoestrogens. Even when eaten in abundance I doubt that peanut butter has any negative effects (regarding estrogen levels), besides maybe the high caloric value that it contains.

[King222]

check the nutritional info, if it contains soy then it could raise estrogen levels slightly but it's negligible, many natty pb brands don't have soy in the ingredients though which means no, they are not increasing estrogen.

[Partyrocking]

I wouldn't worry about phytoestrogens. They did a study giving soy products to bodybuilders to see if the phytoestrogens impacted their testosterone levels/muscle growth in any way and they found that it made no difference.

[ArchangelEST]

I wouldn't worry about phytoestrogens. They did a study giving soy products to bodybuilders to see if the phytoestrogens impacted their testosterone levels/muscle growth in any way and they found that it made no difference.

This.

It's a pointless fear to have. PB away without fear. Within reason of-course.