10-03-2015, 11:01 AM
I have been reading up on scientific and clinical studies done on phytoestrogens, rather than PM directly. Many articles based solely on PM are biased and lead to PM selling sites.
&& There is also limited information on its effects on premenopausal women(younger women 20 and above) so, wanted to share my research with you ladies!
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ije/2013/650984/#B15
[i][i]
On the other hand, consumption of isoflavones in women reproductive age has been linked to dysmenorrhea, endometriosis, and secondary infertility [16, 128]. A high intake of phytoestrogens resulted in dysmenorrhea and persistent sex arousal syndrome in one case-study reported by Amsterdam et al. [15]. In this study, like in the one reported by Chandrareddy et al. [16], withdrawal of soy intake from the diet resulted in the lessening or in the complete disappearance of the symptoms. Remarkably, in the studies of Chandrareddy et al. [16] one patient was able to conceive after isoflavone withdrawal from her diet. Keeping in mind that these adverse effects have been encountered only in a restricted number of cases, it still appears advisable to handle the phytoestrogens’ intake with care. In vitro studies strengthen the observation that isoflavones can directly modulate endometrial physiology [99, 129]. Interestingly, genistein was able to modulate the proliferation of Ishikawa cells, an epithelial cell line derived from adenocarcinoma, in a dose-dependent fashion, being the low doses an inhibitor factor for proliferation, that was instead promoted by high doses [99]. At similar doses, genistein promoted the proliferation of leiomyoma cells [129]. These findings raise concern for the beneficial effects of isoflavones. Surprisingly, genistein revealed to cure endometrial hyperplasia in a clinical trial [130].
Isoflavones can exert their effect not only on the uterus level. Other estrogen-sensitive organs such as ovaries can be affected by these natural estrogens. In order to guarantee a normal ovarian function, estrogen circulating levels must oscillate during the cycle. Low estrogen levels stimulate FSH release by the hypothalamus/pituitary, thus leading to follicle growth. The presence of isoflavones can nullify the required low levels of endogenous estrogen. This could lead to irregular cycle, and even to reproductive impairment [131]. Following soy intake, cases of altered steroid hormones levels and trends for increased cycle length have been reported [131–133]. Moreover, soy supplementation to women in reproductive age resulted in decreased LH and FSH levels during the periovulatory phase [133]. If such alterations can be sufficient to impair the ovarian cycle is still argument of debate. Moreover, there are conflicting results on the effects of isoflavones on the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonads axis [132, 133]. Thus, it is not possible to evaluate if the effects exerted by isoflavones on human reproduction are due to a local or a systemic action. Interestingly, animal studies demonstrated that genistein is able to impair ovarian differentiation in mice [134, 135]. In this light, the results collected among women in reproductive age raise great concern for the effects of isoflavones’ exposure [16, 134]. Fortunately, the effects exerted by isoflavones in adult life appear reversible once dietary intake is ceased [131].[/i][/i]
This is the key article that has the most details on this so far. I read the citation articles as well; in short it says that phytoestrogens (from soy based diet) can cause secondary infertility, which is the infertility after a woman has already given birth to one child. It also said that during that one case, after the soy was removed from her diet, she was able to conceive.
There were other articles which talked about how animals (leopards, cattle) couldnt conceive or their babies had high mortality rate/abnormalities when fed with crops that have high phytoestrogen content but they did not mention if the situation got better after removing such foods from their diet.
From what I read so far, it SEEMS that it is alright to take phytoestrogens as long as you're not planning to get pregnant, and u can remove it from ur diet should u want to conceive, but keep in mind that that was only based on ONE woman and that the amount we take from PM is very much higher. Please note that the research was based on phytoestrogens in SOY, which is of a way lower content than what we take for PM. (I roughly calculated 10litres of soy milk to have the same content as 1000mg of PM per day)
Has anyone had a child after taking PM? Or viceversa- found difficulties in childbearing?
&& There is also limited information on its effects on premenopausal women(younger women 20 and above) so, wanted to share my research with you ladies!
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ije/2013/650984/#B15
[i][i]
On the other hand, consumption of isoflavones in women reproductive age has been linked to dysmenorrhea, endometriosis, and secondary infertility [16, 128]. A high intake of phytoestrogens resulted in dysmenorrhea and persistent sex arousal syndrome in one case-study reported by Amsterdam et al. [15]. In this study, like in the one reported by Chandrareddy et al. [16], withdrawal of soy intake from the diet resulted in the lessening or in the complete disappearance of the symptoms. Remarkably, in the studies of Chandrareddy et al. [16] one patient was able to conceive after isoflavone withdrawal from her diet. Keeping in mind that these adverse effects have been encountered only in a restricted number of cases, it still appears advisable to handle the phytoestrogens’ intake with care. In vitro studies strengthen the observation that isoflavones can directly modulate endometrial physiology [99, 129]. Interestingly, genistein was able to modulate the proliferation of Ishikawa cells, an epithelial cell line derived from adenocarcinoma, in a dose-dependent fashion, being the low doses an inhibitor factor for proliferation, that was instead promoted by high doses [99]. At similar doses, genistein promoted the proliferation of leiomyoma cells [129]. These findings raise concern for the beneficial effects of isoflavones. Surprisingly, genistein revealed to cure endometrial hyperplasia in a clinical trial [130].
Isoflavones can exert their effect not only on the uterus level. Other estrogen-sensitive organs such as ovaries can be affected by these natural estrogens. In order to guarantee a normal ovarian function, estrogen circulating levels must oscillate during the cycle. Low estrogen levels stimulate FSH release by the hypothalamus/pituitary, thus leading to follicle growth. The presence of isoflavones can nullify the required low levels of endogenous estrogen. This could lead to irregular cycle, and even to reproductive impairment [131]. Following soy intake, cases of altered steroid hormones levels and trends for increased cycle length have been reported [131–133]. Moreover, soy supplementation to women in reproductive age resulted in decreased LH and FSH levels during the periovulatory phase [133]. If such alterations can be sufficient to impair the ovarian cycle is still argument of debate. Moreover, there are conflicting results on the effects of isoflavones on the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonads axis [132, 133]. Thus, it is not possible to evaluate if the effects exerted by isoflavones on human reproduction are due to a local or a systemic action. Interestingly, animal studies demonstrated that genistein is able to impair ovarian differentiation in mice [134, 135]. In this light, the results collected among women in reproductive age raise great concern for the effects of isoflavones’ exposure [16, 134]. Fortunately, the effects exerted by isoflavones in adult life appear reversible once dietary intake is ceased [131].[/i][/i]
This is the key article that has the most details on this so far. I read the citation articles as well; in short it says that phytoestrogens (from soy based diet) can cause secondary infertility, which is the infertility after a woman has already given birth to one child. It also said that during that one case, after the soy was removed from her diet, she was able to conceive.
There were other articles which talked about how animals (leopards, cattle) couldnt conceive or their babies had high mortality rate/abnormalities when fed with crops that have high phytoestrogen content but they did not mention if the situation got better after removing such foods from their diet.
From what I read so far, it SEEMS that it is alright to take phytoestrogens as long as you're not planning to get pregnant, and u can remove it from ur diet should u want to conceive, but keep in mind that that was only based on ONE woman and that the amount we take from PM is very much higher. Please note that the research was based on phytoestrogens in SOY, which is of a way lower content than what we take for PM. (I roughly calculated 10litres of soy milk to have the same content as 1000mg of PM per day)
Has anyone had a child after taking PM? Or viceversa- found difficulties in childbearing?
In the end after all the research everything is still up to our own discretion. 
