Below, we divide WFPB docs into 3 groups. What do we notice? From the perspective of obesity, diabetes and heart disease, we get nudged towards minimizing our total fat intake (which means minimal soy intake because it's a high-protein, high-fat food). From the perspective of cancer and women's health, we get nudged towards higher soy intake. Those who target general health tend to be in between these two.

Docs focused on heart disease and diabetes:

1. Dr Esselstyn's soy guidelines: Targeted at heart health; LOW FAT is a key guideline; soy products are 40% fat; consume non-fat soy milk or 'very very light silken tofu occasionally'.
2. Mastering Diabetes soy guidelines: Targeted at diabetes; LOW FAT is a key guideline; soy foods are yellow light foods: eat sparingly, not as a daily staple.
3. Dr Ornish's soy guidelines: Targeted at heart health; 1 serving daily.

Docs focused on general health (both men, women):

1. Dr Joel Fuhrman's soy guidelines: 2-4 servings weekly (not daily).
2. Dr McDougall's soy guidelines: Soy foods are not essential. If desired, allocate at most 5% of total calories (100 calories on a 2,000 calorie diet) to soy foods, just like soy-consuming traditional Asian populations did.
3. Dr Greger's soy guidelines: Supportive of soy or a variety of health benefits. However, an Upper Limit of 3-5 servings a day based on increase in IGF-1 levels.
4. Dr Alan Goldhamer's soy guidelines: 'If vegetable foods naturally high in fat and protein are used, I recommend limiting them to half of an avocado, or one to two ounces of raw nuts, or three to four ounces of soy products per day'.
5. Soy Guidelines by Forks Over Knives: Soy products like tofu, tempeh and soy milk are a Yellow Light food due to relatively high fat.
6. Dr Joel Kahn's soy guidelines: Soy foods are better than animal products. They are health promoting.
7. Dr Klaper's Soy Guidelines: Dr Klaper recommends soy foods like tofu, tempeh and soy milk. At the same time, he mentions that in his experience, soy foods (and wheat and corn) are in the list of most likely culprits for joint inflammation.
8. Soy Guidelines by Dr Peter Rogers: Zero soy is best. Dr Peter Rogers is a rare WFPB doc who discourages soy for a variety of reasons.

Docs focused on breast cancer and women's health:

1. Dr Kristi Funk's soy guidelines: 2 servings of soy daily (1/2 cup soy milk + 1/2 cup tofu).
2. Dr Nitu Bajekal's soy guidelines: 2 "portions" daily (1 cup soy milk and 80g tofu, miso, tempeh or edamame; about twice the recommendation by Dr Kristi Funk.
3. Soy Guidelines by T Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies: "Recommend limiting to 2-3 servings per day".

For a broad overview, see Is Soy Healthy?

For specifics, see Breast Cancer & Soy, Prostate Cancer & Soy, Fibroids & Soy, Puberty & Soy, Menopause & Soy.

1. IGF-1 increase: The main concern with soy foods are increased IGF-1 levels in our body, which is surprising for a plant food. See Soy Guidelines by Dr Greger — Dr Greger proposes an Upper Limit of 3-5 servings of soy daily.
2. High fat: Soy is a bean but it's surprisingly rich in fat! FDA nutrition data: Soy milk is 44% fat, edamame is 36% fat, soft tofu 49% fat, firm tofu has 49% fat and tempeh is 46% fat. Since WFPB docs generally recommend a low fat diet, they wonder how much soy to allow daily.
3. Goitrogens? WFPB docs assure us that goitrogens in soy are a non-concern. See Goitrogens.
4. AGEs: Dr Greger says that high protein + high fat nature of soy makes it amenable to noticeably high AGEs if we employ dry heat cooking techniques like grilling or baking. See Is Roasted / Baked Tofu & Tempeh Okay?
5. Soy allergy: A small percentage of the population actually has soy allergy! See Who Should Not Eat Soy?
6. More concerns: See Dr Peter Rogers & Soy for several other concerns. One of his FaceBook comments: "Soy is high in: ILGF, fat, estrogen, methionine, heme iron, potentially F-, gmo, GP, goitrogenic a/w infertility, hypothyroidism, Mfg, hexane, etc. What a great food!"

Summary: Soy is an unusual plant food! It's a bean but it's fat rich. And it raises IGF-1 levels, which is unusual for a plant food. Still, the vast majority of WFPB docs recommend soy, but in limited quantities.

Sadly, this population has

1. Massive prevalence of undiagnosed heart disease.
2. Massive prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes. In fact, many Indian Americans with normal BMI have diabetes.
3. Massive prevalence of undiagnosed obesity.

For diabetes, heart disease and obesity, it's best to adopt Low Fat WFPB guidelines. Towards that goal, we need to be careful with total fat intake, including fat calories from soy products. However, keeping cancer protection and women's health in mind, how much soy should we consume and in what form?

Would Dr Esselstyn's approach be the best of both worlds? He uses non-fat soy milk in his book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease (320 pages, 2008).