Overview

About Soy

Soy content flags soybeans and everything built from them, and separates highly refined soybean oil and lecithin from the sauces and pastes that are mostly soy.

In the data

Where you will find soy

soy sauce
  • Brewed with wheat, so ordinary soy sauce contains gluten and is not celiac-safe (look for a certified gluten-free tamari instead)
tofu
  • Soy is a top EoE and six-food-elimination trigger, so tofu comes off the list on those protocols
soy milk
  • The label decides it: 'whole soybeans' means high FODMAP, 'soy protein isolate' means low FODMAP and usually tolerated
  • Rated pro-inflammatory and not AIP or EoE friendly, since soy is one of the common elimination-diet proteins
gluten-free soy sauce
  • Very high in histamine, because the long fermentation that makes soy sauce also builds histamine, a common cause of flushing, headaches and congestion after Asian meals
  • The upside: unlike regular soy sauce, tamari is made without wheat, so it is gluten-free and low-FODMAP

Examples

A few ingredients either way

Grading

How we grade soy

Every ingredient in the database carries one grade for soy, and this page, the checker and the app all read that same grade. It describes the ingredient as it is usually eaten. Portion size and preparation move it.

Safe824
Low43
Moderate17
High5
Avoid12

Practical

Working with soy

  • Scan labels for lecithin, hydrolysed vegetable protein and vegetable oil, which are often soy.
  • Test refined soybean oil separately from whole soy: most people with soy allergy tolerate it.
  • Keep a detailed food and symptom diary to track your personal reactions
  • Eliminate the suspected trigger completely for 2-4 weeks
  • Reintroduce gradually to find your personal tolerance threshold
  • Work with a healthcare provider or registered dietitian for guidance
  • Remember that food sensitivities can change over time

Method

Test it with a diary

Most people find their own triggers by logging meals and symptoms for a few weeks and reading the result back. Three steps.

  1. 1Log every meal for a few weeks. Type it, say it out loud, or scan a barcode, and it lands as a list of ingredients.
  2. 2Rate how you feel through the day on whatever you are tracking, whether that is bloating, headaches, skin or sleep.
  3. 3Read the pattern back. Every ingredient you logged is scored against the days you felt worse, and the result ranks soy against everything else you eat.

Questions

Questions people ask

Are soy nuts safe if you have a soy allergy?

No. Soy nuts are whole soybeans, and roasting does not reliably destroy the proteins that drive soy allergy. Soy is a major allergen that must be declared on labels for exactly this reason, and a roasted, crunchy format carries the same risk as any other soy food.

More about soy nuts
Is soy protein low FODMAP?

Yes, and it surprises people, because whole soybeans and bean-based soy milk are not. The galacto-oligosaccharides that make soybeans ferment stay behind in the bean when the protein is extracted, which is why soy milk made from soy protein is low FODMAP at a full glass while whole bean soy milk is limited to a splash. The grade assumes a plain isolate: check flavoured products for added inulin or polyol sweeteners.

More about soy protein
Is soy milk high FODMAP?

It depends on how it is made. Soy milk pressed from whole soybeans is high FODMAP because of its galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS), so it can cause bloating and gas. Soy milk made from soy protein isolate is low FODMAP and is the version most sensitive guts tolerate, so check the ingredient list.

More about soy milk
I react to soy sauce. Will edamame do the same thing?

Not necessarily, because the two foods fail on different criteria. Soy sauce is brewed and fermented and grades at the top of the histamine scale, which is what catches most people out. Edamame is unfermented and grades clean on histamine. What edamame does carry, and soy sauce carries less of, is the intact soy protein and the GOS. If you are soy allergic, both are off the table.

More about edamame
Does soy sauce contain gluten?

Traditional soy sauce is brewed from soybeans and wheat, so standard bottles contain gluten and are not safe on a celiac or gluten-free diet. Tamari made without wheat and labeled certified gluten-free is the reliable alternative.

More about soy sauce

Read next

Where to go next

Get started

Tracking soy?

Log what you eat and how you feel, and the app finds the pattern for you. Or look an ingredient up here first.