It has been a bit more than one year since I started consuming more soy, mostly in the form of soy protein isolate. I just had my yearly health examination done and have the results, which I have compared with the same results from 12 months ago.
Overall I'm healthier, with a few small caveats. In terms of physical health, I've lost nearly 8% of body fat and am sitting at 82kg of lean mass from 100kg of total mass. Muscularity and definition have improved dramatically, and I'm currently sitting at 16.7% body fat, with the end goal being to reach 12% body fat and a total mass of 95kg.
To summarize the 12-month changes in my blood/urine markers:
- Lipid Profile: HDL cholesterol saw a significant and healthy increase (from 1.11 to 1.86 mmol/l). Triglycerides dropped by half (0.94 to 0.46 mmol/l). LDL remains slightly elevated (3.45 to 3.39 mmol/l), and Total Cholesterol nudged up slightly (5.21 to 5.37 mmol/l).
- Liver Enzymes: ALAT (ALT) increased from normal (25.98 U/l) to high (49.5 U/l). ASAT (AST) also increased (28.29 to 37.4 U/l) but remains within the normal range.
- Thyroid: TSH increased from normal-high (4.08 µIU/ml) to slightly out of range (4.47 µIU/ml). Free T3 and T4 remained normal.
- Inflammation Markers: Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) decreased significantly from 15 mm/h to a very low and optimal 2 mm/h.
- White Blood Cell Profile: Consistent pattern of mildly low Neutrophils and high Lymphocytes. However, the ratio slightly improved in 2026 (Neutrophil count increased from 1.3 to 1.48; Lymphocyte percentage dropped from 54% to 48.2%).
- Vitamin D: Decreased somewhat from 42.97 to 34.19 ng/ml, though it remains well within the normal range (above 30 ng/ml). Supplementation of Vitamin D will be applied during the darker winter months that are coming.
- Urine: Slightly more acidic (pH dropped from 6.0 to 5.0) and specific gravity increased slightly (1.010 to 1.020).
- Testosterone: Remained highly stable with a marginal increase (12.28 to 12.65 nmol/l).
Attached is the full report in PDF form for reference. Analyzing the results in the context of me having switched from moderate effort resistance training to very high effort profile in the last 2-3 months, I have a few ideas about why some of the values might be slightly outside of the optimal ranges.
Transaminase Elevation
The structural damage linked to training to absolute muscular failure increases muscle membrane permeability. Both ALAT and ASAT are found in high concentrations in skeletal muscle, not solely in the liver. Intense resistance training routinely causes these enzymes to leak into the bloodstream for up to 7 days post-exercise. Because my GGT remains entirely normal at 17 U/I, this isolates the transaminase elevation as a highly likely byproduct of muscular microtrauma.
Thyroid Axis Modulation
Whole-body training taken to 0-1 RIR imposes a massive allostatic load on the central nervous system and peripheral physiology. The hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis can respond to chronic, high-intensity physical stress by slightly altering output. Therefore, an elevated TSH can manifest as a compensatory mechanism to drive thyroid hormone production to meet systemic recovery and metabolic demands, or it can reflect a transient stress response to localized tissue repair.
Metabolic and Lipid Adaptations
High-effort, to-failure training significantly enhances skeletal muscle metabolic efficiency and mitochondrial function. The extreme energetic demand of these sessions accelerates the clearance of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins from the bloodstream, directly explaining the 50% drop in my triglycerides to 0.46 mmol/l. Simultaneously, this type of metabolic conditioning stimulates the production of HDL cholesterol (increased to 1.86 mmol/l) to facilitate reverse cholesterol transport. This also explains the drop in my ESR, as the systemic adaptation resulting from switching to this method of training lowers baseline circulating inflammatory cytokines.
I might be wrong on any (or all) of the above, but just to be sure, I will do another bloodwork after 3 months to further confirm whether this is a transient state or something I need to look further into. In any case, I believe adding more soy to my diet has had a very positive effect, and fully intend to continue using soy protein isolate as a good source of additional protein.
It's not uncommon for youth to grow attached to certain fallacies when they're imposed so heavily upon them from the environment, which is usually enslaved to the zeitgeist. I wish you good luck with educating your son on this and getting him on the soy train 
