It isn't just any soy, but specifically Soy Isoflavones that work like Clomid.
Clomid is a synthetic (man-made) Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator (SERM). Molecularly it is shaped like estrogen, and can bind to the same things that estrogen does in your body. So it can go into your brain (the hypothalamus) and bind to the estrogen receptor. By doing that it blocks estrogen from binding to the receptor so your brain thinks that you don't have enough estrogen in your body. In order to try to get your estrogen levels up it sends signals to your pituitary gland telling it to produce more of the things that stimulate your ovaries to create hormones (FSH/LH). That causes more eggs to be grown in your ovaries.
Soy Isoflavones are a Phyto (naturally occuring) SERM, so they act like Clomid, binding to your estrogen receptors and making your body think that your estrogen is low, causing it to send more hormones in which causes your ovaries to produce more eggs.
SERMs don't just block the estrogen receptors in your brain though, they also block them everywhere else in your body, meaning that places that need estrogen to make themselves ready for a baby don't necessarily get the signal to get ready (hence the hostile cervical mucus, thinning uterine lining, menopause-like side effects, etc). That is why you can't use Clomid for more than a few months in a row.
Since Soy Isoflavones are less active I'm not sure if the same rule applies to them though, but I suspect that it might. |