Men should never take soy. Don't know about women.

Why would any of us need to take whey or protein powders? If you eat some eggs for breakfast and protein at lunch and dinner -- you are getting all the protein and amino acids you need.

The only reason I would see for taking them is if you could not cook a meal and needed to eat on the run. A lot of the protein shakes and bars have them -- but again these are not a good meal.