Soy Foods Have Downside For Health Of Infants, Adults
Susan Star
Paddock, Gettysburg Times 17 March 2001.
Myra was
like a lot of educated women today. She listened to dietary advice and
ate more vegetarian foods. She heard from many experts that soy foods
were great for her heart so she began to eat soy several times a day.
She loved soy milk, soy cheese, soy cereal, soy burgers, soy bacon,
tofu etc, etc.She often had soy supplements. She was wondering why on
such a healthy diet she couldn’t lose an ounce, no matter what
she did. In fact, over the last few years she’d gained steadily.
Her energy seemed to disappear and she developed dry skin, a puffy
face, headaches, constipation, and painful joints. She always felt
cold, and had to fight depression. She chalked it all up to aging, but
a thyroid test found her thyroid gland was hardly functioning. Of all
the risk factors for developing thyroid disease, Myrna was shocked to
discover that over-consumption of soy foods was the major culprit.
Soy is
touted as a wonder food , and even the Food and Drug administration
released a statement last year saying that soy products could help
prevent heart disease. No longer confined to health food stores, soy
products are in every supermarket. But through all the hype, many
scientists are challenging the safety of soy products. Two of those
scientists, soy researchers with the FDA National Center for
Toxicological Research, tried to stop the FDA statement with a protest
letter about the negative health effects of soy. Their letter and other
concerns about soy can be found at www.brain.com.
Apparently
scientists have known for years that the isoflavones in soy products
can depress thyroid function and cause goiters in otherwise healthy
children and adults. Researchers at Cornell University Medical College
said that children who got soy formula were more likely to develop
thyroid disease and that twice as many diabetic children had received
soy formula in infancy as compared to non-diabetic children. In fact,
in other countries such as Switzerland, England, Australia and New
Zealand, public health officials recommend highly restricted medically
monitored use of soy for babies and for pregnant women. Soy formula is
a lifesaver for the 3 to 4 percent of babies allergic to cows milk, but
it is so widely advertised that it is sold to 25% of the entire formula
market.
Soy also
contains a natural estrogen, which is why it is recommended to women at
menopause. The president of the Maryland Nutritionists Association,
Mary Enig, Ph.D. stated that “The amount of
phytoestrogens that are in a day's worth of soy infant formula equals
five birth control pills.” Dr. Enig believes that soy
infant formula may be associated with early puberty in girls and slower
physical growth in boys. Others say it may effect fertility and normal
brain development.
Brain.com
reports an ongoing study involving 3,734 elderly Japanese-American men.
That research has found that the men who ate the most tofu during
mid-life had up to 2.4 times the risk of later developing
Alzheimer’s disease. Lead researcher Dr. Lon R. White said that
men who ate tofu at least twice weekly showed brain aging about five
years faster than those who seldom ate tofu. Soy has also been
implicated in interference with the absorption of zinc, calcium,
protein enzymes and amino acids.
Soy is an
important crop on American farms, and there is a strong soy lobby.
Nutritionists may urge people, especially women to eat more of it,
citing the good health of the Japanese and Chinese. But as Dr. Larrian
Gillespie, MD says, “I was recently in China and saw how little
soy is used in the daily diet of the Chinese. We in America think we
must consume the entire container of tofu in one or two days, when that
is enough for a whole week!” So moderation is a good rule for soy
as for everything else. The supplements in particular are unnecessary
overconsumption.
Susan Star
Paddock, MSW, is family counselor and family business consultant in
Gettysburg, PA. This is a weekly column to which Susan retains all
rights. It was originally printed in The Gettysburg Times on Saturday,
3/17/01.
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