Lack of joy with soy

There is an increasing trend of putting soya in everything from bread and breakfast cereals to ice-cream and, of course, low-carb 'diet' products. High in protein, and very abundant and cheap, it looks like a good food to include in other foods. But, while fermented soya is okay, unfermented soya is not. And it is the unfermented soya that is used in these products today. Put bluntly, soya protein powders, soya flour, soya oil and soya milk, and foods containing them, should carry a health warning as cigarettes do. Here's why:

Read full article here: Second Opinions - Barry Groves PhD

Soy Processing Influences Estrogen-dependent Breast Cancer Growth In Mice

From: sciencedaily.com

URBANA -- Highly purified soy foods and soy supplements marketed in the United States may stimulate the growth of pre-existing estrogen-dependent breast tumors, according to a study done at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

"Soy has been correlated with low rates of breast cancer in Asian populations, but soy foods in Asia are made from minimally processed soybeans or defatted, toasted soy flour, which is quite different from soy products consumed in the U.S.," said William G. Helferich, a professor of food science and human nutrition, in a study presented online May 6 in advance of regular publication by the journal Carcinogenesis.

"Isoflavone-containing products consumed in the U.S. may have lost many of the biologically active components in soy, and these partially purified isoflavone-containing products may not have the same health benefits as whole soy foods," he said.

Soy isoflavone products are marketed as dietary estrogens to women over age 50 as a natural alternative to hormone replacement therapy (HRT), but this is the age group in which most breast cancers occur.

Seventy-five percent of breast cancer cases are diagnosed in women over 50, and the majority of these cases are estrogen-dependent. For these women, Helferich said, consumption of highly processed isoflavone products may pose a risk.

Helferich used an animal model that has been used extensively to evaluate breast cancer therapies such as tamoxifen. "The results of this preclinical investigation are especially relevant to postmenopausal women with estrogen-responsive breast cancers who are looking for alternatives to HRT," he said.

In the study, mice were fed equal concentrations of the soy isoflavone genistein, allowing Helferich to determine the influences that various bioactive soy compounds had on genistein's ability to stimulate estrogen-dependent breast tumor growth. "As bioactive compounds were removed, we observed an increase in estrogen-dependent tumor growth," he said.

If genistein had been the only biologically active compound, all diets would have resulted in similar tumor growth, but that was not the case, he said.

A soy flour and mixed isoflavones diet and a mixed isoflavone diet each contained equal amounts of genistein, but differed in the amount of other bioactive components originally present in the soy flour. Tumors neither grew nor regressed in animals fed these diets. "The minimally processed soy flour used in these diets is more like the soy foods in the Asian diet," Helferich said.

"Dietary soy products that contained isoflavones in more purified forms were associated with greater tumor growth. These products are similar to the materials used in isoflavone-containing dietary supplements, which is how many Americans consume these compounds," he added.

Other researchers contributing to the study were Clinton D. Allred, Kimberly F. Allred, Young H. Ju, Tracy S. Goeppinger, and Daniel R. Doerge.

The study was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and USDA.

Reason #6,427 why Soy Sucks!

And yet another study you won't see on the PCRM, Dr. Weil, or Dean Ornish websites...

Noting that the effects of soy isoflavone-rich diets on social and aggressive behavior had not yet been studied, researchers recently examined the effects of long-term (15 months) consumption of diets rich in soy isoflavones on these variables among adult male monkeys.

The monkeys were given three experimental diets which differed only by the source of dietary protein: casein, lactalbumin, (both isoflavone-free dairy proteins), soy protein isolate containing 0.94 mg isoflavones/g protein, and soy protein isolate containing 1.88 mg isoflavones/g protein.

In the monkeys fed the high-isoflavone diet, intense aggressive behavior was 67% higher and submissive behavior was 203% higher compared to monkeys fed the control diet. In addition, the proportion of time spent by these monkeys in physical conact with other monkeys was reduced by 68%, time spent in proximity to other monkeys was reduced 50%, and time spent alone was increased 30%.

The researchers concluded that "long-term consumption of a diet rich in soy isoflavones can have marked influences on patterns of aggressive and social behavior", at least in monkeys.

If you've read the previous article above, you'll know that low-fat diets have been shown to negatively affect mood state in humans and monkeys. Given the effect of soy in our primate cousins, my advice to readers who have been taken in by the low-fat and soy-protein fads is to give both the flick, before they grow into grumpy, anti-social old farts who spend their days throwing stones at passersby...

Read the abstract for this study at:
PubMed

Source: The Omnivore

Listing of studies showing adverse effects of soy

Form the Weston A. Price Foundation site:

"As part of our ongoing efforts to keep the public up-to-date on the problems with modern soy foods, we have compiled two lists of studies showing adverse effects of soy: one lists studies showing the toxicity of soy isoflavones (estrogen-like compounds in soy) and the other lists studies showing problems with consumption of soy foods in general. We looked only at studies published in scientific journals—the total was over 150! Very often, the conclusions posted in the abstracts of these studies glossed over negative findings, or even presented these findings as beneficial. Most interesting to us was the large number of recent studies showing carcinogenic and mutagenic effects of soy isoflavones. (We have been accused of citing only older studies and ignoring more recent "positive" findings.) These two lists were submitted to the COT in the UK, and the USDA in the US."

The Whole Soy Story

Source: Testosterone Magazine

Poison Protein
Kaayla T. Daniel, Ph.D. Exposes the Whole Soy Story
by Chris Shugart

Over the past few years, T-Nation has published several articles on the drawbacks and possible dangers of soy, beginning with a groundbreaking article by TC that first appeared on the site in 2000. When we first began running these articles, many critics thought we were way off base. After all, isn't soy a miracle food with numerous health benefits? Doesn't it prevent diseases, retard aging, and make you supermodel skinny?

The answer we gave was "no." But the critics kept on soy-bombing us, some even accusing us of bashing soy simply because we didn't sell it in our online store (which is ridiculous because we could sell it if we wanted to, and make a higher profit off of it than the quality whey/casein blends we do sell).

Honestly, we didn't worry about it too much. We suggested that bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts avoid supplementing with soy-based protein powders and left it at that. Then something big happened: Atkins took over the world. Low carb diets became all the rage and food manufacturers did the dance of supply and demand, stocking the shelves with low carb foods—foods very often packed with soy.

So how bad is this stuff? Bad enough that Dr. Kaayla T. Daniel has written an explosive new book about it called The Whole Soy Story.

T-Nation recently had a chance to sit down with Dr. Daniel and talk about this controversial subject.

T-Nation: Before we get started, tell us a little about yourself and what you do.

Dr. Daniel: I’m a CCN, a Certified Clinical Nutritionist. I also just received my Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences and Anti-Aging Therapies. I design diet, supplement, and lifestyle plans for private clients and also teach classes, seminars, and workshops on everything from anti-aging to natural ways to reverse ADD and ADHD. Right now I’m most often asked to talk about The Whole Soy Story.

T-Nation: Why write a book on soy?

Dr. Daniel: I decided to write this book because I saw so many clients and friends suffering from vegetarian and near vegetarian diets. Most often the chief culprit was soy. The Whole Soy Story is based on my dissertation so there never was any question that I’d have to base every claim on hard science.

T-Nation: Before we talk about the dangers of soy, let's back up a bit and talk about what soy is and where it came from.

Dr. Daniel: Soybeans are beans that grow in fuzzy green pods. They come in many colors but most are a yellowish tan color and marked with a single, distinctive black eye— nature’s way perhaps of giving us a warning!

Traditionally, Asian soybean plants were not grown to be eaten but to be used as "green manure" — as a cover crop designed to be plowed under to enrich the soil between plantings of the crops used for food. It was a fertilizer. It wasn’t until the Chiang Dynasty that the Chinese came up with the fermentation methods needed to tame the soybean’s undesirable elements and make it into a food.

The soybean paste known as miso came first, followed by soy sauce, which was discovered as part of the miso-making process. Other soy foods such as tofu, tempeh, and natto came much later, around 1000 AD.

In the West, the soybean has mostly been used for its soy oil, which is what you get in most products labeled vegetable oil, margarine, or shortening. Soy here is a product of the industrial revolution — an opportunity for technologists to develop cheap meat substitutes, to find clever ways to hide soy in familiar food products, to formulate soy-based pharmaceuticals and to develop a plant-based renewable resource that could replace petroleum-based plastics and fuels. This last could be good for the planet.

T-Nation: So how did soy become known as such a "health" food?

Dr. Daniel: For years, the soy protein left over from soy oil extraction went exclusively to animals, poultry, and more recently fish farms. The problem is that only so much soy can be used in the feeds before the animals start developing serious reproductive and other health problems. So the soy industry still had a lot left over and decided to start marketing it as a "people feed."

T-Nation: I remember first seeing soy as an ingredient in discount dog foods. How did it go from dog food to people food?

Dr. Daniel: Well, for this to succeed, they had to improve soy’s image from that of a poverty food or hippie food. Back in 1975 a top-gun marketer hired by the soy industry recommended that the fastest way to get poor and middle class people to accept a product was to have it consumed on its own merit — not just because it was "cheap" — by people who were affluent enough to buy any foods they wanted. Accordingly, soy is aggressively marketed as an upscale "health food."

The United Soybean Board has targeted key influences such as food manufacturers, chefs, dietitians, editors, writers etc., and has aggressively lobbied in Washington and has invested millions in medical research. They spent more than a million dollars on establishing the FDA’s spurious cholesterol lowering heart claim alone. The campaign has been nothing less than brilliant.

T-Nation: So it seems. Now, generally speaking, why are you suggesting that everyone avoid soy?

Dr. Daniel: Most of us don’t need to avoid it completely, and a good thing too since it’s in just about everything these days: Bumblebee canned tuna, Hershey’s chocolate, readymade spaghetti sauces, muffins… Soy can be found in more than 60 percent of the goods sold in supermarkets. Anyone who's eating processed, packed, or canned foods is probably getting some "hidden soy." It’s even been called the "stealth ingredient."

Those who need to avoid soy completely are people with soy allergies. These people can experience adverse reactions from even a trace of soy. For the rest of us, the goal would be to avoid modern soy products like readymade foods such as energy bars, veggie burgers, "low-carb" pastas, chilis, and other things containing soy protein isolate, soy protein concentrate, texturized vegetable protein, or other industrial-age soy products.

The soy industry has convinced a lot of people that anything with soy in it must be super healthy. The truth is these are highly processed junk foods. I also recommend against soy milk and other soy dairy products. The problem goes beyond soy. Take a good look at the ingredient list of soy milk or soy ice cream. Lotta sugar!

T-Nation: Is one type of soy worse than the other?

Dr. Daniel: Yes. Old fashioned soy products such as miso, tempeh, natto and shoyu or tamari soy sauce are fine when eaten occasionally. My two children and I enjoy them in our house. The fermentation process deactivates some of the anti-nutrients in soy that cause digestive distress and mineral loss. Most of the better brands of these products are also made with organic soybeans.

Tofu isn't fermented and so is not so good for us, but a little once in a while isn't a problem. The worst products are the modern soy foods manufactured using high tech processes. These products have been subjected to very high heat, pressure, and chemicals. There’s nothing "natural" about them.

T-Nation: Let's get specific. Why should men, especially weightlifting studs like we guys here at T-Nation, avoid soy?

Dr. Daniel: Soy lowers Testosterone levels! Just about all soy products on the market contain the phytoestrogens (plant estrogens) known as isoflavones. Plant estrogens have lowered Testosterone levels in rats, monkeys, and other animals as well as humans. For grown men, this usually leads to decreased libido and lower sperm count. There’s an old wives tale that Japanese women punish their straying husbands by feeding them a lot of tofu!

We can joke about that but not about the effect on baby boys fed soy formula. Pediatricians are reporting more and more cases of emasculated boys reaching puberty with breasts and tiny penises. Undescended testicles are also far more common than they were in the past. Remember too that soy estrogens damage far more than the reproductive system. The thyroid is usually hurt first, leading to loss of energy, weight gain, depression, lethargy, and a host of other symptoms.

T-Nation: That's some frightening stuff! Although you'd never hear this in the popular press, soy isn't good for women either, is it?

Dr. Daniel: Many men have avoided soy because they’ve had the idea — rightly as it turns out — that "real men don’t eat tofu." Women, on the other hand, have been sold on the idea that soy will fix anything that ails them.

I’ve worked with a lot of female clients who are purposefully adding large doses of soy to their diets. A lot of them chug soy milk morning and evening and eat energy bars on the run. When they come to me, they complain of fatigue, depression, hair loss, poor skin and diminished sex drive. When I encourage them to go to their doctors to have their thyroids tested, they almost always are diagnosed with low thyroids — hypothyroidism.

Women who eat a lot of soy are also more likely to have reproductive system problems — heavier menstrual flow, increased cramping, infertility, as well as the loss of sex drive mentioned earlier. There are increasing reports of a painful urinary tract condition known as interstitial cystitis and a painful condition called vulvodynia or vulvardynia. This last refers to pain of the external female genitals — excruciating pain that's often so severe that sex is impossible.

Finally, we’re getting more and more reports of vegan mothers giving birth to sons with hypospadias.

T-Nation: I hate to ask, but what is that?

Dr. Daniel: That’s an estrogen-induced birth defect in which the opening of the penis is on the underside, located anywhere from near the tip of the penis to right up at the crotch. These cases are tragic. Although estrogens in the environment have also been implicated, it's prudent for pregnant women to avoid ingesting soy estrogens.

T-Nation: What about soy in infant formulas?

Dr. Daniel: Infants on soy formula are extremely vulnerable. Remember that soy formula constitutes most, if not all, of their diets. Based on figures from the Swiss Federal Health Service, some of my colleagues have calculated that an infant on soy formula is getting the hormonal equivalent of the estrogen found in three to five birth control pills every day! That’s a lot of estrogen, and this amount is especially dangerous for infants whose very development requires the right hormones in the right place at the right time.

Studies on rats, sheep, monkeys and other animals suggest that the estrogens in soy infant formula can irreversibly harm the baby’s later sexual development. And this is exactly what we're hearing from both parents and pediatricians.

T-Nation: Don't baby boys experience a large Testosterone surge during the first few months of life?

Dr. Daniel: Yes, all that Testosterone is needed to program the boy for puberty, the time when his sex organs should develop and he should grow facial and pubic hair and start speaking with a deep voice. However, if receptor sites intended for the hormone Testosterone are occupied by soy estrogens, appropriate development may be delayed or may never take place.

For girls, soy formula has the opposite effect. It's likely to accelerate puberty and may cause reproductive difficulties later in life. The studies that supposedly prove that infants on soy formula develop normally consider only height, weight and other measurements of growth as measured in infancy and early childhood. Many of the negative effects don’t become obvious until puberty.

T-Nation: Okay, let me play devil's advocate for a minute. One of the arguments supporting soy always brings up the apparent health and longevity of soy-eating Asian cultures. What do you say to that?

Dr. Daniel: First of all, Asia is a huge continent. It includes people of very different cultures with widely varying dietary customs and health records. If we look at the statistics for cancer and other diseases, we discover that certain types of cancer are more prevalent in the United States than in, say, China, and vice versa. Though the soy industry likes to take credit for the good news, it consistently neglects to mention the bad. And for all anyone knows, the good news could be attributed to other dietary or lifestyle influences. Claims that soybeans have been a major part of the Asian diet for more than 3000 years, or from "time immemorial" as we sometimes hear, are also simply not true.

The main point I want to make is that Asians don’t actually eat very much soy.

Peter Golbitz, of Soyatech Inc, a soy-industry information center, reports that the average consumption per year in China, Indonesia, Korea, Japan and Taiwan ranges from 9.3 grams to 36 grams per day. Compare that to a single cup of tofu that weighs in at 252 grams and think about the people you know who are eating soy every day, several times a day.

Others too have reported that Asians eat very little soy. When T. Colin Campbell of Cornell University traveled around China to survey the dietary habits of 6,500 adults in 130 rural villages, he reported that they ate an average of 12 grams of legumes per day. Probably only about one third of this amount is soy. (For some inexplicable reason he never got the figures on soy alone.)

Finally, keep in mind that the type of food Asians eat is very different from the soy that's appearing on the American table. Think small amounts of old-fashioned whole soy products like miso and tempeh, not soy sausages, soy burgers, chicken-like soy patties, TVP chili, tofu cheesecake, packaged soymilk or any other of the ingenious new soy products that have infiltrated the American marketplace.

T-Nation: Since soy is getting hard to avoid, is there a minimum intake you'd suggest? How many grams per day are okay?

Dr. Daniel: Total grams can be hard to calculate because of all the hidden soy in packaged and restaurant and deli foods. This type of soy can be avoided by preparing fresh, whole foods from scratch.

I’d say that people who are healthy can safely eat several small servings of soy foods per week, preferably the old-fashioned foods such as miso, tempeh and natto. They can also safely use shoyu or tamari soy sauce as a condiment. Those are found at health food stores and are far superior to the soy sauces sold at supermarkets. I wouldn't exceed an average of 36 grams per day — an amount equivalent to what’s ordinarily eaten in Japan, which is the country with the highest soy consumption in Asia.

T-Nation: When we first started writing about the dark side of soy, we were attacked from many different directions, mainly from those who sold soy protein. Have you experienced any backlash because of your views on soy?

Dr. Daniel: My news really upsets some vegans, but even some of the vegan websites are getting wise to soy. Chet Day’s site is one that dares to tell the truth. In my experience, most non-vegetarians are enormously relieved when they learn that they don’t need to eat soy. These people loathe the "beany" taste of soy products and the side effects such as cramps and flatulence.

People who've harmed their thyroids or experienced other serious health problems because of soy can get very angry, but not at me. The backlash is against the soy industry.

T-Nation: Understandable. It seems soy has taken on a new role now that everyone is going low carb. Why exactly are so many low carb foods being stuffed with soy?

Dr. Daniel: Soybeans have a lower carbohydrate content than other beans, but the main reason is that the food industry has lots of soy protein left over from soy oil manufacturing. Soy protein is cheap! The soy industry has convinced the public that it’s "healthy" and desirable. The current low carb fad has made it possible for the soy industry to stop trying to hide the soy that goes into pastas, breads, chips, cereals, etc., increase the content and brag about it!

T-Nation: In your book, you write about "hidden soy" and "undeclared soy content" and "aliases." Sounds scary. What is all that exactly?

Dr. Daniel: It’s very scary, at least for people with soy allergies. As I mentioned before, there's at least trace amounts of soy in the majority of supermarket and health food store products. People who are allergic must avoid all soy and can experience terrible allergic reactions from even a trace of it.

T-Nation: Are a lot of people allergic to soy?

Dr. Daniel: Soy is now one of the top eight allergens and some experts put it as high as in the top four. People with the highest risk are children who are allergic to peanuts and have asthma. There have been fatalities because of hidden soy.

By "hidden soy" I mean soy where you wouldn't expect it. For example, the soy protein found in Bumblebee canned tuna, in a fast-food burger, whipped cream or in a loaf of bread.

By "undeclared soy" I mean soy that's not listed on food labels. For a variety of reasons, labels aren’t always accurate. Manufacturers can be careless and neglect to mention soy. Perhaps the recipe was changed and the label hasn’t caught up.

Undeclared soy is also a possibility from cross-contamination caused by soy used in other products produced at the same facility. For people with soy allergies, soy dust in the air from the bulk bins at health food stores can be a problem. So can a trace amount of soy that has rubbed off from cardboard packaging in which soy protein isolate has been used as a bonding ingredient.

By "aliases" I mean commonly used ingredients that people don't recognize as soy. Some good examples would be "textured vegetable protein "or "boullion" or "vegetable oil." These may or may not contain soy — usually they do.

T-Nation: What do you think about this: certain soy products can now sport a heart-healthy label from the US Food and Drug Administration. The new claim says something like "25 grams of soy protein a day, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease."

Dr. Daniel: I think 25 grams a day will harm your thyroid! That’s a proven risk supported by dozens of well-designed studies. Furthermore, thyroid disease is itself a risk factor for heart disease. Cholesterol level has never been an accurate marker of heart disease risk. Homocysteine levels, c-reactive protein, lipoprotein (a) are all more telling.

As for saturated fats, it’s the artificially saturated fats — the hydrogenated fats full of trans fatty acids — that are dangerous to heart health. These come from vegetable oils, mostly soy oil, not from animal products.

Now about that FDA heart health claim… The FDA bills itself as "The Nation’s Foremost Consumer Protection Agency" and its mission statement ends with the phrase "helping the public get the accurate, science-based information they need to use medicines and foods to improve their health." Yet the handling of this dubious claim suggests nothing so much as an unholy alliance with big business.

T-Nation: "Unholy alliance?" Those are fightin' words. Do tell.

Dr. Daniel: The original petition submitted by Protein Technologies International requested that the health claim be made for the soy isoflavones, the plant estrogens found abundantly in soybeans. Provided with only weak and conflicting proofs that isoflavones lower cholesterol and besieged by strong evidence of toxicity and hormone disruption, the FDA should have thrown out the PTA petition. It had a duty to do so.

Instead, the agency took the unprecedented step of rewriting PTI’s petition and substituting a claim for soy protein. This step violated the industry’s own regulations. Then the FDA speeded the decision-making process by reducing the time in which members of the public could protest to only 30 days. In doing so, they disregarded the testimony of top scientists at the FDA’s own National Center of Toxicological Research, British government researchers and other qualified experts providing strong evidence of danger from allergens, protease, inhibitors, and other soy components as well as the plant hormones.

It's all the more shocking because the FDA never had good evidence of soy’s cholesterol lowering effect to begin with! It relied almost entirely on just one study — a 1995 meta analysis of 29 studies by James W. Anderson that was sponsored by Protein Technologies International.

T-Nation: This is starting to sound like a big conspiracy. I can't help but think all this positive press and the use of mega amounts of soy in regular foods isn't padding someone's pockets. Is there a "Big Soy" out there to go along with "Big Tobacco?"

Dr. Daniel: The little soybean is big business. Soy foods are one of the fastest growing sectors in the food industry with retail sales growing from $0.852 billion to $3.2 billion during the decade from 1992 to 2002. In order to accomplish this, the soy industry had to convince a lot of people that soy is good for them. To do that they’ve had to cover up and suppress a lot of evidence to the contrary.

T-Nation: Lots of money changed hands under the table it sounds like. How can T-Nation readers find out more and get their paws on your book?

Dr. Daniel: I’d like to welcome T-Nation readers to my website: www.wholesoystory.com. The site includes several free chapters from the book, questions and answers and other good info. People who order a prepublication copy can download the book and read it right now. Anyone who wants the references backing what I said today will want to do this. Once the book itself is printed, I’ll send them an autographed copy about a month before it becomes available in bookstores or on Amazon.

Web buyers will also get a free copy of my newsletter, with updates on foods and products to avoid. I'm also using my website to collect stories from people who have been harmed by soy.

T-Nation: Thank you very much for chatting with us today, Dr. Daniel. It's been, well, scary.

Dr. Daniel: My pleasure. Thank you, Chris.

© 1998 — 2004 Testosterone, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

The Trouble With Tofu: Soy and the Brain

"Tofu Shrinks Brain!" Not a science fiction scenario, this sobering soybean revelation is for real. But how did the "poster bean" of the '90s go wrong? Apparently, in many ways — none of which bode well for the brain.

In a major ongoing study involving 3,734 elderly Japanese-American men, those who ate the most tofu during midlife had up to 2.4 times the risk of later developing Alzheimer's disease. As part of the three-decade long Honolulu-Asia Aging Study, 27 foods and drinks were correlated with participants' health. Men who consumed tofu at least twice weekly had more cognitive impairment, compared with those who rarely or never ate the soybean curd. [1,2]

"The test results were about equivalent to what they would have been if they were five years older," said lead researcher Dr. Lon R. White from the Hawaii Center for Health Research. For the guys who ate no tofu, however, they tested as though they were five years younger.

What's more, higher midlife tofu consumption was also associated with low brain weight. Brain atrophy was assessed in 574 men using MRI results and in 290 men using autopsy information. Shrinkage occurs naturally with age, but for the men who had consumed more tofu, White said "their brains seemed to be showing an exaggeration of the usual patterns we see in aging."

Read full article: brain.com

Soy-Bean Crisis

27 August 2000 - Sunday Observer

Scientists versus the soy industry

Jane Phillimore addresses some of the concerns raised by new research

Twelve years ago, I visited an alternative health practitioner with some non-specific health symptoms. I'd hardly sat down before he told me that my diet needed radical attention - I had to cut out all dairy, wheat, alcohol and caffeine, and substitute protein in the form of soy milk and tofu instead. Nowadays this kind of advice is routine, but at the time, it seemed glamorously radical: I had to trek to Clapham's one health-food shop to stock up on soy milk because Sainsbury's certainly didn't have their own brand (as they do now) and veggie/soy sausages were just a glint in Linda McCartney's eye.

In the event, I lost a stack of weight and felt immensely rejuvenated. So much so that, four months later, I started eating normally again. Just as well, because it has now been found that soy - far from having the magical, health-giving properties that the alternative medicine brigade endlessly bangs on about - can actually be bad for you. Its reputation as an anti-cancer, cholesterol-lowering, osteoporosis-fighting, low-fat all round good egg of a product is based on bad science and superlative marketing by the powerful soy industry.

Worldwide the evidence is starting to stack up against soy. In this country (United Kingdom), MAFF is so worried about the possible health problems of phytoestrogens in soy that they are funding a rolling programme of 19 separate research projects, due to end in 2002. Preliminary findings by Professor John Ashby of AstraZeneca Central Toxicology Laboratory in Macclesfield, for example, confirm that soy infant formula (currently the sole food of 6,500 British babies) has an oestrogenic effect on rats. According to public health minister Yvette Cooper, no new advice will be given on soy until the independent COT (Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment) has reviewed the programme's findings.

This could take several years. Meanwhile, if you've been seduced by the message that soy is the healthy 21st-century superfood, read on...

Is soy bad for you?

It contains high quantities of various toxic chemicals, which cannot be fully destroyed even by the long cooking process. These are: phytates, which block the body's uptake of minerals; enzyme inhibitors, which hinder protein digestion; and haemaggluttin, which causes red blood cells to clump together and inhibits oxygen take-up and growth. Most controversially of all, soy contains high levels of the phytoestrogens (also known as isoflavones) genistein and daidzein, which mimic and sometimes block the hormone oestrogen.

Surely, the Japanese eat huge quantities of soy, and as a result have low rates of breast, uterus, colon and prostate cancers?

That's the big myth on which the idea of 'healthy' soy is built. In fact, the Japanese don't eat that much soy: a 1998 study showed that a Japanese man typically eats about 8g (2 tsp) a day, nothing like the 220g (8oz) that a Westerner could put away by eating a big chunk of tofu and two glasses of soy milk.

Secondly, although Japanese people may have lower rates of reproductive cancers, this is thought to be due to other dietary and lifestyle factors: they eat less fatty meat, more fish and vegetables and fewer tinned or processed foods than in a typical Western diet. Thirdly, Asians have much higher rates of thyroid and digestive cancers, including cancer of the stomach, pancreas, liver and esophagus.

I'm vegetarian and eat loads of tofu and soy milk. Should I stop?

Soy has become vegetarians' meat and milk, the major source of protein in their diet. But eating soy actually puts vegetarians at severe risk of mineral deficiencies, including calcium, copper, iron, magnesium and especially zinc. According to Dr Mike Fitzpatrick, a New Zealand biochemist who runs a soy information website (see below), this is because soy contains high levels of phytic acid, which blocks the absorption of essential minerals in the digestive tract. To reduce the effects of a high-phytate diet, you need to eat, as the Japanese do, lots of meat or fish with tiny bits of soy.

I'm intolerant to cow's milk, so should I drink soy milk instead?

Soy has become the fashionable option for people 'intolerant' to dairy products. It's little known that soy is the second most common allergen. Only 1 per cent of the population is truly allergic to cows' milk and, of those, two-thirds will also be intolerant to soy milk. In addition, soy milk is high in aluminium. That's because the soy protein isolate it's made from is acid-washed in aluminium tanks. No wonder it tastes bad.

Can soy affect your thyroid?

It's been known for years that phytoestrogens in soy depress thyroid function. In Japan, 1991 research showed that 30g of soy a day results in a huge increase in thyroid-stimulating hormone. This can cause goitre, hypothyroidism, and auto-immune thyroid disease.

I'm pregnant. Should I avoid soy?

Probably, and especially if you're vegetarian. A new study of babies born to vegetarian mothers showed that baby boys had a five-fold risk of hypospadias, a birth defect of the penis. The researchers suggest this was due to greater exposure to phytoestrogen rich-foods, especially soy. Inappropriate hormone levels such as that caused by a high intake of soy during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy can also cause damage to the fetus's developing brain.

But surely I can feed my baby soy formula? It must be safe: it's available in every supermarket and chemist (pharmacy).

Soy-fed babies are taking part in 'a large, uncontrolled and basically unmonitored human infant experiment', said Daniel Sheehan, director of the FDA's National Center for Toxicological Research, in 1998. A newborn baby's sole food is the milk it drinks: a soy-fed baby receives the equivalent of five birth control pills' worth of estrogen every day, according to Mike Fitzpatrick. These babies' isoflavone levels were found to be from 13,000 to 22,000 times higher than in non-soy fed infants.

As a result of this phytoestrogen overload, soy-fed babies have a two-fold risk of developing thyroid abnormalities including goitre and auto-immune thyroiditis. Boys risk retarded physical maturation, while girls risk early puberty (1 per cent of girls now show signs of puberty, such as breast development or pubic hair, before the age of three) and infertility. Researchers have also suggested that diabetes, changes in the central nervous system, extreme emotional behaviour, asthma, immune system problems, pituitary insufficiency and IBS may be caused by high phytoestrogen intake in early life.

Last year, compounds in soy were also implicated in the development of infantile leukaemia. Current government (UK) advice is that breast is best and that soy formula should not be given to infants unless on the advice of a health professional.

Can soy help with prostate cancer?

Ex-junk bond trader Michael Milken certainly thinks so. He consumes 40g of soy protein every day with that hope in mind. The science is less conclusive - a recent study on Japanese-Americans living in Hawaii showed that men who had eaten two or more servings of tofu a week during mid-life not only had 'accelerated brain ageing', and more than twice the incidence of Alzheimer's and dementia, but also looked five years older than those men who didn't.

My mother died of breast cancer and I've been advised by both mainstream and complementary medical sources that increasing my soy intake may offer me protection against the disease. Is this true?

The evidence is highly inconclusive. In The Breast Cancer Protection Diet , published last year, Dr Bob Arnot states that eating between 35g and 60g of soy protein daily protects against breast cancer by raising intake of the oestrogen-blocker genistein. But this ignores contrary evidence. In 1996, research showed that women eating soy had an increased incidence of epithelial hyperplasia, a condition that presages malignancy. In 1997, genistein in the diet was also found to stimulate human breast cells to enter the cell cycle. As a result, the researchers advised women not to eat soy products to prevent breast cancer.

But surely soy prevents osteoporosis, the bone thinning that particularly affects post-menopausal women?

No. In fact, soy blocks calcium and causes a deficiency of vitamin D, both of which are needed for strong bones, say American nutritionists and soy debunkers Sally Fallon and Mary G Enig.

Is there any kind of soy product I can safely eat?

Yes. Fermented soy products, such as soy sauce, tempeh and miso. The long fermentation process counteracts the effects of natural toxins in soy.

Can I avoid soy?

It's hard. You can stop eating the obvious candidates such as soy milk and tofu, but soy is also to be found in breakfast cereals, ice cream, convenience food such as hamburgers, fish fingers and lasagne, and all manner of baked goods from cakes and biscuits to tortillas and bread. If that's your mission in life, read labels carefully, and eat organic processed foods wherever possible.

Finally, the pro-soy lobby always says that, in the US, a quarter of the population has been fed infant soy formula for 30 to 40 years, with no adverse health problems. So why should I worry?

Scientists are only just beginning to research and understand the harmful long-term effects that eating large quantities of soy can have on the human body. As Fallon and Enig write: 'The industry has known for years that soy contains many toxins. At first they told the public that the toxins were removed by processing. Then they claimed that these substances were beneficial.' Sounds like there's a big battle ahead.

The Shadow of Soy

Or, How I stopped loving and learned to worry about the bean

By Sean Carson

You've joined an army of thousands committed to being all you can be. You rise at dawn to pound the pavement, or climb the Stairmaster to heavenly buttocks, while listening to Deepak Chopra on your Walkman. Or, maybe you contort yourself into yoga asanas in rooms hotter than a Korean chutney. You drink only purified water as you toss a handful of the latest longevity pills into your mouth. You're hungry, hungry for health, and no doubt about it, you're no stranger to soy.
Faster than you can say "isoflavone," the humble soybean has insinuated itself into a dominant position in the standard American diet. And that shouldn't be a surprise. Cheap, versatile, and karma-free, soy in the 1990s went from obscurity as vegan-and-hippie staple to Time magazine. With mad cows lurking between whole wheat buns, and a growing distrust of conventionally-produced dairy products, soy seemed like the ideal choice, the perfect protein.

But like all seemingly perfect things, a shadow lurked. By the final years of the last decade, a number of soy researchers began to cry foul. Soy Good? Soy Bad?
As the soy industry lobbied the FDA for a cardiovascular health claim for soy protein, two senior FDA scientists, Daniel Sheehan and Daniel Doerge - both specialists in estrogen research - wrote a letter vigorously opposing such a claim. In fact, they suggested a warning might be more appropriate.
Their concern? Two isoflavones found in soy, genistein and daidzen, the same two promoted by the industry for everything from menopause relief to cancer protection, were said to "demonstrate toxicity in estrogen sensitive tissues and in the thyroid." Moreover, "adverse effects in humans occur in several tissues and, apparently, by several distinct mechanisms." Sheehan also quoted a landmark study (Cassidy, et al. 1994), showing that as little as 45mg of isoflavones could alter the length of a pre-menopausal woman's menstrual cycle. The scientists were particularly concerned about the effects of these two plant estrogens on fetuses and young infants, because "development is recognized as the most sensitive life stage for estrogen toxicity."
It wasn't the first time scientists found problems with soy, but coupled with a Hawaiian study by Dr. Lon White on men, the controversy ended up on national television. While industry scientists criticized both the White study and the two FDA researchers (who are now disallowed from commenting publicly on the issue), other researchers weighed in on the anti-soy side. The tofu'd fight had begun.
What about Asia?
One of the favorite mantras of soy advocates is that the ubiquitous bean has been used "safely by Asians for thousands of years." With many soy "experts" (often with ties to the soy industry) recommending more than 250 grams of soy foods - and in some cases, more than 100mg of isoflavones each day - it's easy to get the impression that soy plays a major role in the Asian diet. If you saw it on TV or read it in a magazine, it must be true, right?
Well, not exactly.
Sally Fallon, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation (www.westonaprice.org) and author of Nourishing Traditions, responds that the soy industry and media have spun a self-serving version of the traditional use of soy in Asia. "The tradition with soy is that it was fermented for a long time, from six months to three years and then eaten as a condiment, not as a replacement for animal foods," she says. Fallon states that the so-called Asian diet - far from centering around soy - is based on meat. Approximately 65% of Japanese calorie intake comes from fish in Japan, while in China the same percentage comes from pork. "They're not using a lot of soy in Asia - an average of 2 teaspoons a day in China and up to a quarter cup in some parts of Japan, but not a huge amount."
Contrast that with modern America, home of "if a little is good for you, more must be better." Walk into any grocery store, especially the health-oriented variety, and you'll find the ever-present soybean. My recent, limited survey of Marin food stores found soy in dozens and dozens of items: granola, vegetarian chili, a vast sundry of imitation animal foods, pasta, most protein powders and "power" bars, and even something called "nature's burger," which given the kind of elaborate (and often toxic) processing that goes into making soy isolate and TVP, would make Mother Nature wince. There's even a bread - directly marketed to women - containing more than 80mg of soy isoflavones per serving, which is more than the daily dose in purified isoflavone supplements. All of this, in addition to the traditional soy fare of tempeh, tofu, miso, and soy sauce. It's no wonder that Californians are edamame dreaming. So, while Asians were using limited to moderate amounts of painstakingly prepared soy foods - the alleged benefits of which are still controversial - Americans, especially vegetarians, are consuming more soy products and isoflavones than any culture in human history, and as one researcher put it, "entering a great unknown."
Oddly, nowhere in industry promotion does anyone differentiate between traditional, painstakingly prepared "Asian" soy foods and the modern, processed items that Fallon calls "imitation food." And therein lies the rub. Modern soy protein foods in no way resemble the traditional Asian soy foods, and may contain carcinogens like nitrates, lysinoalanine, as well as a number of anti-nutrients which are only significantly degraded by fermentation or other traditional processing.
"People need to realize that when they're eating these soy foods - and I'm not talking about miso or tofu - but soy "burgers," soy "cheese," soy "ice cream," and all of this stuff, that they are not the real thing. They may look like the real thing and they may taste like the real thing, but they do not have the life supporting qualities of real foods," Fallon says.
There's No Business Like Soy Business
"The reason there's so much soy in America is because they started to plant soy to extract the oil from it and soy oil became a very large industry," says lipid specialist and nutritionist Mary Enig, PhD. "Once they had as much oil as they did in the food supply they had a lot of soy protein residue left over, and since they can't feed it to animals, except in small amounts, they had to find another market."
According to Enig, female pigs can only ingest it in amounts approximating 1% during their gestational phase and a few percent greater during their lactation diet, or else face reproduction damage and developmental problems in the piglets. "It can be used for chickens, but it really has limitations. So, if you can't feed it to animals, than you find gullible human beings, and you develop a health claim, and you feed it to them."
In a co-written article, Enig and Fallon state that soybean producers pay a mandatory assessment of ½ to 1 percent of the net market price of soybeans to help fund programs to "strengthen the position of soybeans in the marketplace and maintain and expand foreign markets for uses for soybeans and soy products."
They also cite advertising figures - multi-million dollar figures - that soy-oriented companies like Archer Daniels Midland or ADM spend for spots on national television. Money is also used to fund PR campaigns, favorable articles, and lobbying interests. A relaxation of USDA rules has lead to an increase in soy use in school lunches. Far from being the "humble" or "simple" soybean, soy is now big business - very big business. This is not your father's soybean. There's been such a rush to market isoflavones that the before-mentioned multinational corporation, ADM, in 1998, petitioned the FDA for GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status for soy isoflavones. For those who don't know GRAS, the designation is used for foods, and in some case, food additives, that have been used safely for many years by humans. For those who didn't know - like a number of protesting scientists - that soy isoflavones had been widely used by generations of Americans before the late 1950s, it was a revelation indeed. Ahem.
Dr. Sheehan, in his 1998 letter to the FDA referenced earlier, states " that soy protein foods are GRAS is in conflict with the recent return by CFSAN to Archer Daniels Midland of a petition for GRAS status for soy protein because of deficiencies in reporting the adverse effects in the petition. Thus GRAS status has not been granted." And what about those safety issues?
Requiem for a Thyroid
One of the biggest concerns about high intake of soy isoflavones is their clearly defined toxic effect on the thyroid gland. You don't have work too hard to convince Dr. Larrian Gillespie of that. Dr. Gillespie, author of The Menopause Diet, in the name of scientific empiricism, decided to run her own soy experiment - on herself. She notes that she fits the demographic soy isoflavones are most marketed to: borderline hypothyroid, menopausal females.
"I did it in two different ways. I tried the (isoflavone) supplements (at 40mg), where I went into flagrant hypothryoidism within 72 hours, and I did the 'eat lots of tofu category,' and it did the same thing, but it took me five days with that. I knew what I was doing but it still took me another 7-10 days to come out of it."
In the currrent issue of the Whole Earth Review, herbalist Susan Weed tells the story of Michael Moore - no, not that Michael Moore, but the founder of the Southwest School of Herbal Medicine. In an e-mail to Weed, Moore declares that "soy did me in." Weed describes how Moore, in his own experiment, ate a large amount of manufactured soy products - protein powders, "power" bars, and soy drinks, over a period of three weeks. Weed writes that Moore ended up in a cardiac care unit because the action on his thyroid had been so pronounced.
Harvard-trained medical doctor Richard Shames, MD, a thyroid specialist who has had a longtime practice in Marin, says that "genistein is the most difficult for the metabolic processes of people with low thyroid, so when you have that present in high enough concentrations, the result is an antagonism to the function of thyroid hormone.'
Far from being an isolated problem, Shames says that recent data tags twenty million Americans being treated for thyroid problems, another thirteen million who ought to be treated if they would get a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) test, and another thirteen million who would show up normal on a TSH test but would test positive on another, more specific test. All in all, Shames believes that low thyroid conditions - many due to exposure to estrogen-mimicking chemicals like PCBs and DDT in environment - are the mother of most modern health epidemics.
That's a lot of thyroid problems. Some estimate the number to be as high as one in ten. Shames says that 8 of 10 thyroid sufferers are women - often older women - like Dr. Gillespie. The same demographic the soy industry has set its targets on.
"If you're a normal person, and one in ten are not normal, the effect [of 50mg of soy isoflavones] may be fairly insignificant, but even a normal person can have problems at levels greater than that," says Shames.
Dr. Gillespie says the daily amount to cause thyroid problems may be as low as 30mg, or less than a serving of soymilk.
A number of soy proponents say the thyroid concerns are exaggerated and that if dietary iodine is sufficient, problems won't likely happen.
Not so says Shames. "Iodine is a double-edged sword for people with thyroid problems, and for those people, more is going to increase their chance for an autoimmune reaction... throwing iodine at it is not going to be the protective solution. Shames recommends limiting soy foods to a few times a week, preferably fermented or well cooked.
Birth Control Pills for Babies?
Environmental toxicologist Mike Fitzpatrick, PhD says he doesn't have it out for soy. His original concern was for babies. "They were getting more soy isoflavones, at least on a body weight basis, than anybody else," he notes. "It wasn't so much that I knew what that would do, but that I didn't know what that would do." Fitzpatrick, who is also Web master of Soy Online Services (www.soyonlineservice.co.nz), Web site devoted to informing people about the potential problems with soy, stresses the potential dangers for the developing human body. "Any person with any kind of understanding of environmental endocrine disruptors, compounds {like isoflavones} that are not in the body normally and can modify hormones and the way they work in the body, any expert will say that infants need to avoid these things like the plague."
Fitzpatrick was quoted - and misquoted - world wide a few years ago when he suggested that the isoflavones in soy formula were the equivalent of birth control pills.
"When I first did my review I did compare the estrogenic equivalents of the contraceptive pill with how much soy infants and adults would be consuming," he says. "It's at least the equivalent of one or two estrogen pills a day, on an estrogenic basis. I've been criticized that it's not the same form of estrogen, but in terms of estrogenicity, it's a crude but valid and alarming statistic."
The typical response by industry experts has been to downplay the uniqueness of soy isoflavones, stating - accurately - that isoflavones of ovarious kinds are prevalent in most fruits, vegetables, and legumes.
Is it time to toss out the apple sauce?
"No, you're not going to do that because you get exposure from all kinds of things, but the exposure you get from soy is way, way higher," Fitzpatrick says. "Soy formula is going to give babies a real whack, far in excess of what you might find in apples. Soy is a very rich source of isoflavones - that's how the industry markets their product. You don't see an apple extract to help women deal with menopause."
You've got to wonder how the industry can market soy isoflavones as a form of estrogen replacement therapy for menopausal women (and a host of other health claims) and still claim that soy formula is safe for infants. And while the mechanism for biological activity is clearly defined, the industry keeps repeating the same tune: "no credible evidence exists."
But credible for whom? Says Fitzpatrick: "We're not talking about little studies here but long-term effects on infants and adults, and that's what concerns me. It's very trite. They (the industry) give half-baked answers.
What you really need is longterm studies." Likewise, "no credible evidence" is not good enough for Dr. Naomi Baumslag, professor of pediatrics at Georgetown University Medical School. She joined a host of others in criticizing a recent article in JAMA that was perported to be the definitive study on soy formula safety.
"It was not an acceptable epidemiological study - you can take it to any decent epidemiologist and hear what they think about it, and they use it to say that soy is safe," says Baumslag. "It's totally unsubstantiated."
Manganese Madness
Besides the dangers of prematurity and other reproductive problems posed by isoflavones, Baumslag mentions the high levels of the mineral manganese (no, not magnesium) often found in soy formula. The problem of manganese is so serious that even one soy manufacturer put warning labels on its soymilk. The company's president, in a press release, states that "there is mounting evidence of a correlation between manganese in soy milk (including soy-based infant formula) and neurotoxicity in small infants." With manganese toxicity known for producing behavioral disorders, the press release even goes further stating, "If research continues, showing that the current epidemic levels of ADHD in children, as well as impulsivity and violence among adolescents, are connected with the increase in soy-based infant formula use our industry could suffer a serious setback by not dealing with the issue upfront."
With all of the potential problems with soy formula, Baumslag notes that formula is also missing key immunological factors only found in mother's milk, the lack of which could give a child a life sentence of chronic health problems. She links soy pushing to corporate profits and the PR campaigns that they fund.
"There's been so much PR in regards to soy formula and I think you also have to ask yourself why it's so much cheaper for them to make, which means there's more profits. How come only 1% in the UK are on formula, where it's closer to 30% in the United States? I don't know why it's so important for them to push soy, they should push breast feeding." Perhaps its because breast milk for babies isn't as lucrative as milking the soybean for profits.
Caveat Emptor
As a former vegan - and big soy eater - I'm disturbed by the vast array of modern, processed soy products that have come on the market in the last few years, without any recognition of potential pitfalls. Safe bet: If it hasn't been eaten safely for thousands of years, you probably shouldn't put it at the center of your diet. We've been sold a bill of goods that says "soy is good for you" but it doesn't tell you what kind of soy or how much, or even definitively if soy really is what makes Asians so supposedly healthy. It's well known that the Japanese also eat a very large amount of omega 3 fatty acids from fish each day - substances which have been clearly shown to have anti-cancer and anti-heart disease effects. So, is it the soy or is it the fish? As the industry spends millions and millions of dollars to find something that isoflavones are good for, some health claim to justify their unprecedented presence in the American diet, I have to ask: why are they trying so hard? Why is there such a push to push soy?
Soy isoflavones are clearly biologically active - they affect change in your body. It's no longer acceptable for the industry to see no bad, hear no bad, and speak no bad. Legitimate concerns need to be studied - and not studies funded by the industry, conducted by soy scientists.
In the meantime, I've located a wonderful, old miso company on the north coast. They age their miso for three years in wood barrels and sell it in glass jars. It's rich, earthy, and real. I enjoy a teaspoon in a glass of hot water a few times a week after dinner. It tastes lively and feels good. I no longer get the "urge" to eat soy "dogs" or soy "burgers," though I now suspect that urge didn't come from my own instinct, but from the lofty dictates of the soy experts.
But why wait years, while ignorant armies clash over this and that isoflavone and studies that say one thing or another? Perhaps the safest way to use soy, if you choose to use soy, is the way it's been used by Asians for thousands of years: fermented, in moderation, as a condiment. In short, color me cautious.
Sean Carson is a freelance writer and editor in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is also a student of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. He can be reached at: Sean Carson.

Reprinted with permission

Myths and Truths about Soy

Myth: Use of soy as a food dates back many thousands of years.

Truth: Soy was first used as a food during the late Chou dynasty (1134-246 BC), only after the Chinese learned to ferment soy beans to make foods like tempeh, natto and tamari.

Myth: Asians consume large amounts of soy foods.

Truth: Average consumption of soy foods in Japan and China is 10 grams (about 2 teaspoons) per day. Asians consume soy foods in small amounts as a condiment, and not as a replacement for animal foods.

Full article: Weston A. Price

Soy Online Service

Uncovering the truth about soy

"Have you ever wondered about soy? It's promoted as the miracle food that will feed the world while at the same time prevent and cure all manner of diseases. But what if all you've read about soy is nothing but a multi-million dollar marketing strategy based on scanty facts, half-truths and lies? "

Site Link: Soy Online Service

Move to curb soy formula milk sales

The safety of soya-based infant formula milk has been called into question by the government's scientific advisers, in a move that could result in it being available only on prescription.

They fear children's sexual development and fertility as adults might be affected if they take the products during their first few months of life.

Parents of about one in 50 babies who are not breast fed give their offspring the soy formula, and removing it from general sale would leave vegan mothers and others who wish to avoid cow's milk with no alternative.

The advisers say there is "clear evidence" of potential risk from using the products and no evidence that the products confer any health benefit. There is no medical need for it either, they say, since other therapies could be prescribed for infants allergic to cow's milk protein.

Members of the scientific advisory committee on nutrition believe studies suggesting harmful effects on the sexual development of marmosets, and "extreme discomfort" in menstruation for women who had been fed soy formula years before, are cause for "significant concern".

The use of the soy formula is already officially discouraged by the government, and breast milk is regarded as giving far better nourishment than formula milk. But the latest warnings about safety go much further than previous ones.

It is still unclear whether many doctors and health professionals would have to change their practice, but the department of health will have to consider the review if other advisers endorse Sacn's view on Tuesday.

Stephen Walsh, a nutritionist with the Vegan Society, said: "Vegans who cannot breast feed don't have any sensible alternative. The little human evidence put forward indicates no problem. There is a long history of use of soy formula, particularly in the United States, not just by vegans."

The tougher stance on soy formula comes from part of a far wider review of evidence of the health risks and benefits of chemicals called phytoestrogens. These oestrogen-containing compounds that naturally occur in foods such as soy, may mimic or disrupt hormones in our bodies.

Data on the effect of phytoestrogens in humans is extremely limited, although there has been a lot of research in animals. Scientists are expected to call for infants, vegans and consumers of dietary supplements to be invited to join long-term studies.

Source: The Guardian