Finally Infant Soy Formula Under Investigation

I've been posting warnings about the dangers of soy for more than six years. I am grateful that the government took a serious look at the serious safety issues of using soy in infant formula.

Of course, the soy industry is up in arms about this new probe, arguing soy consumption affects animals differently than humans. I suspect the industry is getting worried consumers are finally catching on to soy's inherent problems, as evidenced by its slowing sales.

The fact is, soy -- at least unfermented soy -- is hazardous to your health, and soy formula is one of the worst foods that you could feed your child.

Not only does soy infant formula have profoundly adverse hormonal effects, but it also has over 1,000 percent more aluminum than conventional milk-based formulas. Many soy foods also have toxic levels of manganese. Soy formula has up to 80 times higher manganese than is found in human breast milk.

In terms of the hormonal dangers, a 1997 Lancet study showed that the daily exposure to estrogen-imitating chemicals for infants who consume soy formulas was 6-11 times higher than adults consuming soy foods.

And the blood concentration of these hormones was 13,000 to 22,000 times higher than estrogen in the blood. An infant exclusively fed soy formula receives the estrogenic equivalent (based on body weight) of at least five birth control pills per day.

And there's more:

• Soybeans are high in natural toxins, also known as antinutrients. This includes a large quantity of inhibitors that deter the enzymes needed for protein digestion. Further, these enzyme inhibitors are not entirely disabled during ordinary cooking. The result is extensive gastric distress and chronic deficiencies in amino acid uptake, which can result in dangerous pancreatic impairments and cancer.

• Soybeans contain hemaglutinins, which cause red blood cells to clump together. Soybeans also have growth-depressant substances, and while these substances are reduced in processing, they are not completely eliminated.

• Soy contains goitrogens, which can frequently lead to depressed thyroid function.

• Most soybeans (over 70%) are genetically modified, and they contain one of the highest levels of pesticide contamination of all foods.

• Soybeans are very high in phytates, which prevent the absorption of minerals including calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc, all of which are co-factors for optimal biochemistry in the body.

Although the final report from the NIH should be posted online sometime in the next two months, you don't have to wait that long to make an informed choice about soy.

The choice is yours, but when I am offered soy, unless it is fermented I routinely politely refuse and seek to enlighten the person about the above issues if they are open to learning more.

There are just far healthier protein options available for you. So avoid getting caught in the soy deception trap, especially for your child. You just simply cannot take the chance.

If you can't breast feed and your infant is not tolerating conventional formulas then please review a far safer and healthier option.