More on soy and health - article (long but interesting)

[Guest guest]

I found another article on soy and health that I thought you might be

interested in: (BTW, the statements of the article below are not

necessarily the opinions of the message writer - me! Just sharing

info.

Sheri

In Sunny Florida

Is Soy Bad For You?

New research links the 'health' food to thyroid disorders

By JUDY D'MELLO

There isn't a health-minded individual in America who is a stranger

to soy. We've all heard about this near-perfect food's miraculous

benefits: It reverses osteoporosis, eases the symptoms of menopause,

reduces the risk of heart disease, lowers cholesterol and even

balances the mood swings associated with PMS. As beef turned into a

four-letter word culminating in the mad cow scare, and dairy products

were charged with creating allergies, soy became the protein of

choice — the healthy alternative to red meat, chicken and milk. It's

no wonder food manufacturers and chefs all over the country figured

out ways to turn the traditionally watery bean curd into delicious

soy ice cream, yogurt, cheese, pasta, burgers and buns.

You may want to hold off before reaching for your next soy wiener,

though.

" As little as a 5- to 8-ounce serving of soy milk a day has been

proven to suppress thyroid function, " says soy researcher and

nutritionist Fitzpatrick. Drs. Sheehan and

Doerge, former senior researchers at the Food and Drug

Administration, have strongly opposed the soy industry's proclamation

that this humble bean is king. In a 1999 letter, the two scientists

stated that rather than tout its health benefits, the FDA should

attach a warning label to soy products. " The possibility that widely

consumed soy products may cause harm in the human population via

either or both estrogenic and [thyroid] activity is of concern, " said

Sheehan in a recently published study.

Approximately 20 million Americans have some form of thyroid

dysfunction — and women are 10 times more likely to suffer from an

underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) than men. The most common

symptoms of a hypothyroid patient are lethargy, weight gain,

depression, inability to tolerate cold, dry skin, coarse hair and

mental " fogginess. "

The disorder usually occurs in women following childbirth and at the

onset of menopause. By age 75, one in five women has a sluggish

thyroid. Yet signs such as weight gain and lack of mental acuity are

often chalked up to natural symptoms of the aging process.

The culprit in a high soy diet lies in the isoflavones found in the

bean, in particular, genistein. Interestingly, this is the very same

ingredient that's been enthusiastically promoted as the remedy for

everything from heart disease to mood swings. New research shows

otherwise. " The isoflavones in soy act like a hormone in the body, "

said Dr. Larrian Gillespie, a retired urologist and urogynecologist

and author of " The Menopause Diet. " (http://www.menopausediet.com) " In

many women, especially those who eat large amounts of soy

concentrates or take isoflavone supplements, this disturbs the body's

hormonal balance, triggering or worsening thyroid problems. "

Hundreds of new products

Gillespie speaks from firsthand experience. She first tried soy

supplements at the recommended dose of 40 milligrams. " I went into

full-blown hypothyroidism within 72 hours, " she said. Next she

experimented with tofu. " Same results as before, but this time it

took me five days to get there. "

Gillespie is troubled by the government's recent announcement about

the potential risks associated with hormone replacement therapy

(HRT), which is followed by 6 million mostly menopausal women in the

U.S. Drugs such as Prempro, Premarin and Climara were found to

increase the rate of breast cancer and strokes. As a result,

Gillespie is bracing for a " new push " for soy products by the

industry that promise women a " more natural, risk-free " remedy for

hot flashes and bone loss.

Soy is already a big business in the U.S. About 140 billion pounds of

soy are produced annually here, making the U.S. one of the world's

largest producers and exporters of the bean. Hundreds of soy-based

products are introduced each year. According to Sally Fallon,

president of the Westin A. Price Foundation

(http://www.westinaprice.org/), " Up to 1% of revenue for every

soybean sold in America goes toward promoting the benefits of

soybeans in the marketplace and maintaining and expanding foreign

markets. " In short, the soy industry has clout.

Risk of thyroid cancer

A disturbing example of the industry's heft is the marketing of soy-

based infant formulas. While considered a life-saver for the roughly

3% to 4% of infants who are lactose-intolerant, this " healthy "

alternative is so vigorously advertised that it claims a whopping 25%

share of total infant formula sales. " It's criminal that soy formulas

are being sold in the marketplace, " says Fallon. " Infants who are

exclusively fed soy formula get 10 times the dose of phytoestrogens

found in a healthy Asian diet. Such excess can be harmful. "

Fallon also points out that the soy industry has known since the

1950s that soy formulas contain thyroid-suppressing agents. Though

many have lobbied to have isoflavones removed from soy formulas, the

high cost of doing so has prevented it from happening.

For infants, any amount of soy is too much, according to the Soy

Online Service (http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/). Unborn children

exposed to high levels of antithyroid agents, the Web site says, are

at high risk for prematurity and reproductive problems. Fitzpatrick,

who heads the online service, also believes that longterm feeding of

soy formulas can raise the risk of thyroid cancer.

Following the money trail might show why more information is not

available about these issues in the U.S. Experts believe the

regulatory agencies are cowed by the strength of the agricultural

companies that dominate the U.S. soy market. Other countries, where

there is less economic pressure, have led the way in alerting the

public to the potential hazards of soy. In 1996, the British

Department of Health issued a warning that the phytoestrogens found

in soy formulas could adversely affect infant health. In Switzerland,

Australia and New Zealand, health officials recommend a medically

monitored diet of soy products for infants and pregnant women.

Marketing, and American exuberance for " a little is good, more is

better, " account for soy's leap from hippie food, to protein du jour

to cure-all, says Shomon, an advocate for thyroid patients and

author of " Living Well With Hypothyroidism. " " Taking a food and

turning it into a drug is seriously dangerous, " cautions Shomon. " We

need to start treating soy as a medicinal food. Take aspirin, for

example. Just because we've heard that one a day is beneficial, we

don't start taking 10 a day. "

A tub of tofu

Proponents of soy have long used the Asian diet as their war cry for

pushing high intakes of soy isoflavones. " I went to China, " said

Gillespie, " and saw how little soy is used in their daily diet. We in

America think we must consume an entire tub of tofu in a meal,

whereas in Asia a quarter tub [30 milligrams] is considered a lot for

a day. "

Moreover, the Asian diet is dramatically different from its American

counterpart, containing more fish, fresh fruits and vegetables, and

less red meat, chemicals and processed foods. Soy is consumed not

only in small quantities by Asians, but often in a fermented state

such as tempeh (soybean cake), miso (a paste used in soups) and natto

(sticky, boiled soybeans) that are high in Vitamin K. " Look, " says

Gillespie, " if soy is the answer, then why is the typical image of an

old Japanese woman shrunken and bent over? "

In the mid-'90s I fell hard for the hype surrounding the soybean.

Believing the experts' claims and looking for a low-fat protein, I

became an avid consumer of tofu and a daily 12-ounce soy milk shake.

I honestly liked the taste. Even after I was diagnosed with

hypothroidism three years ago, I followed my " healthy " eating

regimen. No one cautioned me of a possible correlation between my

thyroid problem and soy consumption. I was 37 and suffered none of

the classic symptoms.

Yet my thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels clearly indicated an

underactive thyroid. It was only after my son was born, a year after

my diagnosis, that I removed soy from my diet. (As an infant, he

suffered from gastric distress, and since I was nursing, a friend

suggested I go soy-free to eliminate the bean's hard-to-digest

properties from my system.) Six months later, I was checked again and

my TSH levels were normal. Now, I eat only small amounts of soy,

occasionally. I still get checked twice a year, and my levels are

still normal.

How much is too much?

While deep-pocketed soy marketers cook up even more ways to ingest

the bean, there is, unfortunately, little data as what constitutes an

appropriate level of soy intake. Soy Online Service cautions that

even 30 milligrams of soy isoflavones a day can wreak havoc on the

body's hormonal balance. It advises anyone with a predisposition to

thyroid dysfunction to be particularly careful. If, indeed, the Asian

diet is one to be emulated, then why not use soy the way they have

for thousands of years: in moderation.

Thirty milligrams of soy isoflavones can be found in:

7 ounces of soybeans

4 ounces of tofu

8 ounces of soy milk

1.6 ounces of miso

2.8 ounces of soybean sprouts

(http://thyroid.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%

2Fwww.soyonlineservice.co.nz)