Can Soy Formulas for Babies be Healthy?
If you follow the latest trends in health, hearing that soy formulas for babies may be damaging to their health can be quite shocking. Let’s face it. Weren’t we told that soy is actually quite healthy? Anyone going on a vegetarian diet would depend on soy for that extra protein.
Soybeans are known to be good for the heart, and it is believed to be a high quality food to aid in the prevention of cancer. What are we to believe?
Let’s evaluate soy formulas for babies so that we can decide for ourselves if we are to keep feeding our children this possibly dangerous food.
Phytoestrogens:
Soy formulas for babies, since they are soybean based, are high in estrogens and can interfere with thyroid. By lodging on endocrine receptor sites, they are endocrine disruptors and can in fact create imbalance in the entire endocrine system both in males and females.
Phytic Acid:
Soybeans are extremely high in phytic acid which affects calcium metabolism. Many people have a hard time digesting phytic acid, such as in whole wheat products and legumes. Gas and bloating is common in phytic acid intolerance, but when fed to children can lead to colic, gas, reflux, digestive difficulties and growth problems.
Glutamic Acid:
When soybeans are processed, they release glutamic acid or MSG. This is a potent neurotoxin.
In discussing the soy formulas for babies, we must decide if we really want to give soy formula to our children. Due to the high estrogen content, babies who are fed soy based formulas have up to 22,000 times more estrogen compounds in their blood than milk-based formula fed babies. This can cause infertility equivalent to taking birth control pills.” This increase in estrogen can cause abnormal changes in childhood development including early female maturation and delayed maturation in males. Some feel that there may be a connection to learning disabilities as well.
Soy Contains Toxic Chemicals
Most soy formulas contain various amounts of aluminum, which can be toxic to the kidneys of infants, and other caustic chemicals are used in the processing of soy formulas.
Soy Formula Allergy
What about the fact that many mothers will place their children on soy milk because their baby may not tolerate milk. Oftentimes a mother will try to help their child overcome chronic ear infections, or fluid in the ear, constant colds etc. by changing their formula to soy. Sometimes this can help, but soy is one of the top allergens, rated along with milk, eggs, yeast and gluten. If there is no soy allergy, then it actually may be a solution, but if the child has an allergy to soy, the child's symptoms may even become worse.
Does this boil down to the fact that soy formulas for babies should be changed for some other formula? Let’s look at the other side. Research has shown that soy can lower cholesterol, and lowered the cancer risk in teenage girls. Soy is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, and it is high in protein with an optimum balance of amino acids.
Nonetheless, health organizations are beginning to offer warnings to limit the amount of soy in your diet. Even the American Heart Association has lowered its estimate of the amount that soy actually lowers cholesterol.
The Hawaiian Study: A look at Tofu
No discussion of the possible dangers of soybean formulas for babies would be complete without mentioning the famous Hawaiian Study.
Lon White, M.D. conducted a study of Japanese men who consumed tofu at least two times a week, between their mid 40’s to mid-60s. He found that as they grew older, they were more likely to contract symptoms of dementia and Alzheimer’s. The correlation was strong, showing that they were 2.4 times more likely to become forgetful and their brains seemed to deteriorate at a quicker rate than those who did not consume tofu.
According to Bill Harris, M.D., it is possible that the results of this study is connected to the increased aluminum in Hawaiian tofu. He went so far as to analyze the aluminum content in tofu and make comparisons. Aluminum has long been suspected to have a possible connection in Alzheimer’s.
Conclusion
Is the soybean formulas for babies a real concern, or can we continue using soybeans and tofu as part of our overall health program? Well, after reviewing the studies, and hearing the concerns, I believe that it would be prudent to be cautious in the use of soy products.
Use fermented soy products
The fermentation breaks down the enzyme inhibitors improving its digestibility. Fermentation predigests the proteins and minerals making them more bio-available, as is the case with fermented foods in general. You get another benefit from the probiotics of the ferments giving healthy bacteria to your intestinal tract.
Isoflavones (phytoestrogens found in soy) are converted into their “free” forms making them bio-available.
Soy Formula vs Milk formula
As far as infant formulas are concerned, you are better giving whole milk formulas to your child rather than chance the serious health issues that may follow prolonged soy ingestion. Better yet, you may want to nurse your baby. The baby depends on mother’s milk for its natural antibodies which is its only defense against infection in the first five months of life. If you cannot nurse for any variety of reasons, you may want to consider a meat derived formula which is allergy free and is very nutritious for the growing infant and toddler.
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Alert: Soy Formulas for Babies may Damage their Health
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