Now new studies question if soy products are really as safe as we have been led to believe. New studies indicate that there could be health risks in diets rich in soy. Soy is found in many of the commercially prepared foods that we purchase yet we now know there are issues involved with soy that are quietly coming to light.
Is it really a safe food choice for your family? Soy milk is often recommended as a healthy alternative to feed your baby. Soy formula and soy milk products are offered as a safe food choice for newborn infants and children but are these food products really safe?
When soy milk first hit the store shelves there was not sufficient study done to back up the claims being made on the health benefits or risks of these products. So how is a person to know the health risks which they may be exposing their children to by offering them a diet rich in soy based products? You were probably told that Soy is a healthier protein alternative but did they also tell you that Soy contains estrogen like compounds and that although it is a natural ingredient, that this product should not be consumed on a regular basis? Did they tell you that these estrogen like compounds could affect the sexual development of your child?
Do you know that Isoflavones are a primary ingredient of Soy and that it is these Isoflavones which may be the possible reason as to the majority of health problems associated with the consumption of these products. Isoflavones very closely resemble female hormones or Estrogen and we are feeding this compound to women, children, and men.
The manufacturers and distributors of Soy based products forgot to mention that medical studies now show that men who dine on a single serving every second day have dramatically reduced sperm counts compared to men who do not eat Soy products. They also do not tell you that the men who participated during these studies displayed approximately forty one million less sperm per milliliter of semen than those who did not consume Soy during the study.
The results of this study into the effects of regular consumption suggested that it is inadvisable for males to eat Soy products on a regular basis. So why are people still being told that soya milk is fine to bottle feed our babies? What is this over feeding of these products doing to the young developing male children who are bottle fed this stuff? What is it doing to your baby daughters? What is it doing to our children?
Why were consumers not told about the possible health risks when studies started showing that there might indeed be a few problems with consuming Soy products on a regular basis? Research studies now conclude that it is not healthy for men, children, or women, to consume soy based products on a regular basis. So why is it still being recommended that we feed it to our young children?
A regular intake of Soy products may also affect your thyroid functioning and Soy products are suspected as being one of the factors responsible for inflammatory based thyroid illness. On a recent trip to the grocery store I was shocked to find how difficult it is to go soy free. When I started reading the list of ingredients for the products I had previously purchased without question it became very clear to me exactly how many products now contain soy. Far too many!
What are the effect of soy milk isoflavones on children? While companies and individual distributors still shout out the many presumed health benefits of soy they neglect to mention the possible side effects.
Feeding our young babies and children soy based formulas or milk products we are exposing them to approximately thirty-two to forty-five milligrams of the Isoflavone known as genistein. If only a much smaller amount of this chemical is needed to affect a grown woman's menstrual cycle then what is the soy that we are feeding to our children doing to them? Do we know what the hormonal effects on our young babies and growing children is? What about the hormonal changes that expectant mothers who consume soy products may pass on to their developing fetus Studies are finding that Genistein may inhibit the growth of intestinal cells within babies who consume these formulas? Twice as many children who were fed a Soy based formula develop diabetes compared to those in a control group who were breast fed or received a milk based formula instead.
Even with statistical evidence mounting as to the possible adverse health affects of a diet rich in Soy based products more and more companies are jumping onto the soy band wagon. There are increasingly more foods contain soy appearing on store shelves proving that the commercial marketing arena for Soy products is indeed a very large and powerful industry. Many of these foods are products which our children casually consume each day. Mayonnaise, salad dressings, commercially prepared soups, and chocolate are just a few of the products which generally include soy in their ingredients.
The other day I noticed that the can of baked beans I had recently purchased tasted very dry and the skin of the beans was stringy to chew. I read the label and was shocked to see that the brand label reads "may contain soy beans". Another product out the window. Good grief but exactly how much soy do they expect us to consume in one day? The stuff is going into everything.
Don't risk your child's health on a product that we know so very little about. Do your own research before you unintentionally feed your child a soy rich diet. Walk right past that soy flour, soy milk, tofu, soy oil, tempeh, miso, soy baby formula, soy meats, soy cheese, soy ice cream, or any other food item that may contain soy flour, soy lethicin, or any other soy based ingredient. Avoid or boycott food products which may not be good for your family's health and avoid commercially prepared food products which contain soy. Purchase healthier milk and protein options instead.