Not too long ago there was research that caused many to worry about some plastic containers, because chemicals were found in them that acted like hormones and could cause harm to infants. Now there is a new cause for concern from a food that is often sought after by the health conscious – soy.
Some animal studies have shown that natural contents in soy contain the same hormone-imitating traits as some plastic additives. Currently scientists are deliberating about how to deal with this threat.
Last month a scientific report was issued by researchers at the National Toxicology Program, based in Research Triangle Park, which concluded that the risk of soy formula is of “minimal concern” for infant health.
On a five-level scale, this increased the level of concern from a 1 to a 2. The group established its decision on recent animal studies and said more human studies that indicate health risks are necessary before raising any additional alarm.
For decades, soy formula has been used as a substitute to milk formula for children who happen to be lactose intolerant or for families wanting to stay within a vegan diet.
In the last few years though, studies done on animals in laboratories have discovered a connection between estrogen-like substances in soy, which are natural compounds called isoflavones, and developmental damage in offspring.
These animal studies demonstrate that fetal or newborn exposure to genistein, a dominate isoflavone in soy formula, could cause early puberty and other possible problems later in life. Biologist Heather Patisaul, of N.C. State University, said “brief exposure to genistein can produce long-lasting effects in rats.
The RTP-based National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and The National Toxicology Program, assembled a panel of 14 scientists to check out the safety of soy infant formula.
These animal studies showed potential harm at blood levels similar to what is seen is seen in babies, according to pediatrician and panel chair Gail McCarver of the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. This said, the group maintained that an increased amount of concern is not justified at this time because of inadequate data from human studies.
Panel member Emilie Rissman, a biologist at the University of Virginia, said that the majority of the animal studies have been performed on single isoflavones evaluated one at a time, even though soy formula is made of more than one type of isoflavone and other elements that could interact with each other.
There are some scientists who disagree with the group’s conclusions. Patisaul exclaims, “Why worry about bisphenol A and not soy?” She claims that there are many more effects from soy than from bisphenol A, a hormone-imitating compound found in plastic that spiked recent controversy worldwide.
The conclusions from the panel was summarized and posted March 16 at http://cerhr.niehs.nih.gov/.
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