Q. Is soy safe for kids?

Q. Hi there! I am really confused with the debate on soy for children.  Is it safe to give to our kids? Thanks! – Jennie

Hi Jennie,

Like many questions regarding food these days the answer is “yes and no.” We have to dispel some of the myth behind soy to get to the truth. You may hear from an uninformed source that eating soy is like eating estrogen and it’s not healthy. Well soy contains zero estrogen but it does contain something called phytoestrogen.

Phytoestrogens are found in many foods. Care to guess what foods have the highest amounts? How about flax seeds and cottonseed oil or canola oil. Most roasted nuts that we buy at the grocery store are roasted in canola or cottonseed oil yet nothing is said of their phytoestrogen content. In the western diet foods such as whole grain cereals, beans, lentils, apples and carrots and more have good amounts of phytoestrogen. Shall we question their benefit to children as well?

So, why has soy been made out to be the villain? I really don’t know. I suspect it is the marketing work of other food products. There are a lot of competitors for soy. The dairy industry, for example, after losing market share to soy milk consumers, tried to sue the soy manufacturers and ban them from using the word “milk” in promoting their product. So a smear campaign from one manufacturer to destroy another manufacturer is not an uncommon ploy in the high stakes game of agriculture and food sales.

What about those phytoestrogens, are they dangerous? I do not believe them to be a big problem as they have a weak estrogen impact and in fact act more as a competitive inhibitor of estrogen at the receptors. Soy isoflavones such as genistein and daidzein are good antioxidants and have been shown in studies to reduce cancer risk. Some people in favor of soy would argue that asian cultures have been eating it for centuries in higher quantities than Americans and that asian cultures have less cancer. This statement needs to be amended to highlight the fact that most asian cultures are in fact eating more “fermented” soy and not plain soy products. Fermented soy products like miso and tempeh have wonderful health qualities that plain soy does not. I would recommend in general that if you are going to include soy in your diet that the majority of it be fermented.

Some of the bad press on soy comes from poorly constructed studies where rats were given fractionated soy or partial soy elements in concentrated amounts but not given the whole soy product. This is always a bad idea but a common theme amongst food manufacturers. This violated the basic principle of eating which is to eat “whole foods” not processed garbage. If we start fractionating or separating certain elements from nature and then concentrating them in unnatural amounts this violates that particular food and usually leads to problems. Green tea has wonderful benefits for us as it contains a compound called EGCG. So man, in his infinite wisdom, separated EGCG from green tea and concentrated it and gave it to people in studies. Guess what? It didn’t work. Why? Because whole green tea also contains EC, and EGC, and ECG which are other components inside green tea that work to prevent the oxidation and breakdown of EGCG. The whole foods principle was violated.

I have yet to see a study showing that the consumption of whole soy products produced harm to anyone when eaten as part of a whole foods diet.

One major rule that must be adhered to when eating soy. ORGANIC ONLY.

Most of the soy produced and sold in this country has the “Round Up” gene infused into it’s DNA. A company by the name of Monsanto has found a way to infuse a gene into plants that makes them resistant to the effects of their herbicide Round Up. This was done so that farmers could spray entire fields of soy and corn with Round Up and it would kill everything except the intended crop which contains the magic resistant gene. Great for the framers, (other than the fact that they will die from cancer and necrologic diseases secondary to extreme Round Up exposure), but not good for consumers who now eat this gene and it is causing increased allergic responses in kids and likely to show higher cancer risk in the future. It has already been demonstrated that this gene is getting transferred to the good bacteria in our gut. How long before it makes it’s way into the human gene pool? Want more information? Google “Seeds Of Deception” for articles and video lectures on this topic.

So bottom line, soy is not as bad as some would make you think but observe some rules to be safe:
* Never eat soy that is not clearly labeled ORGANIC
* Most of your soy consumption should be fermented
* Avoid processed soy variants and stick with whole foods like miso and tempeh or tofu or edamame beans.

If you are looking for a milk source, also consider almond, rice or coconut milks as good options.

I hope that helps
Dr. Gary Huber

Comments

1. Jennie says:

   January 3, 2011 at 9:47 pm

   THANK YOU SO MUCH! That makes complete sense to me! I do incorporate some soy (tofu, edamame) into our diet. After hearing all of the many debates and speaking with my friend I was so confused! This is amazing! I really appreciate you taking the time to explain this issue with so much detail!

   Reply