PJ Letters: Infant soy formula

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The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7164 p321-324
8 September 2001

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Infant soy formula

Evidence of soy food toxicity

From Ms J. M. Meade

Having studied nutritional therapy, I was recently reading articles about health risks associated with soya products.

An abstract published in the PJ of 25 August (p253), from its title suggests that soy formula is safe. May I draw attention to the following references which give evidence that some isoflavones found in soy, including genistein and equol, a metabolite of daidzen, demonstrate toxicity in estrogen-sensitive tissues and in the thyroid by several distinct mechanisms. Dr Daniel Sheehan, from the United States Food and Drug Administration National Centre for Toxicological Research, has published papers with regard to the danger of soy foods in relation to links with breast cancer in women, accelerated brain ageing in men, and developmental disorders in infants.^1–3

References

1. Sheehan DM. Literature analysis of no-threshold dose-response curves for endocrine disrupters. Teratology 1998;57:219.

2. Sheehan DM. Herbal medicines and phytoestrogens: risk-benefit considerations. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 1998; 217:379-85.

3. Sheehan DM. Isoflavone content of breast milk and soy formulas: Benefits and risks. Clin Chem 1997;43: 850.

Jenny Meade
Abbots Bromley,
Staffordshire

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