This information is just too important to keep to myself.  I copied it
verbatum to reprint here.
Still working on the problem at my end--when I'm done-- I will post the
entire text of the proposal with references.
More later,
Marie Davis RN CLC
***********
(c) New Zealand Medical Journal
24 May 1995
Pages 208-209.


"The potential adverse effects of soybean phytoestrogens in infant feeding."

It is well established that soybean products contain the phytoestrogens
diadzein and genistein .  (1-3)  We have measured the levels of these
compounds in several soy-based infant formulas available in New Zealand.  The
quantities recommended by manufacturers for infant feeding provide an intake
(per kg body weight) of approximately three to five times as much diadzein
and genistein than amounts which disrupt the menstrual cycle when fed to
premenopausal women.  (4)  Exposure to phytoestrogens during soy formula
feeding is cause for considerable concern given the greater susceptibility of
neonates to oestrogens and the likely duration of exposure through infancy.
The soy phytoestrogens act by (1) inhibiting the enzyme 17-b- hyroxysteroid
oxidoreductase, type 1, which converts the relatively impotent oestradiol;
(2) occupying the oestrogen receptor, thus acting as antagonists to the
naturally-produced oestradiol, inhibiting its effects (this behavior is
similar to that of another oestrogen agonist-antagonist tamoxifen.) (4) The
consequent reduction in oestrogenic action appears to have a useful
prophylactic effect against many oestrogen-dependent disorders in adults,
including mammary and prostatic tumours.  (5) However, the same effect is
deleterious in infants.  Considerable research has shown that adequate
oestradiol is necessary for the imprinting and development of many physical,
physiological and behavioral characteristics during the neonatal period and
infancy.  (6-7) Any decrease in the amount of oestradiol available is
potentially harmful.  Unfortunately, no specific research has investigated
the effects of soy on these characteristics in the human infant, although it
has been shown that phytoestrogens are absorbed similarly in infants and
adults.  (8)
It has been claimed that soy-formulas are unlikely to cause harm to infants
because they have been used for years without adverse reports (O'Regan,
personal communication 1 February 1995).  However, another oestrogen,
diethylstilbestrol (DES), was administered extensively to women over three
decades before the spectrum of harmful effects appeared, some manifesting
themselves only when DES offspring reached adulthood.  (9) Furthermore,
although many women have consumed soy products without reports of problems,
when a definitive study was conducted, consumption of 60 g of soy protein per
day for 1 month disrupted the menstrual cycle during, and for up to 3 months
after administration.  (4)  Therefore the argument that no adverse effects
were observed, therefore none occurred is incogent.  It is also plausible
that harmful effect have occurred but have not been linked to soy
consumption.
Other researchers have similar concerns about exposing young infants to
phytoestrogens.  The introductory program presented by US FDA Department of
Health at a recent phytoestrogens conference notes: "phytoestrogens have some
of the same capabilities to induce developmental toxicity as do other
estrogens" and "given the DES tragedy, it would be foolish to ignore the
possibility that some phytoestrogens constitute a developmental hazard." (10)

The New Zealand Ministry of health has advised that parents continue to feed
their infants soy-based milk formula if they have been advised to do so by
their health care specialists' (O'Regan, personal communication 29 March
1995).  However, soy-formulas are available at supermarkets enabling parents
to choose them without medical advice.  It would be prudent for general sales
of soy formulas to be stopped.  Failing this there is a need for information
to be made available to both physicians and parents.  As a minimum we suggest
a recent review (5) on the risks and benefits of soybean phytoestrogens.

Cliff Irvine,
Lincoln University;
Mike Fitzpatrick,
Aukland;
Iain Robertson
Aukland University Medical School;
David Woodhams,
Aukland.

1. Mu, PA Phytoestrogen content of processed soybean products,.  Food tech
1982;36:60-4.
2. Wang G Kuan SS, Francis OJ, Ware GM, Carman AS.  A simplified HPLC method
for the determination of phytoestrogens in soybean and its processed
products.  J Agric Food Chem 1990; 38:185-90.
3. Coward L, Barnes NC, Setchell KDR, Barnes S.  Genistein, diadzein and
their b- glycoside conjugates: antitumor isoflavones in soybean foods from
American and Asian diets.  J Agric Food Chem 1993; 41:1961-7.
4. Cassidy A, Bingham S, Setchell KDR.  Biological effects of a diet of soy
protein rich in isoflavones on the menstrual cycle of premenstrual women.  Am
J Clin Nutr 1994; 60:333-40.
5. Clarkson TB, Anthony MS, Hughes CL.  Estrogenic soybean isoflavones and
chronic disease.  Risks and Benefits Trends Endrocrinol Metab 1995; 6:11-6.
6. Dohler KD.  The special case of hormonal imprinting, the neonatal
influence on sex In: Csaba G, ed.  Development of hormone receptors.
 Basel:Birkhauser, 1987;103-23.
7. Faiman JSD, Hughes IA, Reves FL Faiman C.  Pituitary-gonadal relationship
in infancy.  2.  Patterns of serum gonadal steroid concentrations in man from
birth to two years of age J Clin Endocr Metab 1976; 42:679-86.
8. Cruz MLA, Wong WW, Mimouni F, et al.  Effects of infant nutrition on
cholesterol synthesis rates.  Pediatr Res 1994; 35: 135-40.
9. Apfel RJ, Fisher SM.  To do no harm; DES and the dilemmas of modern
medicine, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984.
10. Sheehan DM.  The Case For Expanded Phytoestrogen Research.  Proc Soc Exp
Biol Med 1995; 208:3-5.