At 05:47 PM 5/23/98 -0800, you wrote:
>I'd like the references for the soy formula use/ non-use. Soy is what we
>are to eat as adults to ward off breast and prostate cancers. Soy is the
>latest or not so latest thing we do not consume enough of.

I don't know who "Pre-installed User" is who sent the above post, but I
will speak to the issue of soy formula for infants.  I am looking for the
articles that I read last year that presented the problem, I will report
when I find them.  There was also a report on the issue about a year ago on
US national TV news. I didn't see it, but a client asked me about it.

The protective properties of soy for adults, particularly menopausal women,
is that it contains phytoestrogens (plant estrogens), which, in the body,
act like estrogens hormonally, but don't increase the incidence of cancer
because they aren't really estrogen.  The diet needs to include soy
products every day-- 1 cup of soy milk or tofu or such.

The problem arises from the fact that an infant consuming a steady diet of
soy formula is getting hundreds of times more estrogen per pound of body
weight than the amount recommended for a menopausal woman to control the
symptoms of menopause. The concern is what effect does all of this
"estrogen activity" have on the hormonal and gender development of those
infants.

There was an international meeting on this topic two years ago and there is
on-going study being done on, particularly, males.  The  capability of
producing testosterone is laid down in the first 4 months of a baby boy's
life, and there is concern over what a steady diet of these phytoestrogens
will have on the developing male infant. The study is looking at boys at
puberty and measuring testosterone levels in those who were fed soy formulas.

I, of course, would also be concerned about females infants.   A baby girl
is not programmed to recieve so much "estrogen" at that age either.

At the time of the articles that I read, the US was not participating in
the studies.
And most pediatricians whom I have talked to about the concern feel that it
is not a viable issue.

As we have often said, our children are participating in a most-uncontroled
experiment.  I don't know what will be found, but I am telling mothers who
ask me about giving abm, what the questions are, and that I would not give
soy-based abm to my babies.

I hope that I can find the papers.  I know that I copied them for someone
and she probably can find them in her files and make copies for me if I
can't find mine.  Perhaps others on this list have read the articles and
can speak to them.

Patricia Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee
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