Every week I get agonized letters from parents who fed their sons soy infant formula and who report estrogenized boys who are flabby, lethargic, high strung and/or embarrassed by breasts and underdeveloped genitals. These parents want to know, “What can we do now?”
First, read my two articles “Soy Recovery Part I” and “Soy Recovery: The Toxic Metal Component,” which are posted on this website. The first article discusses the importance of eliminating soy and other estrogenic foods from the diet and the necessity of gut healing. The second article covers the importance of eliminating toxic metals, such as mercury, aluminum, cadmium and lead, as well as reducing toxic levels of needed minerals such as copper and manganese.
Why do toxic metals play a part in soy recovery? By interfering with every metabolic function in the body. Malnourished children — most children these days but certainly those who were put on soy formula — have impaired detoxification pathways. That means widespread heavy metal toxicity. In addition, boys estrogenized by soy formula nearly always have toxic levels of copper. Those given soy formula in the first six months of life are also prone to toxic levels of manganese, contributing to ADD/ADHD and assorted learning and behavior disorders. All of these interfere with hormone production and cause havoc within the reproductive system.
The good news, as I report in the Soy Recovery articles, is that heavy metals and excess copper and manganese can be eliminated. I cannot emphasize the importance of doing this strongly enough. The risk of long-term, late-developing health problems from soy formula problem is far too serious for a “wait and see” attitude. It is vital to act NOW rather than wait until puberty or later when hormonal problems are diagnosed and full blown. Cleaning up the gut and clearing out the metals gives the soy-fed boy his best chance to recover his health and go through puberty as normally as possible.
Sadly, there’s no guarantee that diet and detox will correct the hormonal damage caused by soy formula. Addressing them will at least improve overall health, but it may also be advisable to consider hormone repletion and balancing.
Thyroid First
The first hormone to consider is thyroid. More than 70 years of studies show that soy causes thyroid damage, most often manifesting as hypothyroidism or auto-immune Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. While coconut oil and other nourishing foods can support thyroid health and healing, soy-fed babies may need the additional help of replenishing thyroid hormones to optimum levels, preferably with natural thyroid hormones. Proper levels of thyroid hormone will help improve energy levels, mental acuity, overweight and other issues. If thyroid hormone is needed, it will make a huge difference in your son’s overall health.
Testosterone Next
As for reproductive hormones, the first year of life is a critical period for a boy’s sexual maturation. The body during this time should surge with testosterones and other hormones designed to program the newborn’s reproductive system to mature from infancy through puberty into adulthood. The risk for boys estrogenized by soy formula is that their programming may be interrupted and later reproductive development arrested. Conventional wisdom holds that once this developmental window has passed, it is too late. That said, Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) could help some soy-fed boys normalize.
The first step is to test the levels and ratios of the boy’s testosterone and other hormones. Those who come up deficient or imbalanced may opt for Bioidentical Hormone Replacement, a therapy that is highly experimental for children and adolescents who were fed soy as babies. Whether replacement hormones can help these boys “catch up” remains to be seen. However, even when BHRT fails to jump start growth of the gonads, it could still prove worthwhile in terms of overall health and well being. Testosterone, after all, is not just a macho “sex hormone,” but needed for growth, repair, red blood cell formation, and immune function. Estrogenized boys might also need help with progesterone or other hormones so a full panel should be tested.
Parents who would like to consider BioIdentical Hormone Replacement need to know that it is by prescription only, and must be carefully dosed and monitored. This is true for everyone considering BHRT, but especially for children and adolescents who have not yet reached adulthood.
Hope from hcG?
Yet another hormone that might help our soy-fed boys is human chorionic gonadotropin (hcG). Given that hcG is naturally found in high levels only in pregnant women, this idea might seem bizarre. Less naturally, hcG has been in the news because of its popularization for weight loss by bestselling author Kevin Trudeau and others. In these programs, hcg injections plus extremely low calorie, no fat diets help patients to lose significant amounts of weight quickly while retaining muscle mass and high levels of energy.
My interest in hcG for soy formula fed-boys does not stem from the fact that many of these estrogenized boys are pudgy. Rather I am intrigued by a couple of paragraphs in a 1954 report on the use of hcG for weight loss written by the late British physician, Dr. A. T. W. Simeons, in which the doctor suggested hcG for boys with underdeveloped sex organs. Back then, none of the boys would have been damaged by soy, but I can’t help but wonder if hcG could play an important role in soy recovery. Here is the relevant section of Dr. Simeons’ report:
A Curious Observation
Mulling over this depressing situation, I remembered a rather curious observation made many years ago in India. At that time we knew very little about the function of the diencephalon, and my interest centered round the pituitary gland. Proehlich had described cases of extreme obesity and sexual underdevelopment in youths suffering from a new growth of the anterior pituitary lobe, producing what then became known as Froehlich’s disease. However, it was very soon discovered that the identical syndrome, though running a less fulminating course, was quite common in patients whose pituitary gland was perfectly normal. These are the so called “fat boys” with long, slender hands, breasts any flat-chested maiden would be proud to possess, large hips, buttocks and thighs with striation, knock-knees and underdeveloped genitals, often with undescended testicles.
It also became known that in these cases the sex organs could he developed by giving the patients injections of a substance extracted from the urine of pregnant women, it having been shown that when this substance was injected into sexually immature rats it made them precociously mature. The amount of substance which produced this effect in one rat was called one International Unit, and the purified extract was accordingly called “Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin” whereby chorionic signifies that it is produced in the placenta and gonadotropin that its action is sex gland directed.
The usual way of treating “fat boys” with underdeveloped genitals is to inject several hundred international Units twice a week. Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin which we shall henceforth simply call hCG is expensive and as “fat boys” are fairly common among Indians I tried to establish the smallest effective dose. In the course of this study three interesting things emerged. The first was that when fresh pregnancy-urine from the female ward was given in quantities of about 300 cc. by retention enema, as good results could be obtained as by injecting the pure substance. The second was that small daily doses appeared to be just as effective as much larger ones given twice a week. Thirdly, and that is the observation that concerns us here, when such patients were given small daily doses they seemed to lose their ravenous appetite though they neither gained nor lost weight. Strangely enough however, their shape did change. Though they were not restricted in diet, there was a distinct decrease in the circumference of their hips.
This is all Dr. Simeons says, and all I know about hcG for sex organ development. I have no experience whatsoever working with this therapy. I would very much like to hear from physicians, other health care practitioners and parents currently involved in using Bioidentical Hormone, hcG or other natural, herbal or pharmaceutical therapies to help estrogenized boys with breasts and underdeveloped gonads become healthy and normal men. Ideas and thoughts about this are also welcome, either as comments here below or to me by my direct email kaayla@drkaayladaniel.com. Thank you.
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Its seems that there are lot so f disorders which discourages us nowadays.Like of what have mentioned above..that’s kinda horrible to boys..maybe it could lead also to a great mental problems.Who knows?it could affect the mental processes of our body not only some organs.But could invade the brain,right?In a research paper due to be published next year, an Israeli research team has connected children’s strep throat to obsessive-compulsive disorder. Though not yet recognized by medical associations, PANDAS is the name of this associated disorder.
Yes, excess soy consumption esp during the critical developmental periods of pregnancy or the first year of life has been linked to both physical and mental developmental disorders. In terms of sexuality, soy estrogenization alters the sexually dimorphic part of the brain.
Dear Kaayla,
Soy consumption during the critical development of puberty is also of concern too. From what I have researched, soy consumption can stunt the growth of a male adolescent DURING puberty, whereby the phytoestrogens act as estrogens in the body, which lower testosterone, which in turn, hinders growth spurts (because male growth spurts are driven by testosterone). Do you have any research or info on this in regard to the damage soy can do if a male adolescent consumes soy milk during puberty?
Thank you for these great suggestions! I thought I read somewhere on this website that Vitamin A was found to be as effective as testosterone in bringing on puberty and maturation in teenage boys.
“Every week I get agonized letters from parents who fed their sons soy infant formula and who report estrogenized boys who are flabby, lethargic, high strung and/or embarrassed by breasts and underdeveloped genitals.” I wonder why we don’t ever hear about this in the news. This is sad and should have never been allowed to happen [url = ‘[url=]http://www.telugufilmblog.com’style=’color:rgb(241,241,189)[/url]]poker sites
“The first was that when fresh pregnancy-urine from the female ward was given in quantities of about 300 cc. by retention enema..”
Holy what- wait – a second. What doctor approved putting fresh pee into a boys rectum?! I hope they lied to the poor kids.
Many are becoming aware of the harmful effects of soy on boys, but nothing is being said about the effects on girls. This just an observation, while boys are becoming more “feminine” girls are becoming more aggressive. I believe that this excessive amount of soy in the diet is having an opposite affect on the girls, perhaps shutting off her estrogen production and turning up her testosterone output.
I’m just sick after reading what I’ve suspected for a year. Our 12yo received soy formula and until two years ago was developing normally. He has underdeveloped genitals, has gained weight but hardly any height or foot growth. Today we found out he more than likely has Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. I’m literally sick to my stomach.
I am sorry to hear about your son. It sounds like your 12 yo began puberty, but the soy has hindered his development. Soy can delay puberty in male children. In regard to the thyroiditis — I don’t understand why we are not told that these “alternative” milks do not contain iodine. Dairy milk and dairy products contain iodine which is necessary for a child’s growth. An ignorant dermatologist told me to take my adolescent off dairy to help with acne, and to try an alternative milk, yet no warnings about the danger of choosing soy milk as an alternative. Soy milk hinders absorption of many important vitamins and minerals and soy milk does not contain iodine — iodine is needed for healthy growth. It is disgusting that soy formula and soy milk do not contain warnings indicating to parents that the product contains high phytoestrogen content which can mimick estrogen in the body. The soy industry is harming children and they don’t even care. Our FDA just lets the soy industry continue to poison us and our children are paying the price.
To Zeno,
There is really not much to worry about here. Unless someone has a urinary tract infection, there is usually nothing harmful in urine. It contains waste products the body no longer needs but in a healthy individual these products are not toxic nor do they contain pathogens that are common to feces. Urine is an old remedy for many things from allergies to ear infections, although I have usually heard of people using their own urine. Some people swear by it, but I haven’t read any studies on it’s use. I lived in a Buddhist Ashram in Boulder, Colorado where a few people had drunk their morning urine for years. They claimed it held natural anti-bodies to anything improper they had eaten, so it improved their digestion. Some cases may be anecdotal, but as many of us members of WAPF can attest, where there is smoke, there’s often fire when it comes to old remedies. I’m not sure anyone is brave enough to take on research into the subject of urine therapy seeing what has happened to others who espouse non-traditional therapies.
Soy also affects adolescents during puberty. Phytoestrogens mimick estrogen in the body causing 3 horrible effects to children and adolescents: 1. causes early puberty in girls; 2. causes delayed puberty and gynocomastia in prepubescent boys; 3. Stunts growth in adolescent males already IN PUBERTY whereby phytoestrogen lowers testosterone, which hinders male growth spurts. Not to mention that estrogen closes growth plates. The public has been duped. Why aren’t there any warning labels on foods products such as Soy Milk indicating that the product contains a high phytoestrogen content which mimicks estrogen in the body, so that parents can be warned. I am sickened that I bought Soy Milk in the past. Why are pediatricians warning parents either??? The American Academy of Pediatricians no longer promotes giving soy formula to infants — why are pediatric offices not informing parents of the danger of soy milk? Too many dermatologist are telling teenagers with acne to cut out dairy and find an alternative milk, yet they fail to warn us about the dangers of alternative Soy Milk; let alone the fact that children ONLY grow by drinking dairy milk; alternative milks do help a child grow. It should be mandatory that all pediatric doctor’s offices warn parents about the dangers of soy formula AND soy milk. Adolescents drinking these protein drinks not knowing the danger that soy protein isolate is in a lot of these drinks. We have been duped.
what about for girls fed soy milk as babys? Thank you so much for informing us.