Page 78 - Fall2010

Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins University; Retha I personally heard scientists at the Fifth and
Newbold, National Institute of Environmental Sixth Symposia on the Role of Soy in Prevent-
Health Sciences, and other experts who analyzed ing and Treating Chronic Disease held in San
the findings noted numerous flaws in both the de- Diego and Chicago stand up and speak out about
sign and reporting of this study, including: the dismal quality of this “reassuring” study. So
• Failure to include mention of statistically who funded it? The National Institutes of Health
significant, higher incidence of allergies and with the International Formula Council (a trade
asthma in soy-fed infants in the study’s ab- group that represents formula manufacturers). It
stract—the only part read by most busy health was carried out under the auspices of the Fomon
professionals and media reporters Infant Nutrition Unit at the University of Iowa, a
• Glossing over or omitting from the main body group that receives support from the major formula
of the report gynecological problems such as manufacturers, including Abbott, Nestle and Mead
higher rates of cervical cancer, polycystic ovar- Johnson.
ian syndrome, blocked fallopian tubes, pelvic Hyman also feels comfortable touting the
inflammatory disease, hormonal disorders and safety of soy infant formula because of a report is-
multiple births sued in December 2009 by the National Toxicology
• Manipulation of statistics by not evaluating still Program (NTP) Center for the Evaluation of Risks
births or failure to achieve pregnancy (higher to Human Reproduction (CERHR). Its fourteen-
in the soy-fed women) but evaluating miscar- member committee concluded that the health
riages (slightly higher in the dairy-formula-fed risks of soy infant formula are “minimal” and that
group) insufficient human or animal data exist to prove the
• Excluding thyroid function as a subject for likelihood of harm to the baby’s developmental or
study (although thyroid damage from soy for- reproductive health.
Before reaching this conclusion, the commit-
The mula has been the principal concern of critics tee looked at seven hundred studies. Sounds like
committee for decades). Nonetheless, thyroid damage can a lot, but the committee failed to examine at least
be surmised by the fact that the soy-fed females
failed to grew up to report higher rates of sedentary as many others, many of which linked soy formula
to severe thyroid and gastrointestinal effects, espe-
activity and use of weight-loss medicines
examine at • Conducting the entire study by telephone cially when fed during the first few months after
least as many interviews, asking subjective—in some birth, a key developmental phase for infants.

The panel also arbitrarily decided that re-
other studies, cases highly personal and emotionally pain- productive damage had to occur during infancy
ful—questions and performing no medical
many of which examinations, laboratory tests or other objec- although it is rare for symptoms to show up before
puberty.
linked soy tive testing. Breast development, for example, During public proceedings, the fourteen mem-
was gauged by asking participants at which
formula to age they first bought their bras. bers—many of whose work and careers depend on
funding from industry or government sources—
severe • Providing no information on the ages at which were pressured by soy industry representatives
formula feeding ended; the dose length or the
thyroid and quantity of the soy isoflavones (all of which are who made it clear that a vote indicating “some
concern” would damage soy’s “healthy” image and
basic requirements of valid toxicology studies)
gastrointestinal • Using the criteria of “trade school, college and jeopardize industry profits.
effects, post college” as a measure of intelligence, thus THOSE LONG LIVED OKINAWANS
especially rating a graduate of a beauty school at the same So which people are thriving on lots of soy?
level as someone who received a doctorate
when fed degree According to Hyman, it’s the Okinawans, the
world’s longest-lived people, who “for more than
during the first • Following up infants who were given soy for- five millennia have eaten whole, organic and fer-
mula as infants for just sixteen weeks (though
few months serious damage can occur for at least the first mented soy foods like miso, tempeh, tofu, soy milk,
and edamame (young soybeans in the pod).”
after birth, nine months in boys and the first six months Interesting indeed that the Okinawans have
in girls) and failing to obtain any information
a key about whether the subjects in the study took been eating these foods for “five millenia,” when
miso and tofu only entered the food supply about
developmental soy formula after the initial sixteen-week study three thousand years ago. Tempeh came in to the
period or ate soy foods during childhood
phase for • Using a study group of 282 soy-fed persons that food supply in Indonesia sometime between 1000
and 1595 AD. As for soy milk, the first historical
infants. was too small for most of the negative findings reference is 1866, and it was first popularized in
to become “statistically significant”
78 Wise Traditions FALL 2010