A WORD ABOUT SOY INFANT FORMULAS – SOY AND TESTOSTERONE
Soy’s estrogenic exposure may also be putting little boys a risk. Infant boys go through a “testosterone tide” during the first six months of their lives, during which they normally have testosterone levels nearly equal to those of mature men. This early surge of male hormones programs the reproductive system, brain and other organs to take on male characteristics at puberty. Researchers are now wondering whether the feeding of estrogen-rich soy formula to infant boys interferes with this process and is the explanation for a syndrome, becoming more and more frequent, in which the male sexual organs do not properly develop at puberty.
The New Zealand Medical Journal found that soy-based infant formula may adversely affect hormonal development in neonatal infants and should not be sold commercially. Since soy is the richest source of phytestrogens, a plant form of the female hormone estrogen, neonatal infants are particularly vulnerable. The NZMJ cautioned that there is insufficient research on the long-term health effects of phytestrogens, therefore warranting a ban on the nonprescription sale of soy formula.
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