Hi Kandee - I have to check the links you posted (thanks for that) but my first impulse to ask about thyroid disorder rates in countries with a history of high soy consumption (such as Asian nations). Americans eat very little soy compared to other countries - I'd like to see what the thyroid disorder rate is in, say, Japan. Their children eat soy foods daily from the time they're first eating solid foods (tofu is often what they start with). And it's been this way for centuries. So, if there's a link between soy and thyroid problems, Japan would be a place to see it.
I'd also be interested in children raised in the US but given soy instead of dairy as they grow up. Typically, this would be the children of vegetarian/vegan parents - and from studies I've seen on these children, they are just flat-out healthier across the board.
Are they distinguishing between infants fed soy-formula as opposed to breast-fed, and children raised on soy foods? What about thyroid disorder rates in children given formula of any kind instead of breast-fed? Is it the soy, or is it that they're not breast-fed, in other words?
If you find more info, please let me know. I'd be reluctant to abandon a plant food that has been a staple for millions of people for over a millenia with a lot of well-established health benefits. But I also would not take soy formula for an infant over breast-feeding, and I'd be sticking mostly to whole soy foods (soy milk, tofu, seitan) as opposed to processed and isolated soy proteins.
- H
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Re: For parents of young children: Soy induced thyroid disease
