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- Wellington, NZPA. – New Zealand general practitioners have
joined non-profit groups overseas in cautioning against the use
of the soy milk as an infant fee "other than in very exceptional
circumstances".
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- It would be "crazy" for mothers to be encouraged to
use soy instead of breast-feeding or cow’s milk, except in
exceptional circumstances, they said.
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- American nutrition lobby The Weston A Price Foundation has joined
the British Food Commission in calling for soy-based infant formulas
to be withdrawn from general sale to the public, and to carry
a warning label.
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- The said researchers in New Zealand, the United States and the
United Kingdom were concerned high levels of phytooestrogens –
plant hormones also known as isoflavones contained in soy formulas
could affect hormone development of children.
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- The isoflavones contained in the formulas mimic a weak form
of the female sex hormone oestrogen. In extreme cases, they could
lead to premature sexual development in boys and infertility in
both sexes.
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- Royal NZ College of General Practitioners chairman Ralph Wiles
said the Health Ministry was correct in saying soy milk provided
a useful alternative for babies who could not tolerate dairy-based
infant formulas.
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- But Dr Wiles said the ministry had not emphasised that this
represented a very small number of infants.
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- "The debate on dairy milk formula versus soy milk also
risks drawing attention from the best sustenance of all –
breast milk," he said.
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- "If breast feeing isn’t possible, then formula derived
from dairy products offer an inferior alternative, but still one
that is preferable to soy milk given that dairy based infant formulas
have been manipulated by the manufacturers to make them somewhat
better, nutritionally, than raw cow’s milk," Dr Wiles
said.
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- Only if those first two options had been tried, or at least
properly considered with advice and support from a health professional,
should soy milk be considered for infants who were definitely
intolerant of dairy-based formulas.
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- "Until the viability of soy products have been more thoroughly
and independently researched, it is crazy to encourage their use
in opposition to dairy-based formulas, or worse still, breast
milk," he said.
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- Reliable information on the issue was not yet available, although
Asian countries relied heavily on soy based products of all kinds.
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- "That would presumably be a good place to start research,"
said Dr Wiles. "How much soy is in an Asian infant’s
diet and what is the long term comparative health effect?"
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- Until those sort of finding were available, it was right to
counsel extreme caution.
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- "And the Health Ministry, while technically right in what
it says, should perhaps be exploring the idea of a major publicity
campaign to encourage breast feeding by new mothers, and the acceptance
of breast feeding in public by wider society."
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