Soy milk is a creamy liquid made from ground soybeans. Soy protein foods including soy milk contain isoflavones, a group of plant estrogens that have been heavily studied to determine their health benefits in humans. These foods also have adverse effects on human health, digestibility and amino acid absorption. Therefore, you should talk with your doctor before you decide to consume soy milk and other soy products.
Breast Cancer
Increased consumption of soy protein from soy milk could increase a woman's total estrogen level. This impact of soy on hormonal levels is thought to be from phytoestrogens in soy protein called isoflavones. Estrogen is essential to normal human health, but high estrogen levels are a risk factor for breast cancer, according to the Sprecher Institute at Cornell University.
Soy Allergy
Soy allergy occurs when an allergic individual's immune system mistakenly attacks a soy protein component as an harmful foreign substance. The subsequent outpouring of antibodies, primarily histamines, initiates a series of reactions that profoundly affect your skin, respiratory, digestive and cardiovascular systems. Sometimes, soy allergies are caused by food intolerance, which means you lack a specific enzyme needed to digest a particular soy-based product.
Hypothyroidism
Soy isoflavones in soy milk can potentially interfere with your thyroid function. Thus, ingestion of soy milk can increase the risk of hypothyroidism, a primary failure of the ability of the thyroid to produce enough thyroxine hormone. Thyroid hormone deficiency leads to symptoms such as fatigue, weight gain and depression. Soy phytoestrogens, particularly genistein and daidzen, have been found to affect an important step in thyroid hormone biosynthesis called iodine organification, the incorporation of iodine into the thyroid gland.
Gout
Gout sufferers are told to avoid soy protein foods, including soy milk, because these foods contain high levels of purines. High-purine foods actually increase uric acid levels in your body. Excess uric acid builds up and forms needle-like crystals in connective tissue and joint spaces, causing swelling and intense pain, known as gout.
References
- University of Maryland Medical Center; Soy; Dec. 14, 2009
- Cornell University: Sprecher Institute; Phytoestrogens and Breast Cancer;Barbour S. Warren, et al.; Jul. 1, 2002
- University of Mississippi; Food Intolerance and Allergies; 2003
- "Food Allergies: Let Us Know, WeCare"; Alfonso Tirado; 2005
- "The Anti-Estrogenic Diet: How Estrogenic Foods and Chemicals Are MakingYou Fat and Sick"; Ori Hofmekler and Rick Osborn; 2007
- Florida Agency for Health Care Administration; Soy; May 3, 2009
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