The Soy Connection for Health Professionals
In This Issue:
An Endocrine Society statement defined endocrine disruptor (ED) as “an exogenous chemical, or mixture of chemicals, that can interfere with any aspect of hormone action.” Research into the effects of EDs is relevant to soyfoods because, in the scientific literature, both soy and the isoflavones in soybeans are routinely referred to as EDs (based on the results of animal studies). However, unlike other chemicals classified as EDs, there is a wealth of human data that can be used to assess whether isoflavones and/or soy warrant this classification.
A team of experts recently completed a technical review of the human data to determine whether soy or isoflavones are EDs. Read more about specific conclusions from the review related to these endpoints:
- Thyroid Function
- Male Fertility and Hormone Levels
- Female Reproductive Hormones and Menstrual Cycle Length
- Breast Cancer
- Endometriosis
- Endometrial Cancer
- Uterine Fibroids
- Puberty Onset
- Hormone Levels in Children
- Fetal Effects of Maternal Soy/Isoflavone Intake
- Breastfeeding
- Kawasaki Disease
- Research Needs
By Laura Yautz, RDN, LDN, NBC-HWC Now that summer is unofficially over, we're jumping into fall recipes head first! I love foods of the fall more than any other season and Easy Skillet Tempeh is just the thing to get us started! Read More
By Mark Messina, PhD, MS, The term endocrine disruptor (ED) is relatively new, having originated in the early 1990s. In 1996, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency workshop defined EDs as “exogenous agents that interfere with the production, release, transport, metabolism, binding action or elimination of natural hormones in the body responsible for the maintenance of homoeostasis and the regulation of developmental processes." Subsequently, an Endocrine Society statement re-defined EDs as “an exogenous chemical, or mixture of chemicals, that can interfere with any aspect of hormone action.” Read More