soy milk - good or bad?

Hi, we saw the paed today and he suggested trying our daughter on soy milk as he suspects she may be a bit lactose intolerant, as I was complaining about how many number 2's she does!

What are your opinions on soy milk? good or bad?

If it was my child I'd try rice milk or lactose free milk. Both in the longlife section.

I'm not a fan of soy milk, i wont drink it and i wouldn't give it to my kids. There are a few threads about soy if you do a search. :)

I personally drink the Liddell's brand of lactose free milk and never had an issue (longlife)

I've heard bad things about soy for babies, not sure if this is the same for toddlers but I would assume so. Apparently something in the soy mimics the hormone eostrogen, so giving babies soy can beequivalent to giving them the birth control pill. I think it can affect them behaviourly, developmentally and I remember reading something to do with it causing thyroid disorders and cancers. Some of what I've just said might be a little wrong but it was something along these lines. Try a google search and see what you can find out. Either way what I heard was not good and I wouldn't give my baby Soy.

A lot of the anti-soy crusade is ill-informed. If you give your baby soy protein in the quantities that bodybuilders use, it's not great. But just straight old soy milk? It's effectively bean juice. Nothing wrong with it.

Each to their own, but I don't feel Ill informed. :)

Actually I feel much more informed than when i drank a lot of soy and believed what people with a vested interest in the soy industry had to say. But it is difficult to know which information is not correct. There isn't a lot Of unbiased info available. I however, came to the conclusion after doing a lot of reading that I would lean more towards believing the words of people without a vested interest in the industry.

Until proven otherwise I avoid it. :)

What about the interests of the dairy industry? So no, not a lot of unbiased info available.

A lot of people do their reading, which conveniently leaves out the details of the quantity and type of soy you actually have to consume for it to have certain effects. The refined soy products found in a lot of processed foods (like biscuits, flavoured chips and even lunch meat) is far more dangerous than less adulterated soy milk. And the quantities upon which the studies to date are based are huge. Like what body builders would use.

Absolutely, like i said it's hard to find unbiased info. But most of the things i have read were not published by parmalaat.

And i absolutely agree about the refined soy in just about every processed item on the shelf. It's so hard to shop soy-free. That is one thing i do love about where i live, there is hardly any soy in anything. My daughter had a soy intolerance and it made shopping for anything other than fruit, veggies and meat a nightmare. Since moving away she now tolerates it ok when we are in Aus.

People often say, 'yeah, but you need to have massive amounts for it to cause any problems' In my mind, that argument is not good enough. If it causes damage in high doses, i'd rather not have low doses if i have a choice. But that's just it, it's a choice. And i don't mind if anyone else wants to drink soy, we just chose not to.

Here is an abstract of a peer reviewed article i found on pubmed.

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"Crit Rev Toxicol. 2011 Mar 26."
Risks and benefits of dietary isoflavones for cancer.
Andres S, Abraham K, Appel KE, Lampen A.
Source
Department of Food Safety, Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany.

Abstract
A high intake of fruits and vegetables is associated with a lower risk of cancer. In this context, considerable attention is paid to Asian populations who consume high amounts of soy and soy-derived isoflavones, and have a lower risk for several cancer types such as breast and prostate cancers than populations in Western countries. Hence, interest focuses on soyfoods, soy products, and soy ingredients such as isoflavones with regard to their possible beneficial effects that were observed in numerous experiments and studies. The outcomes of the studies are not always conclusive, are often contradictory depending on the experimental conditions, and are, therefore, difficult to interpret. Isoflavone research revealed not only beneficial but also adverse effects, for instance, on the reproductive system. This is also the case with tumor-promoting effects on, for example, breast tissue. Isoflavone extracts and supplements are often used for the treatment of menopausal symptoms and for the prevention of age-associated conditions such as cardiovascular diseases and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. In relation to this, questions about the effectiveness and safety of isoflavones have to be clarified. Moreover, there are concerns about the maternal consumption of isoflavones due to the development of leukemia in infants. In contrast, men may benefit from the intake of isoflavones with regard to reducing the risk of prostate cancer. Therefore, this review examines the risks but also the benefits of isoflavones with regard to various kinds of cancer, which can be derived from animal and human studies as well as from in vitro experiments.

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It's these kind of unequivocal findings that make me wary. Sure it may have some positive effects but the risks are also real. I am not convinced 100% either way, but like i said i err on the side of caution because i have a choice. I would rather believe a peer reviewed article over information from sanitarium and the like any day.

both my kids are on soy due to cows milk allergy this was recommended by melb childrens hosp
soy milk is not recommended under 12 months but as i was 3 months pregnant and my son HATED soy formula he started soy milk at 11months
my daughter was 13 months
while it would be ideal for my children to be on fullcream milk its not an option and we were told to stay away from rice and goats milk and as its a cows milk allergy not lactose allergy soy was our only option

MOT- i wasn't going to post, because it's not my thread, but the information you were given seems odd.....
Yes some kids don't have an issue with lactose, it's the protein in dairy that causes issues. I initially though we had a lactose problem, but after some anti-body testing we discovered it was the protein causing problems.

If you have an issue with the protein, then lactose free certainly doesn't help, you need something without the dairy protein. Soy, Rice, Oat, Almond, any milk from a plant wont have that protein. Goats milk has trace amounts of the protein and is suitable for some people but not others, obviously depending on the severity of the intolerance or allergy.

I am not having a go at your decision to give your kids soy, if it works for you and you're happy with it, then that is great. :)

no stress jungle mum i dont think your having a go at me :D
as i said id prefer my children to drink full cream as a major concern is not getting the calcium like they would be
they are on high cal soy

my childrens allergy is also family related on DHs side
ours is cows milk not lactose which are too very different allergys

so if your child/ren are able to tolerate other milks wich are deemed better then id say go for it xoxo