SOY HEALTH CLAIM BASED ON MISLEADING RESEARCH

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SOY HEALTH CLAIM

BASED ON MISLEADING RESEARCH

 

Posted By: karen

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Wednesday, 7 July 2004, 8:58 a.m.

 

http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?noframes;read=51876

PRESS RELEASE

 

Contact:

 

Kaayla T. Daniel PhD

 

(505) 984-2093

 

wholenutritionist

 

Bill Sanda

 

(202) 333-4325

 

westonaprice_contact

 

HEALTH EXPERTS URGE FDA TO

DENY SOY PROTEIN CANCER PREVENTION HEALTH CLAIM

 

Scientists say Solae

petition omits many studies indicating soy may cause cancer

 

July 5,

2004, WASHINGTON, DC: Researchers at a non-profit nutrition education

foundation in Washington, DC are urging the Food and Drug

Administration to deny a petition that would clear the way for soy

products to claim they prevent cancer. The Weston A. Price Foundation

says a petition by Solae, a manufacturer of soy protein and other

processed soy products, for a FDA health claim is based on misleading

research.

 

Approved

health claims can be used in product labeling and packaging to

influence consumers in making dietary choices. The FDA will make a

decision later this year.

 

Kaayla

T. Daniel, PhD, author of The Whole Soy Story (to be released Fall

2004), noted that "Solae was highly selective in its choice of evidence

and biased in its interpretations. It omitted many studies that show

soy to be ineffective in preventing cancer, emphasized favorable

outcome in studies when results were mixed and excused results of a few

unfavorable studies that they included to give the illusion of balance.

Most seriously, Solae omitted many well-designed studies that have

suggested that soy protein can contribute to, cause and accelerate the

growth of cancer."

 

Solae, a joint venture of

Dupont and Bunge, applied for a Soy Protein and Cancer Health Claim in

March 2004.

 

Sally

Fallon, President of the Weston A. Price Foundation, points out that

Solae has a strong financial interest in winning a cancer health claim.

"In their petition," notes Fallon, "Solae states that since the FDA

authorized the Soy Protein and Coronary Heart Disease Health Claim, per

capita consumption of soy protein increased from 0.78 g/day in 1998 to

2.23 g/day in 2002. Solae predicts that consumption of soy protein will

double with a cancer health claim. Solae stands to reap tremendous

financial gain at the expense of the public."

 

"Numerous

experts - including scientists from the FDA's own National Laboratory

for Toxicological Research - have warned of soy protein's carcinogenic

potential and of the health dangers of excess soy-food consumption,"

says Bill Sanda, Director of Public Affairs for the Weston A. Price

Foundation. "Yet in its petition, Solae contends that their data

'establish that there is scientific agreement among experts qualified

by scientific training and experience to evaluate such claims regarding

the relationship between soy protein products and a reduced risk of

cancers.' No such consensus exists. The British Committee on Toxicity

(COT) reviewed much of the evidence and found the results to be both

'inconsistent and contradictory.'"

 

The

British Committee on Toxicity (COT) has stated that "the

epidemiological data on soy intake and prostate cancer are

inconsistent" and that concentrations used in animal experiments are

"very high compared with the likely dietary exposure levels in humans."

These studies not only show that soy foods are not protective against

prostate cancer or less effective than other dietary agents, but also

that soy protein - and its constituent isoflavones - have been linked

to increased prostate cancer risk. In addition, they have caused

undesirable side effects, including changes to the brain.

 

According

to the Weston A. Price Foundation, Solae also failed to present

theories about why soy might be protective against the development of

prostate cancer. "Prostate cancer is generally thought to be dependent

on exposure to male reproductive hormone. If soy confers protection, it

does so by altering endogenous hormone concentrations - by decreasing

testosterone and androgen levels and feminizing men," said Fallon.

"While this might have valid pharmaceutical applications for cancer

treatment, it seems inadvisable as a preventive treatment for our

entire population of men and boys."

 

Solae's

claim that soy protein prevents gastrointestinal cancer is contradicted

by numerous studies, including one that links soy protein with a

lowered risk of stomach cancer but a higher risk of colorectal cancer.

Dr. Daniel adds that "Solae also omitted key studies that link the soy

lectin - a component of soy protein - to precancerous conditions in the

small intestines, including shortened villi, a diminished capacity for

digestion and absorption, cell proliferation in the crypt cells,

interference with hormone and growth factor signaling and unfavorable

population shifts among the microbial flora."

 

Solae

states that "the totality" of the evidence supports a soy

protein/cancer claim, a conclusion that Solae's consultants were able

to reach only through a series of statistical studies known as

meta-analyses. "Meta-analyses serve researchers - and their industry

sponsors - when they wish to draw specific conclusions," explains

Fallon. "Meta-analysts have been criticized by many in the scientific

and statistical communities for making faulty assumptions, indulging in

creative accounting and for leaving out studies that contradict or

dilute the conclusions desired. Solae has left out many such studies."

 

Experts were also concerned

about Solae's summaries of the body of evidence concerning soy and

other cancers.

 

Solae

chose to minimize a large-scale study linking soy protein to bladder

cancer and it omitted evidence linking soy protein to thyroid and

pancreatic cancers and to childhood leukemia. Solae also failed to

address soy protein's well-documented risks to the digestive, immune

and neuroendocrine systems of the body, including strong evidence that

dietary soy has contributed to rising rates of infertility and

hypothyroidism.

 

Soy is

also highly allergenic. Most experts now place soy protein among the

top eight allergens, and some rate it in the top six or even top four.

Allergic reactions to soy range from mild to life threatening and

fatalities have been reported in medical journals.

 

The full request to the FDA

for denial is posted at

 

http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/index.html

 

Weston A. Price Foundation

 

PMB #106-380

 

4200 Wisconsin Avenue, NW

 

Washington, District of Columbia 20016

 

United States

 

http://www.westonaprice.org