Transcript: Episode 003 - Support Your Child’s Growth with Soy Foods: 3 Soy Food Myths Debunked

Karla Moreno-Bryce: I’m sure many of you have heard several negative comments about the use of soy foods in a vegan diet. Many vegan parents just like yourself hear negative health outcomes about the use of soy foods for growing children, leaving you feeling with so many doubts about your own understanding and fear about offering soy foods like tofu, tempeh, soybeans, and soy milk to your vegan kids. 

I get it, it’s very tempting to give into these comments we either read online or hear from those around us. Believe me, I’ve been a victim of that early on in my feeding journey. Attaching certain emotions to these comments and allowing them to hold some truth to them. It’s hard not to give these little comments some power, especially when it’s in thinking about the best interest of our vegan kids. 

So, I completely get why you may be feeling hesitant and unsure about introducing these foods into your meal planning. That’s why in today’s episode, I want to share with you the top 3 common myths or misconceptions I hear about giving soy foods to children so that you can finally have answers and have peace of mind in preparing meals and snacks with soy foods to support a proper growth and development. This episode will be a little more research focused than other episodes in the podcast, simply because I want to share the evidence with you behind soy consumption. 

Now, before we dive into these misconceptions, I want to share with you the nutritional profile of soy foods. Soy is a very nutrient dense food that plays a role in supporting a child’s growth and development. Soy is considered a high-quality protein, it provides several minerals like iron, calcium, and potassium, and also essential fatty acids like omega-3s. The variety of nutrients present in this one plant food is just incredible, if you ask me. 

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll often hear me talk about one particular type of soy food, and that’s tofu. One of the reasons I love tofu as part of a vegan child’s diet is because it provides adequate calories and other important nutrients that support a proper growth and development for kids following a vegan diet. It can also be used in so many different ways when preparing meals for your family and if you need some simple meal ideas for inspiration, I have a few recipes in the digital Vegan Kids Cookbook that you can grab on the website. I’ll also leave the link to that in the show notes. 

Alright, let’s kick it off with myth number one, soy foods cause feminization in boys. There continues to circulate this idea that if you’re a male and you eat soy, this will lead to feminization. More specifically, that it will lead to male humans developing more breast tissue. Now, I want to give you a little bit of background here in terms of what the research tells us. Soy foods contain isoflavones which are phytoestrogens. Essentially, they are naturally occurring compounds that are made by plants. And soy foods aren't the only ones that contain isoflavones, they are found in other plant foods like beans, nuts, and grains but most notably found in soy foods. The idea that consuming or eating soy foods may cause feminization in male humans is that these isoflavones affect hormone levels in children and thus leads to higher levels of estrogen in the body. However, phytoestrogen and estrogen are not the same. Phytoestrogens are plant compounds and estrogen is a hormone that the body produces. They have similar names because they have similar structures but they function differently in the body. Again, estrogen is a hormone and phytoestrogen is a plant compound. And so there’s no evidence that supports the claim that soy foods cause feminization in male humans. In fact, there’s data showing that isoflavones from soy foods do not affect testosterone levels and that it does not affect circulating estrogen levels. Leaving this idea simply a myth. 

The second myth is that soy foods cause breast cancer. I had a past client of mine that felt very strongly about not offering soy foods to her toddler. This client had a family history of breast cancer and because of that unpleasant experience it was believed that soy foods should be avoided to prevent that experience in her own immediate family. And I had so much compassion for this client. While I don’t have any personal experience to know what going through that with a family member is like, I knew the feeling of uneasiness as a parent to want to protect my own daughter from ever having to go through such experience. And relating to her as a caring and protective parent is where my compassion came from. 

So, while I understood this client’s reasoning and respected their choice to not offer soy foods, I also wanted to share the data behind the risks of breast cancer when it came to consuming soy foods. While research is still limited for children in puberty, we do have evidence showing that soy foods have protective mechanisms against the risk of developing breast cancer later in adulthood. There are studies that show us that consuming just 1 serving of soy protein per day during childhood is associated with a reduced risk of developing breast cancer. Essentially what we are seeing is that the earlier your vegan child is exposed to soy foods like tofu, soy milk, and tempeh in their diet, the more protection they have in developing breast cancer later on in life. Which is just incredible to see that by your vegan child consuming soy foods at a young age can have such protectiveness during adulthood. And you can begin offering soy foods as early as 6 months of age or when your infant begins solid foods. My favorite way of offering soy foods at this stage of feeding is baked tofu. 

Moving on the third and most common myth about including soy in your child’s diet is that all soy food products for consumption are genetically modified. This misconception is one of the top reasons I hear from parents feeling hesitant to offer tofu, soy milk, or even infant soy-based formula to their children because they believe soy foods are made from genetically modified organisms. And that’s just not true. 

To back up here, genetically modified organisms or more commonly known as GMO’s, is a practice that is used to alter or modify an animal’s, a plant’s, or a microbes DNA - which is their genetic material. And this practice has been used in our food supply since the 1990s, with the production of some varieties of soy to be genetically modified as a way to primarily prevent crops from damaging. Majority of today’s supply of genetically modified soybeans are actually geared toward the production of animal feed, not for human consumption. 

Genetically modified foods are a common part of today’s food supply and have been recognized as safe by both the US Federal Drug Administration and the World Health Organization. However, because of the confusion about what GMO’s are and the demand for non-GMO products by consumers, most soy products for human consumption are actually non-GMO. So, if you want to offer soy products to your vegan child and you want to feel more at ease about offering these products, simply look for the label or seal on the front of a package that says Non-GMO Project Verified. Majority of soy products for consumption are non-gmo verified and are organic. 

I hope that breaking down these 3 common misconceptions about offering soy foods to your vegan kids has helped you feel more at ease about including them in your family’s diet. Let’s recap these misconceptions and realities of soy foods. Number one is that soy foods do not cause feminization in male humans as they do not affect hormone levels. And this is because soy does not contain or provide estrogen, it is made of a naturally occurring plant compound called isoflavones. Number two is that consuming soy products does not cause breast cancer. It actually helps prevent the risk of developing breast cancer later in adulthood with as little as one serving per day during childhood. And the third misconception is that not all soy products are genetically modified. Majority of soy products for human consumption are organic and verified with the seal by the Non-GMO project. 

If you’re looking for meal ideas and inspiration on how to introduce soy foods in your vegan child’s diet, check out the Vegan Kids Cookbook. It includes simple recipes that are appropriate for all stages of growth with a few recipes that include the use of tofu. A favorite for many parents has been the butternut squash tofu mac & cheese that was tailored to meet several key nutrients for vegan kids as a way to support their growth. You can grab the link to the Vegan Kids Cookbook in the show notes. 

Alright my friend, I’ll see you in the next episode. Bye for now.