Page 87 - Summer2015

Soy Alert!

SOY AND ASTHMA: MORE BAD NEWS FOR THE SOY INDUSTRY

By Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN

Soy does not help people suffering from Could soy come to the rescue? Lewis J.
asthma. That was the conclusion of a study Smith MD, of the Department of Medicine at
published in the May 26 issue of Journal of the Northwestern University, and colleagues hoped
American Medical Association (JAMA). The re- so. They thought the soy estrogens known as iso-
searchers said they were “disappointed” because flavones would help adolescent and adult patients
they had hoped that soy would prove to be a safe, suffering from poorly controlled asthma because
non-toxic and inexpensive alternative to asthma asthma rates are lower in Asia where they as-
medications. sumed that people consume massive amounts of
According to the Environmental Protec- soy. (In fact, in most of Asia, soy is consumed
tion Agency (EPA), 25.9 million Americans, in small quantities as a condiment in the diet
including one in eight children and one in twelve and not as a staple food.) The researchers were The
adults, suffer from asthma, at an economic cost also inspired by in vitro studies that showed soy researchers
of at least fifty-six billion dollars per year in genistein can reduce eosinophil inflammation,
direct costs for hospital visits, doctors and drugs an important factor in asthma. As quoted in Sci- said they were
and in indirect costs from lost school and work ence Daily, Dr. Smith said, “There was enough “disappointed”
days. Experts say they do not know why asthma epidemiological and biological evidence data to because they
rates have been steadily increasing over the past support looking at this association.”
twenty years; most think the best that can be done Smith and his team carried out the random- had hoped
is to educate people and medicate symptoms. ized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical that soy would
As Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, Director of trial between May 2010 and August 2012 at prove to be
the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), put it, nineteen adult and pediatric pulmonary and al-
“Asthma is a serious, lifelong disease that unfor- lergy centers in the American Lung Association a safe,
tunately kills thousands of people each year and Asthma Clinical Research Center's network. non-toxic and
adds billions to our nation's health care costs. We They randomly assigned one hundred ninety- inexpensive
have to do a better job educating people about three patients to receive a soy isoflavone supple-
managing their symptoms and how to correctly ment containing 100 mg of total isoflavones and alternative
use medicines to control asthma so they can live one hundred ninety-three patients to receive a to asthma
longer, more productive lives while saving health placebo, and did blood tests to prove the subjects medications.
care costs.”

UPDATES ON SOY LITIGATION

SOY PRISON LAWSUIT: On February 25, 2015, Judge Baker of the United States District Court for the central district of
Illinois cited conflicting scientific evidence when he dismissed the claim of Harris and others that the feeding of too much
soy constituted a violation of their Eighth Amendment constitutional rights. With the backing of the Weston A. Price Foun-
dation, Harris and the other plaintiffs will appeal to the Seventh Circuit United States Court of Appeals, located in Chicago.

SOY LABELING PETITION: In 2008, WAPF sent a citizen petition to the FDA urging regulators to withdraw the claim that
soy could prevent heart disease. After more than six years and no response from FDA, WAPF is suing the agency to address
the petition. After meetings with FDA officials and James Turner, Esq, the Foundation's general counsel, the FDA promised
a reply within six months.
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