Study Evidence Of Soy-Damage to Thymus, Thyroid, and Immune System:
Studies indicate that soy inhibition of essential tyrosine enzymes, and soy isoflavone hormone disruptors (genistein, daidzein, glycitein) are capable of causing an underactive thyroid gland, or hypothyroidism.
Thyroid hormones are essential for human development, cell differentiation, and for the regulation of the immune system. Proper thyroid function is also essential for normal neonatal brain development in that thyroid hormones regulate the growth & migration of neurons involved in synaptic development & myelin formation in specific brain regions.
Thyroid hormones regulate many aspects of development: bone, lung, reproductive development as necessary for normal growth. Thyroid hormones, while playing a major role in brain development, influence neurological functions throughout life.
During pregnancy, maternal thyroid function is crucial for fetal brain development. The “Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Thyroid” (HPT) axis is functional early in gestation and remains immature until after birth. There is a critical period for thyroid hormones to mediate fetal brain development that begins in utero and extends through 2-3 years of age.
Excessive or deficient thyroid hormone levels during fetal development can cause irreversible brain damage. Congenital hypothyroidism is proven to cause mental retardation.
Soy is repeatedly study proven to interrupt and aggravate normal thyroid levels that can result in hypothyroidism:
2009, It’s not advisable to assume that soy is safe for thyroid patients. It’s also clear that soy does have the potential to cause thyroid problems in a segment of the population that is susceptible due to iodine deficiency or other conditions. www.thyroid.about.com/cs/soyinfo/a/soy_4.htm1959, A 10 month old infant reared on soybean product from birth developed a goiter and hypothyroidism. Studies suggest that a goitrogenic agent was present in this particular soybean product that interfered with thyroid hormone synthesis in susceptible individuals. http://pediatrics.aapublications.org/content/24/5/752.abstract
1999, Autoimmune disorders and evaluation of medical risk factors in autism. Autism is a neurologic disorder that is often associated with autoimmune disorders (hypothyroidism) in the patient, in the patients’ relatives. The number of autoimmune disorders was greater in families with autism. An increased number of autoimmune disorders suggests that in some families with autism, immune dysfunction could interact with various hormone disruptor factors to play a role in autism pathogenesis. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10385847
2002, The phytoestrogen genistein induces thymic and immune deficiency; These results raise the possibility that serum genistein concentrations found in soy-fed human infants may be capable of producing thymic and immune abnormalities, as suggested by previous reports of immune impairments in soy-fed human infants. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12032332 (without the thymus not enough T-cells are produced. The spleen and lymph nodes are at risk, and immune system fails).
2002, Soy exposure during pregnancy and lactation causes long-lasting adverse effects into adulthood. Soy-cause of thymus masses. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2039948/
1986, Zinc is required to confer biological activity on thymic hormone molecules. Thyroid status modulates thymic endocrine function in humans. (Soy phytates inhibit zinc as studies prove). http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/conten/abstract/62/3/474
2008, Soy products increase the risk of thyroid disease, and this danger is particularly great for infants on soy formula. Researchers have identified that soy isoflavones act as potent anti-thyroid agents, and are capable of suppressing thyroid function and causing or worsening hypothyroidism.. Because soy phytoestrogen that acts in the body much like a hormone, it is no surprise that it interacts with the delicate balance of the thyroid’s hormonal systems. www.thyroid-info.com/articles/soydangers.htm.
2006, Modulation of immune response following dietary genistein exposure in 2 generations: evidence of thymic regulation. Results demonstrate that genistein can modulate the immune system in both adult and developing mice in a dose-specific manner. Genistein may modulate the immune system by functioning as either an estrogen agonist or antagonist. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/161623809
2010, Soy-based infant formula contain high levels of the estrogenic isoflavone genistein leading to “concern” that neonatal genistein exposure could cause acute and/or long-term adverse effects on reproductive and other organs. Neonatal genistein treatment caused increased relative uterine weight, down-regulation of progesterone receptor in uterine epithelia, genistein was also seen in the neonatal ovary, and thymus, which had an increase in the incidence of multioocyte follicles (MOF) and decrease in thymic weight. Increased MOF’s persisted into adulthood in neonatally treated genistein females. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20357267
2004, Soy fed to infants with congenital hypothyroidism Infants fed soy formula had prolonged increases in thyroid stimulating hormone, (abnormal thyroid function) when compared to infants fed non-soy formula. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14709499
1995, Persistent hypothyroidism in an infant receiving soy formula: Patient with congenital hypothyroidism who remained persistently hypothyroid while on a soy formula diet despite large doses of L-thyroxine (or Levothyroixin) a synthetic hypothyroid drug. http://pediatrics.aapublications.org/content/96/1/148.short
2011, There is some scientific evid3ence that soy may adversely effect thyroid function and interfere with thyroid hormone absorption. Thyroid hormones affect metabolism, growth, brain development, breathing and body temperature. So low thyroid hormone levels can result in mental retardation and stunted growth. Certain types of chemicals in soy, especially isoflavones, may disrupt the normal action of thyroid hormones., increasing the risk for thyroid problems or goiter. Genistein and daidzein were found to be the chemicals in soy that inhibited thyroid peroxidase. www.livestrong.com/article/407844-thyroid-disease-and-soy-products
2008, Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) exert hormone-like activity and exposure to these compounds may induce deleterious effects. The EDCs examined included estradiol, androgen active compounds, soy phytoestrogens, and atrazine. The EDCs are known to impact both the immune and thyroid systems. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18006066
2006, Concerns have been expressed that soy may be contraindicated for some subsets of the population. One concern is that soy may adversely affect thyroid function and interfere with the absorption of synthetic thyroid hormone. In individuals with compromised thyroid function, food may increase risk of developing clinical hypothyroidism. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16571087
2010, Soybean phytoestrogens, isoflavones genistein and daidzein were reported to affect adversely thyroid function in the presence of other goitrogenic factors. Both genistein and daidzein can induce microfollicular changes in the thyroid tissue and reduce the level of thyroid hormones in middle-aged male rats. TSH cells increased cellular volume while Volume of T(4) and T(3) levels decreased….. (a cause of hypothyroidism and a number of cascading adverse effects). www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20463299
2008, Soy phytoestrogens or isoflavones have been definitely shown to depress thyroid function and to cause infertility in every animal species studied so far. www.genistein.net/cancer.html
1997, FDA, NIEHS report, Anti-thyroid isoflavones from soybean: isolation, characterization, and mechanisms of action. Because inhibition of thyroid hormone synthesis can induce goiter and thyroid neoplasia in rodents, delineation of ant-thyroid mechanisms for soy isoflavones may be important for extrapolating goitrogenic hazards identified in chronic rodent bioassays to humans consuming soy products. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9464451
2002, FDA NIEHS Drs. Doerge and Sheehan report: Goitrogenic and estrogenic activity of soy: Genistein, the major soy isoflavone has a frank estrogenic effect in women. Additional factors appear necessary for soy to cause overt thyroid toxicity. Safety testing of soy products is not required. The possibility that widely consumed soy products may cause harm in the human population via estrogenic and goitrogenic activities is of concern. Human research into soy toxicity is the best way to address these concerns. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12060828
1990, Autoimmune thyroid disease: Infant feeding of soy formula may affect autoimmune diseases later in life. This retrospective analysis documents the association of soy formula feeding in infancy and autoimmune thyroid disease Dr. Fort Study. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2338464
2002, Johns Hopkins, Primary goal of this study was to compare effects of perinatal exposure with life-long exposure to genistein, an estrogenic compound in soy on the endocrine and immune system in rat adulthood. These data illustrat4e that exposure to genistein during pregnancy and lactation exerts long-lasting effects on the endocrine and immune systems in adulthood. www.ncbi.nlm.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2039948
2002, Frequency of feedings with soy-based milk formulas in early life was significantly higher in children with autoimmune thyroid disease. Inappropriate thyroid hormone levels can also have a devastating effect on the developing human brain especially during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy when the fetus depends on the mother’s thyroid hormones for brain development. www.rense.com/general3/soy.htm
2001, The morphological and biochemical alterations in the neurons of the developing hypothyroid brain are comparable to those seen in several neurodegenerative diseases. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11448519
2009, NIEHS experts Daniel Doerge and Daniel Sheehan call for rigorous, high-quality experimental and human studies into soy toxicity. It’s not advisable to assume that soy is universally safe for thyroid patients. It’s also clear that soy does have potential to cause thyroid problems. Soy can be a trigger for developing hypothyroidism. http://thyroid.about.com/cs/soyinfo/a/soy_4.htm
2008. Hypothyroidism during early development results in multiple morphological and functional alterations in the developing brain. Hyperactive locomotor behavioral patterns resulted in chronic hypothyroid, and affects spatial memory in a negative manner. http://ep.physoc.org/content/93/11/1199.abstract
1993, Fetal thyroid hormones play an essential role in fetal brain development. It is possible that maternal soy hormone disruptor consumption influence fetal brain development. There is a “critical period” in which appropriate thyroid hormone levels are absolutely essential for normal brain development. In humans this period is considered to begin late in gestation and extend through 1-3 years of age. Deficiencies of thyroid hormone during this critical period cause serious damage to the structural development and organization of the brain. Edrv.endjournals.org/content/14/1/94/short
2001, Hypothyroidism in the developing rat brain is associated with marked oxidative stress and aberrant intra-neuronal accumulation of neurofilaments. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=hypothyroidism in the developing rat bran is associated with marked oxicative stress and aberrant intraneuronal accumulation of neurofiliments.
2007, Endocrine Disruptors and the Thyroid Gland: It is now shown that there may be multiple targets of interference by various Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDC) with the complex regulatory network of thyroid hormone synthesis, metabolism, distribution, and action on the various levels of endocrine regulation and feedback control. Complex biological developmental programs controlled by thyroid hormone may be disturbed by EDC action. Chosen for analysis was an environmentally and nutritionally relevant collection of substances suspected to have endocrine disrupting activity because of their steroid-like or anti-steroid effects. These substances included (soy) genistein as well as glycitein and daidzein from soybean. These substances also interfere with multiple targets at various levels of the HPT axis in a tissue-specific manner. The soy isoflavone genistein decreased iodide accumulation by 52%. Iodide uptake was also inhibited in the presence of this endocrine disruptor chemical. Thyroid peroxidase (TPO) also seems to be the target of goitrogens from isoflavone genistein from soybeans. It was already known four decades ago that feeding infants with soy milk caused goiter in those with inadequate iodine. Our results show that hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis is a relevant target of (soy) endocrine disruptor action. Genistein inhibits TPO enzyme activity and also binds thyroid hormones, displaying estrogenic and anti-estrogenic effects by interacting with Estrogen Receptor-beta. Taken together, there seems to be synergistic as well as antagonistic interference at several levels of thyroid hormone synthesis, action, and regulation. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2174406/
In truth, soy is loaded with multiple toxins capable of severely damaging physiological, reproductive, and neurological health. For additional soy phyto-toxic study evidence proving the cause of disease and disorders look at:
http://causingcancers.blogspot.com
http://genderchaos.blogspot.com
http://reproductivedefects.blogspot.com,
http://neurodefects.blogspot.com
Overwhelming study evidence repeatedly proves the FDA is protecting a highly powerful U.S. soy phyto-toxic multi-billion dollar industry, over and above their acknowledgement of soy-causation of human pain and suffering from severe and fatal disease. Is this NOT a crime?
What can be done to STOP the FDA from knowingly and willingly concealing soy-poisoning from a trusting American public? An FDA investigation and accountability is long past due!
Gail Elbek
Investigative researcher
gaelbek@yahoo.com
