My mother recently sent me a huge article on the "evils of processed soy." She's going a little organic and was looking these things up. She highlighted a section on infant girls being fed soy formula later developing PCOS. It was intriguing because I'm the ONLY one in the family with PCOS, and I was the only one fed soy formula (I was lactose intolerant, but grew out of it and could have cow milk by the toddler age)
Here's the exerpt:
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Soy formula is bad news for girls as well. Natural estrogen levels approximately double during the first month of life, then decline and remain at low levels until puberty. With increased estrogens in the environment in the diet, an alarming number of girls are entering puberty much earlier than normal.80-82 One percent of girls now show signs of puberty, such as breast development or pubic hair, before the age of three. By the age of eight, 14.7 percent of Caucasian girls and 48.3 percent of African American girls had one or both of these characteristics.83 The fact that blacks experience earlier puberties than whites is not a racial difference but a recent phenomenon.84, 85
Most experts blame this epidemic of "precocious puberty" on environmental estrogens from plastics, pesticides, commercial meats, etc., but some pediatric endocrinologists believe that soy is a contributor.86 Of all the estrogens found in the environment, soy is the likeliest explanation of why African American girls reach puberty so quickly. Since its establishment in 1974, the federal government's Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program has provided free infant formula to teenage and other low-income mothers while failing to encourage breastfeeding. Because of perceived or real lactose intolerance, black babies are much more likely to receive soy formula than Caucasian babies.
Early maturation in girls heralds reproductive problems later in life, including amenorrhea (failure to menstruate), anovulatory cycles (cycles in which no egg is released), impaired follicular development (follicles failing to mature and develop into healthy eggs), erratic hormonal surges, and other problems associated with infertility. Because the mammary glands depend on estrogen for their development and functioning, the presence of soy estrogens at a susceptible time might predispose girls to breast cancer, another condition that is on the rise and definitively linked to early puberty.87
Recently, a team of researchers headed by Brian L. Strom, MD, studied the use of soy formula and its long-term impact on reproductive health. They announced only one adverse finding: longer, more painful menstrual periods among women who'd been fed soy formula in infancy.88 Dr. Strom's conclusion that the results were "reassuring" made newspaper headlines all over the world, though the data in the body of the report were anything but. Indeed, data left out of the headlines and buried in the report revealed higher incidences of allergies and asthma, and higher rates of cervical cancer, polycystic ovarian syndrome, blocked fallopian tubes, and pelvic inflammatory disease.89 Although thyroid damage from soy formula has been the principal concern of critics for decades, the researchers excluded thyroid function as a subject for study. Not surprisingly, this study was funded in part by the infant-formula industry.
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So I was just wondering, does anyone else here know if they were on soy formula too? Obviously, I don't believe soy formula would be the only cause, but it's interesting to think of, especially if like me, you don't have a family history of PCOS or even any reproductive problems.
__________________ Lorilee
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Wait for the LORD;
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I know that I was on formula but I don't think that it was soy, in fact I am quite sure it wasn't. My oldest DD was on non-soy formula after 7 months of age and she has had pubic hair since she was about 6-7- she is now 10 and developing breasts even though she is not overweight. That cannot be blamed on soy. I am quite sure that all the hormones in meats, etc. are contributing to girls maturing too early but organic meats are too expensive for most people to afford.
I was on soy formula and to this day I can't eat any soy products without having it effect my hormones. I always thought that might be the root of evil as I was a thin baby until they put me on soy and I became very fat.
My sister and I were both WIC babies. First girls in our family to not be breast fed. Not sure if we were on soy formula or not. I would like to see the relationship between first generation formula babies and those who parents were also formula babies.
i think that i was on soy, but i was allergic to it too. so i don't know for how long i was on it. that is very interesting, i will never give my kids soy formula. and i agree about the meat thing, iwon't buy milk unless it says horomone free.
I do know that soy is evil for thyroids...this is something that I was never told until I did some digging. And to think of all the years I bought into those fat-phobic @$$holes and ate soy products to lose weight! GRRRRRR!
Anyways....It makes sense to me though that it could be related to PCOS in *SOME* of us here. I know that I was never fed soy formula. It makes sense since I know how soy mimics hormones (which is why pre-menopausal women are taking it as a hormone replacement alternative that is alledgedly safe). I wonder...
But ladies...any of you with thyroid issues in your family or with yourselves...avoid soy products like the plague and don't give them to your children. I wish that I would have known that BEFORE I gave the damned formula to my kids (milk allergies).
__________________ Celtic Spirit
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All my siblings, including me, were on soy milk. We were illergic to everything else. I have two sisters, both with normal periods, and one has a child. No problems with anything, including getting pregnant. When I was diagnosed, I had them go the doc, and he gave them both a clean bill of health. So, soy formula didn't contribute to my PCOS, I'm almost sure of it. I wounder if it was a mix of soy formula and something else. Hmmmm??
Amy
__________________ diagnosed 2/2001
5 miscarriages
1 month chlomid, it worked "Yeah"
ttc#2 for 6 years
Dennis 12/28/95
Jeffrey 2/16/03
Just talked about another baby 12/26/04
Pregnant 1/17/05
Lily 8/19/05, 6 weeks early, had my tubes tied
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Goal Weight: 142, hopefully by September or October
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How many of us have had milk allergies and does it have to do with the soy or more the milk allergy that caused us to be on soy in the first place. I know I can't handle soy now but the main reason I was put on it in the first place was due to a milk alergy.
I have a friend who has pcos and when she was diagnosed she was told not to drink cows milk and to put her son on goats milk (not sure of the reasoning behind this but I know it was a naturalpath)
ttfn
I have read some things about the soy infant formula being bad before. I was on say formula do to a milk allergy and my cousin who also has PCOS was fed soy formula. I guess nobody can realy say for sure if this was the cause, since we realy don't know for sure what causes PCOS maybe there could be more than one thing that causes it.
Just a thought.
__________________ TTC#1 2 YEARS
Me 28
Dh 24
2 Furbabie Kitties, Katie and BeBe
Infant Soy Formula Cause of PCOS? 
just a thought 
