Soya - bad for kids?

[MamaG]

I read on here last week that someone doesn't give their kids soya - I always thought it was good for me! Can anyone shed any light?

[Sugarmag]

I believe soya contains high levels of estrogen. A certain amount of it is not going to do them any harm but I would be wary of giving them large amounts.

DS is on a dairy-free diet so I'm careful to keep an eye on the amount of soya substitutes we use. We give him rice milk instead of soya milk because I wouldn't be comfortable with him having 2 cups a day, every day, of soya milk. We also use Pure dairy-free spread because it's soya free (I know they do a soya one as well, we use the other one). But I don't worry if he has a few soya yoghurts in a week.

Does that help answer your question?

[Mirage]

I don't eat soya or give it to my dd's,as I understand that 95% of soya comes from the USA & is genetically modified.The only country which doesn't produce GM soya is Malaysia.

[FrannyandZooey]

\link{http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T044700.asp}

Organic soya is not genetically modified.

[FrannyandZooey]

Oops, sorry

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[busybusybee]

OMG ignorant little me - I knew nothing about this

DS has drunk 1/2 pint of alpro soya milk for 3 years because he cant tolerate lactose

ignorant question - why is too much oestrogen bad?????????
And is rice milk nice??? Cos it looks very thin and flavourless to me!

[FrannyandZooey]

Busy - this may help:

\link{http://www.askdrsears.com/faq/fit8.asp\soy - good or bad?}

Raised levels of oestrogen (or any other hormone) are not desirable for children. However whether soya raises oestrogen to an undesirable level is debatable.

[gigwig]

DS is dairy allergic and he drinks rice milk - did have wysoy for one year - then we were told by hospital to cut down on soya due to oestregen. He has soya yoghurts and soya cheeses a few times a week which doesn't worry me though.
Yes I think rice milk is nice. DS swapped to it very easily. It is light and has a sweetish taste. there are a few types around. One has added sugar though, others with added calcium are fine.

[gigwig]

DS is dairy allergic and he drinks rice milk - did have wysoy for one year - then we were told by hospital to cut down on soya due to oestregen. He has soya yoghurts and soya cheeses a few times a week which doesn't worry me though.
Yes I think rice milk is nice. DS swapped to it very easily. It is light and has a sweetish taste. there are a few types around. One has added sugar though, others with added calcium are fine.

[Sugarmag]

busybee - I don't honestly know how bad (or not) too much oestrogen is for them. TBH I don't pay too much attention to the daily reports of "eat this", "dont' eat that" but just being a wee bit cautious with this one.

Is rice milk nice? I've never actually tried it myself (can't stand the thought of drinking any kind of milk, full stop!) but DS loves it. It is a bit thin and watery though so no good for cooking. I still use soya milk or cream to cook with. We buy Rice Dream original with added calcium. Watch out for the flavoured ones though - some are vanilla I think!

[MamaG]

Its scary how something you think is ok, actually isn't, really. I don't give mine a lot of soya stuff (I tend to have more myself). Thanks for the links.

[LTWSD]

My one and a half year old has had a bad tummy with loose stools for 6 days now and off his food. Just got back from Spain and thought we should try soya milk???? As he usually has 2-3 bottles of cow gate milk a day! But the poo smells like newborn poo and is undigested! Any thoughts as I am worried? He’s also woken every night in tears looks so unsettled!

[everythingstaken123]

Personally, I wouldn't be giving my young child rice milk because of the arsenic levels - see here www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/arsenic-in-rice.
Obviously sometimes that's all a child can eat in some circumstances but you should be aware that it is not great either.
Soya milk used to contain large amounts of aluminium because it was made in aluminium vats. Whether this has been changed in modern days, I'm not sure. But it is also something to consider when you drink soya milk: www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/aug/27/life1.lifemagazine6

Personally, when I substitute I use almond milk. I believe it's also easy to make although I haven't done that and I imagine it would be a much more expensive exercise.