By: Kaayla DanielSource: http://www.wholesoystory.comDecember 7, 2007

Soy Expert Links New Research to America's Infertility Epidemic

Washington, DC/October 17, 2007–  Estrogen-like compounds in soy foods can lower sperm count according a Harvard School of Public Health research presented at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. The report, by Jorge Chavarro, MD, ScD, bolsters concerns expressed by scientists, doctors and nutritionists who have warned that soy can adversely affect male fertility.

America is in the midst of an epidemic of infertility, according to Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food.   “Soy is heavily marketed as a health food, despite adverse effects on male fertility.  Men who eat soy foods and drink soy milk are less likely to father children and more likely to experience loss of libido.  This latest study shows lowered sperm concentration.   Other researchers have linked soy consumption to poor sperm quality as well as lowered testosterone levels.”

Dr. Chavarro and colleagues studied 100 men who were members of couples having trouble getting pregnant.   Semen analyses showed that the men with the highest levels of soy food intake-- approximately a half serving per day – had 41 million sperm per milliliter fewer than men who did not consume any soy.   The researchers used a questionnaire listing 15 soy-based foods to determine soy consumption over the preceding three months.

“These men were eating –  on average – only a half serving of soy foods per day,” says Dr. Daniel.  “That is far less than the amount of soy foods and soy milk consumed by many vegetarians and other health conscious men.  Yet it was enough to seriously lower their sperm count.”

According to reports in several respected scientific journals, including the Lancet, British Medical Journal, and Environmental Health Perspectives, sperm counts have been declining at the rate of two percent per year since the 1970s, and sperm quality has also suffered.   “The most probable cause is a combined assault by the environmental estrogens in pesticides and plastics along with the plant estrogens from soy,” says Dr. Daniel. “I hope this study will put the spotlight on soy's contribution to the estrogenization of our men.”   

Many independent scientists and doctors share Dr. Daniel's concerns.   In July 2005, the Israeli Health Ministry warned adult men to “exercise caution” regarding soy consumption because of adverse effects on fertility.   The Ministry issued an even stronger warning against soy for babies and children, saying that infants should not be given soy formula except as a last resort and that children up to age 18 should not eat soy more than once per day to a maximum of three times per week.   “The Ministry was primarily concerned about the negative effects that soy estrogens could have on the children's developing brains and reproductive systems,” says Dr. Daniel.  “Clearly, the Israelis take seriously the Biblical injunction to' be fruitful and multiply.'”

“The message of the latest study is 'better safe than sorry,'” concludes Dr. Daniel. “I want all men to know that soybeans are estrogenic.   I strongly recommend that men avoid eating soy foods and soy milk if they value their fertility, their masculinity and their sex drives.” 

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Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, is THE WHOLE NUTRITIONIST®. She earned her PhD in Nutritional Sciences and Anti-Aging Therapies from the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, is board certified as a clinical nutritionist (CCN) by the International and American Association of Clinical Nutritionists in Dallas and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Weston A. Price Foundation. As a clinical nutritionist, she specializes in digestive disorders, women’s reproductive health issues, infertility, and recovery from vegetarian and soy-based diets.
 
Dr. Daniel is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food (New Trends, March 2005), which has been endorsed by leading health professionals, including Kilmer McCully MD, Doris J. Rapp MD, Jonathan V. Wright, MD, Russell Blaylock, MD, Larrian Gillespie, MD, Joseph Mercola, OD, Debra Lynn Dadd and Larry Dossey, MD, who called it “science writing at its best.”
 
Comfortable in front of radio, television and live audiences, Dr. Daniel has been “media trained” by Joel Roberts, formerly co-host of KABC, Los Angeles' most highly rated talk radio program, who calls her a “class A entertainer” and a “naughty nutritionist” with the ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths.”

Dr. Daniel has been extensively quoted in major newspapers and magazines, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, USA Today, Toronto Globe & Mail, Glamour, Utne Reader and Alternative Medicine, and has appeared as a guest on NPR's People's Pharmacy, the Discovery Channel's Medical Hotseat and ABC's View from the Bay. Online her book has been featured prominently on www.mercola.com, the world’s leading natural health and dietary website. She has also appeared as an expert witness before the California Public Safety Committee and the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences.

AVAILABILITY: Nationwide by arrangement and via telephone

CONTACT: Kathleen M. Campbell, Campbell Public Relations, LLC, 877-540-6022: kcampbell@thecompletesolution.com