Printer-friendly versionSend to friend

While fast food companies field most of the blame for obesity these days, is it possible that the federal government – by promoting and distributing cheap fruit juices, blood sugar raising breakfast cereals, margarine, and now a bevy of new soy products in the WIC program - is the biggest culprit of all?

Here is a look at one of those programs, WIC:  Women, Infants & Children Nutrition Program

Mothers who depend on food from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s WIC program will be shopping with new options as WIC changes its menu for the first time since 1974. The revised WIC program was put in place October 1, 2009. WIC serves lower-income families with children under five.

According to various WIC spokespeople, the revised menu is based on the federal low fat Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and “reduces the amount of saturated fat, cholesterol, and total fat in the program participant's diets."

As you may note, there is apparently no concern about reducing the amount of sugar and high fructose corn syrup in the diets of program participants. What kind of milk does WIC allow?

For participants older than age 2, milk bought with WIC vouchers must be skim or 1 percent but not whole unless “prescribed by a doctor for a medical condition….” Yes, you read that:  A doctor must prescribe whole milk! As stated in a WIC brochure:

            “Unlike adults and children over 2 years old, children between the ages of 12 - 23         months need the fat from whole milk or breast milk for growth and development.”

Now, have you ever seen a fully grown 2 year old?

Does the government actually believe that when children turn 2 it’s okay to order fat reduction but issue no warnings about sugar? While the WIC program frowns on full fat milk, high sugar fruit juice – like Juicy Juice – is promoted in 46 oz. cans or plastic bottles. 

The new WIC guidelines hype “whole grains” without regard to how those whole grains are processed. Instead of old fashioned soaking and sprouting of grains, WIC promotes highly processed commercial boxed cereals that are extruded at high temperature and high pressure – damaging the proteins – making them difficult to absorb and utilize.  

In the WIC changes, half of the breakfast cereals must now be whole grain (50 percent can be refined). Ironically, the refined cereals may be less harmful. In the process of extruding breakfast cereals under high pressure, the whole grains are damaged the most! Also, whether made from whole or refined grains, most boxed breakfast cereals raise blood sugar rapidly - they are high glycemic.

Government press releases gloat that mothers will find “healthier options added to the federal food program.” There is little doubt that vouchers for fruits and vegetables are a healthy option, but what about the addition of twenty-four (24) new approved tofu products and soy beverages?” Some of these new soy products are even certified organic!

While the new soy products can be "organic," for decades, peanut butter has been the Jiffy or Skip variety - not organic or refrigerated. These peanut butters have the distinction of having their peanut oil replaced by partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and high fructose corn syrup is added. WIC mothers can't get certified organic natural peanut butter - but they can get organic soy products?  

Is regular consumption of soy food and soy milk safe for children?

Soy-based infant formula has been provided to WIC participants for decades. Because WIC has a mandate to provide infant formula at the lowest cost, cheap soy-based infant formulas like Similac Isomil are common and, in effect, are forced on program participants.  

(Infant formula manufacturers give the government large rebates if their formulas are distributed – a variation on the cash for clunkers program.)

According to the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF), an estimated 25 percent of North American babies receive soy-based infant formula. While soybeans are relatively high in protein – seemingly a good thing for children - they are a poor source of complete or optimum protein.

Some of the proteins found in soybeans are potent enzyme inhibitors. According to WAPF, these "anti-nutrients" block the action of trypsin and other enzymes needed for protein digestion.

High heat processing – common to soy food production – can deactivate some of the trypsin inhibitors. While the heat treatments remove most (but not all) of the trypsin inhibitors, the unfortunate side effect is the over-denaturing of the other proteins in soy, particularly lysine, rendering them difficult to digest and possibly toxic.

Soybeans also contain high levels of phytic acid, an organic acid present in the outer portion of all seeds. In the intestinal tract, phytates block the uptake of essential minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron and especially zinc. Soybeans have very high levels of a form of phytic acid that is particularly difficult to neutralize.

Soy formulas do not contain cholesterol, vital for the development of the brain and nervous system. (Human milk is the highest cholesterol food on earth.) Soy formulas also lack lactose and galactose, sugars in human milk and milk-based formula that play important roles in the development of the nervous system.

Finally, there is a hidden debate about soy within the medical community. This is the presence of phytoestrogens or isoflavones in soy. While many claims have been made about the health benefits of these estrogen-like compounds, animal studies indicate that they are powerful endocrine disrupters that alter growth patterns and cause sterility.

According to the Weston A. Price Foundation, babies fed soy-based formula have 13,000 to 22,000 times more estrogen compounds in their blood than babies fed milk-based formula. Infants fed soy formula exclusively receive the estrogenic equivalent of at least five (5) birth control pills per day.

Male infants undergo a “testosterone surge” during the first few months. During this period, baby boys are programmed to express male characteristics after puberty - not only in the development of their sexual organs and other masculine traits, but also in setting patterns in the brain characteristic of male behavior.  

In animals, studies indicate that phytoestrogens in soy are powerful endocrine disrupters. Soy infant feeding—which floods the bloodstream with female hormones that inhibit testosterone—cannot be ignored as a possible cause of disrupted development patterns in boys, including learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder.

According to Weston A. Price Foundation, male children exposed to DES, a synthetic estrogen, had testes smaller than normal on maturation and infant marmoset monkeys fed soy isoflavones had a reduction in testosterone levels up to 70 percent compared to milk-fed controls.

Most shocking, almost 15 percent of white girls and 50 percent of African-American girls show signs of puberty - such as breast development and pubic hair - before the age of eight. Some girls are showing sexual development before the age of three! Premature development of girls has been linked to the use of soy formula and exposure to environmental estrogen-mimickers such as PCBs and DDE.

According to Ed Schafer, Secretary of Agriculture, the USDA provides food assistance to 1 out of 5 Americans, especially low income mothers and their children. This is the same group of citizens – especially Hispanic and African American children from low income families – who are at highest risk for chronic diseases, including asthma, diabetes, and obesity.

For extensive references to scientific studies and more information about the harm of soy formula and soy foods, go to:  http://westonaprice.org/soy