Research Suggests That Soy Might Give Your Kid Heart Disease
Photo: Medical News Today
Kawasaki disease is a pretty terrible autoimmune condition to acquire. This inflammatory disease commonly affects children and causes inflammation and swelling of eyes, lips, hands, and some arteries. It’s the leading cause of child heart disease in the United States.
Now, research is suggesting that soy consumption may lead to a higher incidence of this dangerous disease.
This research comes from the Portman Research Group at Seattle Children’s Hospital, who found that childhood intake of soy led to a higher proportion of Kawasaki disease occurrences — especially in Asian American populations. While the study falls short of saying soy is the cause of Kawasaki disease, it does suggest that it may be a factor.
The compounds in soy that the research claims lead to this risk are called isoflavones. Soy happens to be the richest food source of these compounds, which are a type of phytoestrogen — essentially, plant hormones. They do mimic estrogen in our bodies, and have been one of the reasons why soy has been accused of being a causer of several types of cancer, particularly in women.
While the cause of Kawasaki disease is still unknown, this research suggests that the isoflavones in soy may play some sort of role. It certainly was the case for Ewan Hart, who developed Kawasaki disease after consuming soy over a period of time and has done better now that his parents have eliminated soy from the household.
Soy is already one of the major eight allergens in the United States and is beginning to get more of a negative image from the plant-based community, since it tends to be genetically modified and is in almost everything in the form of soy lecithin. This research is definitely not going to help out with that image, and may continue the trend of decreasing soy consumption in the United States.
However, soy is such a staple crop and widely used that it would be practically impossible to eliminate from the U.S. food supply to ensure diseases like Kawasaki disease don’t occur. Although, one can surmise that with less consumers of soy, perhaps its production and usage will decrease as well. Should that occur, kids like Ewan won’t have to worry as much about Kawasaki disease rearing its ugly head.
