Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Aug. 6 -- CHICAGO -- Machelle Seibel first looked into health benefits of soy after he studied health care trends and thought hard about what's best for his patients and his family.
'I thought my first responsibility is to make sure people stay well, not get well,' said Seibel, a reproductive endocrinologist who practices in Dedham, Mass. 'I was compelled to find out what could help me.'
Seibel, a consultant for Inverness Medical Inc. at Waltham, Mass., did his research and he found out there's a lot of scientific data available linking soy consumption with reduction in osteoporosis, menopausal symptoms and heart disease and documenting its beneficial effects on patients with prostate cancer.
Soy and health is a key topic at the Global Soy Forum in Chicago this week. More than 1,800 people from America and 61 other countries are attending the meeting, which continues through Saturday.
Seibel and Inverness developed a product called Soy Care, supplements tailored to address specific health concerns.
'Inverness asked me where I thought trends were going and I said I see soy as the next major arena,' he said. 'It will be as universal as calcium when public awareness hits.'
Seibel said supplements in capsule form solve the problem of soy's bad taste.
He said Inverness already makes one Soy Care formulation specifically for prostate health and several formulations to relieve women's symptoms and improve bone condition.
In clinical trials just starting at Chicago's Loyola Medical Center, physicians are giving a soy component called isoflavones in high doses to patients for 10 days between the time they're diagnosed with prostate cancer and surgery. Initial results suggest the treatment arrests cancer cell growth or even kills cancerous cells.
'In Japan, the prostate cancer rate is the same as it is in the U.S.,' Seibel said. 'The difference is, patients don't die. It doesn't spread.'
Speakers Thursday said U.S. residents consume an average of about 3 milligrams of soy each day, while in Japan the average daily consumption is about 50 milligrams.
Seibel, a women's health specialist, said before soy supplements were available, he used to spend time teaching patients how to cook with soy to obtain relief from symptoms of menopause and other health problems that plague older women.
'About 4,000 women a day become 50,' he said. 'Seventy percent never take estrogen and half of the women who do quit after a year. Should women have to go through estrogen loss with no help?'
Seibel said he thinks the medical community will accept soy and recommend it for their patients when physicians see scientific evidence of what it can do.
He said consumers also need some education.
'Our country grew up on hamburgers, fries and coke,' Seibel said. 'How are you going to get a kid who likes a Happy Meal and its prize to eat a soy burger?'
But he's cautious about overselling the soy story.
'It's not healthy for soy to try to turn it into a miracle drug,' Seibel said. 'We have to move slowly forward.'
ADM Nutraceutical based at Decatur manufactures the isoflavones that are the key component of Soy Care and other supplements now sold at major chains all over the country.
Tony DeLio, president of Nutraceutical, said his company also has documented beneficial results for breast cancer prevention and cardiovascular health.
He said Novasoy, the product ADM sells to supplement manufacturers, has the same profile as the diet Asians have been eating for years.
Jim Sallstrom, a corn and soybean farmer from Winthrop, Minn., said he thinks new health uses for soybeans will help focus the industry's future.
'It will give farmers new varieties to grow, and put more money in the pockets of farmers who live near the destinations where the beans are needed,' he said.
Visit The News-Gazette on the World Wide Web at http://www.news-gazette.com
