My Focus……

I come from a long line of professional meatpackers, and in Chicago—even among laypeople—eating beef or pork for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is even more endemic to our municipal culture than devotion to the Cubs.
Plenty, some say. Recent research has shown that soy may contain dangerous levels of isoflavones, natural chemicals that are similar to human estrogen. Isoflavones can affect fertility in men and may increase the incidence of breast cancer in at-risk women. Because of these concerns, the Israeli Ministry of Health has had a warning in effect since 2005. According to reports, the ministry suggests that adults moderate their soy consumption, that infants be given soy formula only when breast milk or cow's milk is not an option, and that parents limit the amount of soy their children eat. Health officials in France and Great Britain are concerned, too. French food manufacturers have been asked to reduce the isoflavones in soy formula, and are required to put warning labels on soy foods. The British Dietetic Association has warned parents against using soy formula during the first six months of a baby's life.
Not surprisingly, the Soyfoods Association of North America doesn't necessarily agree with these concerns. Nancy Chapman, the group's executive director, says that the Israeli Ministry of Health's warning was largely based on research that used rats, whose hormonal makeup and reproductive system don't accurately predict what may happen in the human body.