Is It Safe For Children to Drink Soy Milk?

I’ve already written about the health benefits of soy milk. And I know some of my friends prefer drinking it over cow’s milk.

But how about children? Is it safe for kids to drink soy milk or is it just for adults? Why would this be a concern? Well, primarily because soy milk contains phytoestrogen, it’s an estrogen-like hormone. And that might have an effect on our toddlers.

In any case, I did some research online and here’s what I found.

Soy products, which includes soy milk do contain these hormones but they are very weak. And there’s no conclusive evidence that they have bad affects to the body, even on children.

People have been drinking soy milk for many years without any ill-effects and according to Dr. Walter C. Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health:

I don’t think children need to avoid soy milk. Still, where there’s uncertainty, moderation is a good policy, so limiting children to drinking one or two glasses of soy milk a day makes sense.

So there you have the answer. Soy milk is safe for kids, but just like everything we consume, moderation is important.

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Photo credit: mc559