In a message dated 98-12-16 23:03:56 EST, you write: << Q: Can some foods replace a prescription for estrogen? A: Some studies speculate that phyto-estrogens, fond in foods such as beans, tofu, and peas, could be the reason women in Japan seldom suffer hot flashes. They eat much more soy in their daily diet. In the US, to get enough phyto-estrogens to reap any benefits, you would have to eat 22 servings of tofu a day or drink 64 ounces of soy milk, says Dr. Nachtigall [ob-gyn professor at NYU]. "We don't tend to eat that way," he says. I don't know how much soy milk would be found in a cup of soy formula. >> This I got from the New Zealand Medical Jounal. " Four New Zealand scientist say a baby drinking soya milk would consume 100 times the amount of eostrogen that a breastfed child received, equivalent to several contraceptive pills a day. It is well establised that soyabean products contain phytoestrogens daidzein and genistein. The quantities recommended by manufacturers for infant feeding provide an intake three to five times as much daizein and genistein as amounts which disrupt the menstrual cycle when fed to post menopausal women. Other researchers have similar concerns. The introductory paper presented by the US Food and Drug Association Department of Health at a recent phytoestrogen conference notes 'Given the DES tragedy, it would be foolish to ignore the possibility that some phytoestrogens constitute a developmental hazard.' 'It would be prudent for general sales of soy formulas to be stopped,' says the New Zealand scientists, Dr. Cliff Irvine, Lincoln University, Dr. Mike Fitzpatrick, Aukland, Dr. Iain Robertson, Auckland University Medical School and Dr. David Woodams of Aukland." There are other concerns about zinc absorption and soy formulas in babies drinking it before two months of age. Kim Sherwood, in upstate NY