Dairy Free – should you eliminate soy too?

What’s the deal with soy & dairy? Why do so many doctors suggest going soy free along with  dairy free?

With any sort of reaction to a food, it’s the protein in the food that we are reacting to.
Dairy proteins are casein & whey.
Soy proteins are similar to these dairy proteins.
When foods have similar protein structures, this can cause a cross reaction.
Dairy & soy have a high cross reaction.
Soy & peanuts (both legumes), however, do not have a high cross reaction.

Cross reaction between dairy & soy is anywhere from ~10-50%, depending on which study you are reading. This means that up to 50% of babies that react to dairy will also react to soy.

Note: likely these numbers are only for IgE allergies. Numbers can be really different depending on what kind of reaction your baby has (allergy, sensitivity, or intolerance).

A cross reaction means you aren’t necessarily allergic to both foods, but your body recognizes the foods as similar enough to react similarly. Cross reactions can show up as either one or both foods in allergy testing. For example, if you have a dairy allergy, it could show up as a soy allergy instead – or it could show up as a dairy AND soy allergy

So, how do you know if your baby will react to both dairy and soy?

Some people recommend cutting out both foods together, just in case.

I usually like to recommend eliminating one food at a time. Why? Because being a nursing mom is hard enough and I don’t like moms to eliminate more food from their diets than necessary. Unless you have a feeling that soy is causing an issue, then let’s leave it alone for now. If you don’t see any improvement at all in a week or two, let’s talk about next steps.

I also want to note that you might see multiple food reactions due to cross reaction, or this might be because baby has gut problems.

Baby may be more sensitive to everything right now because they might have leaky gut. 

Dairy, egg and gluten are all really tough on the gut, so if your baby is sensitive to all of those things right now, we definitely want to focus on gut health in addition to eliminating obvious reactions.

If you do feel ready to eliminate soy from your diet, I want to clear up some things about soy first.

It’s important to understand there are two different types of soy that we need to make a clear distinction between.

“Real soy” and “processed soy”

Real soy: I’m not too concerned about this unless your baby actually has a soy allergy or a noticeable cross reaction. Real soy is not the enemy. Soy sauce, edamame, tofu, fermented soy: tempeh, miso, natto. Can be part of a healthy diet.

Processed soy: gums, lecithins, tocopherols, soy protein isolate, vegetable protein isolate, soybean oil or vegetable oil. Hyper processed soy & soy derivatives. This is where it gets really tricky and cutting soy can feel like an ultra-restrictive and confusing nightmare.

My super simple answer to navigating soy and a soy-free diet: eat whole, real foods. (It’s kind of the answer to everything nutrition-related.) If you aren’t eating processed foods you don’t need to worry about all of these confusing soy derivatives and drive yourself crazy reading labels at the grocery store.

Stick to whole foods and soy becomes a lot simpler. BUT it may not be a lot easier, depending on what your diet is right now. 

Even many organic healthy-looking foods are still processed food and we want to avoid them as much as possible.

I highly recommend eliminating soy when that means cutting processed foods from your diet. But I don’t think soy as a real food is the enemy for at least half of us.

Processed food, however, is the enemy for 100% of us.

I realize this diet change can be hard for many people who don’t have as easy access to real, whole foods or aren’t used to eating a diet based on mostly real, whole foods. If you need a guide as you navigate your new diet, please reach out and schedule a 30-minute clarity call to see how I can help.

As you work to phase out soy, you can reference this extensive list. https://jamesandethan.wordpress.com/current-list-of-soy-derivatives

Come join the conversation and hear more about going soy free in this video.