Feeding soy formula to infants with congenital hypothyroidism prolonges abnormal thyroid function

This post contains a summary of a study published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood 2004;89:37-40 and a recipe for pulled chicken.

Study title and authors:
Soy formula complicates management of congenital hypothyroidism
S C Conrad, H Chiu, B L Silverman
Department of Pediatrics, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, IL, USA
This paper can be accessed at: http://adc.bmj.com/content/89/1/37.full.html
 

Books:

The study concluded that infants fed soy formula had prolonged increase of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) when compared to infants fed non-soy formula.

 

When the thyroid, for whatever reason -- illness, stress, surgery, obstruction, for example -- does not produce enough thyroid hormone, the pituitary detects this reduction in thyroid hormone, and it moves into action. The pituitary then makes MORE TSH, to help trigger the thyroid to produce more thyroid hormone. This is the pituitary's effort to return the system to "normal" and normalize thyroid function.

So, a TSH that is higher than normal suggests a thyroid that is underactive and not doing its job of producing thyroid hormone. So, in general, HIGHER TSH = UNDERACTIVE THYROID / HYPOTHYROIDISM.

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Recipe of the day

Pulled Chicken

Ingredient list:

Food Mall: Chicken

1 whole young hen

Red chili powder
Coriander powder
Garlic powder
Salt

Directions:
Remove chicken from packaging and giblets (package including the heart, liver, and neck) from the body cavity. Freeze the giblets to use in making chicken stock later. Rinse chicken and add the whole bird to pressure cooker (alternate method noted below). Dust generously with salt, garlic powder, coriander powder, and add a little red chili powder. Add enough water to almost submerge the chicken. In my case that was about 10 cups. Lock top on pressure cooker. Increase heat to high. After achieving high pressure, reduce heat to the lowest level consistent with maintaining high pressure. Cook under high pressure for 20 minutes. Turn off heat under pressure cooker, use the slow-release method to bring pressure down, and remove top. Remove chicken from pressure cooker with tongs (because it is hot!) and transfer to a large mixing bowl. If the chicken falls apart, remove the pieces as best you can with tongs and scoop the rest out with a slotted spoon. Leave the broth in the pot while you continue. Use a pair of tongs to separate the chicken from the bones and skin and transfer it to another large bowl. Once you have all the chicken separated, pull the chicken apart with a pair of forks.