Soy bean as a possible important source of allergy

Abstract

Soy bean has a wide or almost universal distribution. Both the oil and the flour are used in many sorts of foods mentioned in the text and as a fertilizer and for fodder. Five patients working in a soy bean mill who were subject to cough and asthma gave positive reactions to soy bean extract. Sensitiveness was passively transferable and sensitized areas could be desensitized by other members of the legume group in one case which could be adequately studied. The patient whom I treated with ascending small doses of soy bean extract was definitely benefited so that with the use of a mask and avoidance of dust around the mill he keeps himself free of asthma. It is believed, because of the number of cases of soy bean sensitiveness found in the mill, that soy bean is probably an important cause of asthma in the region of soy bean mills. It probably is a cause but a less common cause of asthma in other regions. The possibility of this sensitization should be looked for especially in individuals whose occupation or habits bring them in frequent contact with soy bean products.