Prepubescent unilateral gynecomastia secondary to excessive soy consumption
-
Jessica L. Sea
,
Mikayel Abramyan
Abstract
Objective
We present a case of an unusual cause of prepubertal gynecomastia.
Case Presentation
Enlargement of breast tissue in males, or gynecomastia, is a rare condition in prepubescent boys. We describe an 8-year-old male who developed unilateral gynecomastia secondary to marked dietary soy consumption. While the majority of cases are idiopathic, soy products, particularly those consumed by our patient, can contain high levels of phytoestrogens, which have been documented in limited case studies to contribute to abnormal development of breast tissue in adolescent and adult males. To our knowledge, this is the first documented case of gynecomastia occurring in a prepubescent patient resulting from excessive intake of dietary soy. Importantly, we also report a complete resolution of gynecomastia upon exclusion of dietary products containing significant amounts of soy.
Conclusion
While soybeans and soy-derived products can be an important source of nutrition for some, those with abnormal sensitivity to phytoestrogens may benefit from limiting dietary soy consumption to avoid potential adverse effects, including gynecomastia.
Acknowledgement
The authors thank the patient and their family/guardian(s) for their consent to report this case.
Research funding: None declared.
Author contributions: Dr. Sea drafted, reviewed, and revised the article. Dr. Abramyan was involved in the patient’s care as his primary care physician, made the initial diagnosis of the unilateral gynecomastia, and critically reviewed and revised the article. Dr. Chiu oversaw the patient’s care as his pediatric endocrinologist, identified the source of the unilateral gynecomastia, and critically reviewed and revised the article. All authors approved the final article as submitted.
Competing interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Informed consent: The patient and their parent/guardian(s) have given their written informed consent to publish their case.
Ethical approval: The present investigation was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki for human studies and was approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (Dnr 2019-05076).
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Original Articles
- The utility of next-generation sequencing technologies in diagnosis of Mendelian mitochondrial diseases and reflections on clinical spectrum
- PATRO children, a multi-center, non-interventional study of the safety and effectiveness of Omnitrope® (somatropin) treatment in children: update on the United States cohort
- Effect of vitamin K2 and vitamin D3 on bone mineral density in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a prospective cohort study
- Diagnostic utility of fine needle aspiration cytology in pediatric thyroid nodules based on Bethesda Classification
- Ultrasonographic determination of thyroid volume in infants and children from Aegean region of Turkey and comparison with national and international references
- Association of thyroid autoimmunity and the response to recombinant human growth hormone in Turner syndrome
- Evaluating transition in Turner syndrome in the West of Scotland
- Short-term effects of gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogue treatment on leptin, ghrelin and peptide YY in girls with central precocious puberty
- Metabolic syndrome and risk factors after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in children and adolescents
- Urinary bisphenol A levels in prepubertal children with exogenous obesity according to presence of metabolic syndrome
- Associations of insulin-induced lipodystrophy in children, adolescents, and young adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus using recombinant human insulin: a cross-sectional study
- Incidence of diabetes in children and adolescents in Dhaka, Bangladesh
- Case Reports
- False-positive very long-chain fatty acids in a case of autoimmune adrenal insufficiency
- Prepubescent unilateral gynecomastia secondary to excessive soy consumption
- Detection of hepatocyte nuclear factor 4A(HNF4A) gene variant as the cause for congenital hyperinsulinism leads to revision of the diagnosis of the mother
- Coexistence of dyschondrosteosis associated to SHOX deficiency, pseudohypoparathyroidism 1B, and chronic autoimmune thyroiditis: a case report
