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Breast Cancer Soy: Soy Foods May Benefit Breast Cancer Survivors

By Keith D. Bishop, Clinical Nutritionist, B.Sc. Pharmacy - December 9, 2009

• New research studies show soy foods do not appear to increase the risk of breast cancer recurrence and may even decrease the risk of breast cancer recurrence. 

 
New research studies show soy foods do not appear to increase the risk of breast cancer recurrence and may even decrease the risk of breast cancer recurrence.

Since soy has estrogenic properties many physicians have advised women not to eat soy foods. Several human research studies have been published this year demonstrating the safety of soy foods.

The Shanghai Breast Cancer Survival Study followed 5,042 women in China. The breast cancer survivors were ages 20 to 75 and were followed for an average of four years. Researcher found that the higher a women’s soy food intake, the lower her chances of cancer recurrence and death. Women with the highest intake of soy had a 29% lower risk of death and a 32% lower risk of breast cancer recurrence compared with women with the lowest intake of soy foods.

Soy did not appear to stimulate estrogen receptor positive (ER+) or estrogen receptor negative (ER-) breast cancers.

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This study supports research from UC Berkeley and published in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. The Berkeley study followed 2,000 U.S. breast cancer survivors and also found that higher soy intake was linked to lower rates of breast cancer recurrence.

The drug tamoxifen was appeared to improve survival only in women who had low or moderate soy food intake. Researchers believe tamoxifen and soy may compete with each other for the same estrogen receptors.

Women with the highest intake of soy food had a lower risk of death and breast cancer recurrence than women with the lowest intake of soy food and took tamoxifen.

Reference Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, December 9, 2009

Natural Cancer Treatment Pearl

Yes, according to this research article, high soy food intake may provide better benefits than the drug tamoxifen.

Both of these studies evaluated soy food intake and not concentrated soy extract supplements. It appears to be safe to eat soy beans, soy products and tofu and drink soy milk. I would wait on taking soy extract supplements until additional research has been performed.

Researchers are still cautious and are not recommending women to significantly increase the amount of soy they eat until additional research is supports this study.

Source: http://www.NaturalCancerReports.com

Return from Breast Cancer Soy: Soy Foods May Benefit Breast Cancer Survivors to 2009 Natural Cancer News