Soy Food and Breast Cancer

Soy foods contain plant estrogens and some gynos advise caution when telling their breast cancer surviving patients that they are harmless as we usually avoid systemic estrogen therapy in cancer survivors. There has been much discussion as to whether women would have any increased, or decreased risks of breast cancer if they consume soy foods.

For some men they may have lower risks of prostate cancer if they consume soy food according to MD Anderson.

Caution against soy cooking for breast cancer survivors was mostly based on theory and no proof that it was safe. A new review of the existing studies of soy consumption for breast cancer patients states that soy foods are not harmful to breast cancer patients. . Some studies even do say there may be benefits for breast cancer survivors according to Bette Caan, PhD, a senior research scientist who specializes in nutritional epidemiology at the Division of Research at Kaiser Permanente Northern California in Oakland at the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) Annual Research Conference 2011 on Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cancer . The American Cancer Society (ACS) does have a lot to say about diet and cancer, and you can go to their website to learn more.

Basically just look at what your die and supplements consist of. Up to 3 servings of traditional soy foods per day are unlikely to be harmful. But since it’s hard to always know what some sources have in terms of amount concentrated sources of soy, such as pills, powders, or supplements containing high amounts of isoflavones, because data are lacking on safety. Many new articles warn about supplements in general. We also tell our patients to come in to discuss options for reducing breast cancer risk: for instance weight loss, and consideration of Evista and or Tamoxifen therapy, and discussing any hormonal therapy they may be considering. Soy foods are healthy for the heart, so if you are going to modify your soy intake there are other ways to eat heart healthy!