Soy Foods Help Fight Breast Cancer

Eating soy foods may increase the chance of survival in breast cancer patients, according to a study published online on May 30, 2012 in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study showed that consumption of soy food products postdiagnosis was associated with significantly reduced risk of recurrence and moderately decreased risk of death from breast cancer.

The study was conducted by S.J. Nechuta of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, TN and colleagues.

The researchers wrote in their study report that soy isoflavones possess antiestrogenic and anticancer properties but also estrogen-like properties, which make it difficult to tell whether soy foods like tofu and soy milk help breast cancer survivors.

The study was intended to evaluate the association between postdiagnosis soy food consumption and outcomes of breast cancer in U.S. and Chinese women registered in the After Breast Cancer Pooling Project.

Enrolled in the study were 9,514 breast cancer survivors with diagnosed invasive breast cancer between 1991 and 2006 from two US cohorts and one Chinese cohort. Soy isoflavone intake was estimated based on data collected through validated food-frequency questionnaires.

During a mean follow-up of 7.4 years, a total of 1,171 deaths were identified with 881 from breast cancer and 1348 from recurrences.

Soy isoflavone consumption was found inversely associated with recurrence among both US and Chinese patients, regardless of whether data were analyzed separately by country or combined.

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Tagged breast cancer, soy foods, Soy isoflavone