I happen to like soy. I add soy protein powders to my smoothies. I eat tofu. I enjoy tofu in many dishes. And as my body changes, I want to make sure I'm getting foods that are healthy, and may even diminish the few effects I'm seeing with being perimenopausal.
Because breast cancer has been an issue for the women in my family, I'm also concerned about keeping my breasts healthy.
The following study sheds some more light onto some of the positive aspects of soy.
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Soy Intake Might Trim Breast Cancer Risk
(Reuters Health) - Findings from a meta-analysis of published data suggest that soy intake may provide some protection against the development of breast cancer, researchers report in the April 5th issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
However, this result should be interpreted with caution, lead author Dr. Bruce J. Trock, from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and colleagues note. They emphasize that it would be premature to recommend high-dose isoflavone supplementation to stave off breast cancer.
The team notes that the association between soy intake and breast cancer risk has been unclear. Breast cancer rates are lowest in Asian countries, which may relate to the high intake of soy foods. On the other hand, epidemiologic studies have yielded conflicting results and experimental evidence has suggested that soy constituents may actually raise the cancer risk due to estrogenic effects.
The current analysis involved data from 18 epidemiologic studies published between 1978 and 2004.
In a pooled analysis that included all women, high soy intake seemed to cut the risk of breast cancer by 14%. When the analysis was confined to women in Asian countries, the association was not statistically significant.
High soy intake cut the risk of breast cancer in premenopausal women by 30%, slightly higher than the 23% reduction seen in postmenopausal women, according to the results of 10 studies that stratified the data by menopausal status.
Six of the remaining eight studies that did not provide menopausal-specific results showed no association between soy intake and breast cancer risk.
In a related editorial, Dr. Maria Elena Martinez, from the University of Arizona in Tucson, and colleagues "commend the authors for tackling this complex and controversial, yet highly important, issue." However, they add that further studies are needed to better understand the role of soy.
J Natl Cancer Inst 2006;98:430-431,459-471.
