Mind Over Menopause

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There are two schools of thought on soy.

While there are those who say that the whole business of encouraging us to eat more soya products is a scam – only aimed at sales of products, a new study, limited to Asian American women, found that high soy intakes during adolescence and as adults were associated with a 20 to 25 per cent reduction in breast cancer rates.

Before I look at the new research I want to stress that I drink soya milk to relieve the dreaded hot flush-hot flash. I must have the world record of the longest time suffering from the heat heebie-jeebies. Almost ten years now! When I run out of soya, the very next day back they come to raise my cranky level and mist up my glasses.

But I don’t want to discount the research done on breast cancer.

This month in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, we are reminded that breast cancer incidence rates have been four to seven times higher among white women in USA than in women in China or Japan.

However, when Asian women migrate to the US, their breast cancer risk rises over several generations and reaches that of US white women, suggesting that modifiable factors, rather than genetics, are responsible for the international differences.

The underlying mechanism is not known, but the researchers hypothesised that …

the estrogenic effects of soy isoflavones cause changes in breast tissue during childhood that may decrease sensitivity to carcinogens later in life. A similar protective effect has been found in studies of overweight girls, perhaps because fat tissue also secretes oestrogen.

Soy isoflavones have estrogenic properties that may cause changes in breast tissue. Animal models suggest that ingestion of soy may result in earlier maturation of breast tissue and increased resistance to carcinogens.

This study adds to an ever-growing body of research supporting potential cancer-protecting properties of soy – but it’s still early days yet. One study isn’t enough but it gives us something to think about.

Early soy intake may slash breast cancer risk later in life

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