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June 10, 2004 |
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Breast Health Making Sense of the Soy Controversy Back in 2000, the New York Times ran an article by two researchers from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) who claimed that soy isoflavones may work to speed up the proliferation of cancer cells that are dependent upon estrogen for their growth. This article, paired with a few studies that found that estrogen-like isoflavones found in soy stimulated potentially cancerous cell growth in premenopausal women, sent many women into a panic. I firmly believe that the panic has very little basis. I don’t find these studies to be very convincing, especially when compared to the breadth and depth of studies I’ve read touting the cancer-shielding attributes of soy. Specifically, a multitude of studies have shown that soy may actually help to combat breast cancer in a number of different ways, including: 1. Blocking estrogen receptor sites. Soy isoflavones are similar to your body’s own natural estrogens, only much weaker and less potent. Like estrogen, they can bind to estrogen receptor sites within the breast without exerting a dangerous estrogen-like influence. As a result, they compete with and block your own estrogen, thereby jamming these receptor sites and reducing the potential for your estrogen to stimulate the growth of cancer. 2. Inhibiting tumor-induced angiogenesis (growth of new blood vessels). One study done in 1993 found that the soy isoflavone genistein actually blocked the ability of the tumor to grow new blood vessels. These vessels supply the large amounts of oxygen, energy, and nutrients required for unrestrained tumor growth, and remove the large amounts of waste material created. Because tumors can’t grow large enough to be clinically significant if angiogenesis is blocked, this finding is very encouraging. 3. Preventing cellular damage that can trigger conversion of normal cells to cancerous ones. Research from the July 2002 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, found that women who ate a diet rich in soy products were 55 percent less likely to have abnormal breast tissue growth than women who consumed the least amount of soy. Researchers concluded that these findings may have significant implications in breast cancer prevention. Most telling to me are the long-term observances of real women in the real world and their experiences with soy. In my own practice, I have counseled women who had breast cancer and were also consuming soy foods. Not only did they thrive on this diet, but they also remained cancer-free. Additionally, in countries such as Japan or China, where soy is a dietary staple, women are four to six times less likely than their American counterparts to suffer from breast cancer. And, researchers found that when Japanese women adopt a more Western, lower-soy diet, their breast cancer rate increases. However, based on a study from the May 2002 issue of Cancer Research, I suggest that you err on the side of caution and avoid using pure soy isoflavones if you have breast cancer and are taking tamoxifen. Researchers investigated the interactions between dietary genistein and tamoxifen (an estrogen antagonist used in the treatment of estrogen-dependent breast cancer) by implanting estrogen-dependent breast cancer cells in mice who had had their ovaries and thymus removed. They found that genistein negated or overwhelmed the inhibitory effect of tamoxifen. Based on these findings, they urged postmenopausal women to exercise caution when consuming dietary genistein while taking tamoxifen.
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