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Lee Swanson Research Update
Early Soy Intake May Slash Breast Cancer Risk Later in Life
December 2009
Consuming high intakes of soy during childhood may reduce a woman’s risk of breast cancer later in life, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention.
In introducing the study, researchers stated: "Historically, breast cancer incidence has been substantially higher in the United States than in Asia. When Asian women migrate to the United States, their breast cancer risk increases over several generations and approaches that for U.S. whites. Thus, modifiable factors, such as diet, may be responsible."
The researchers focused on women of Chinese, Japanese and Filipino descent living in San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles and Hawaii. Lead researcher Regina Ziegler from the National Cancer Institute Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics and her co-workers interviewed 597 women with breast cancer and 966 healthy women.
Additionally, for a subset of 255 participants whose mothers were alive and living in the U.S., the mothers were asked about their daughter’s early childhood exposures.
By comparing the highest and lowest soy intake values for soy-based foods such as tofu, miso and natto, researchers calculated that women with the highest soy intake during childhood (ages 5 to 11) had a 58% lower risk of breast cancer as adults compared to the women with the lowest soy intake as children.
"Since the effects of childhood soy intake could not be explained by measures other than Asian lifestyle during childhood or adult life, early soy intake might itself be protective," the researchers added.
Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention 18(4):1050-1059, 2009
