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Soy products are GOOD for fighting breast cancer, study finds - after confusing one-off research said the opposite
Soy products can increase survival rates in women with breast cancer
The majority of breast cancers respond well to treatment with hormonal drugs
Soy was thought to be bad because it mimics estrogen and helps tumors grow
But isoflavones, the main ingredient in soy, help reduce hormone-receptive negative tumor cells
Women fighting breast cancer could survive longer if they consume soy-based foods, a new study has found.
Scientists say patients at any stage of the disease can reduce their risk of dying by 21 percent by adding the Japanese ingredient to their diet.
This is because the main ingredient found in soy, isoflavones, reduces tumor cells in women with breast cancer who don't respond to hormonal drugs.
But the researchers add that using products like soy beans and soy sauce is also safe for those on such drugs like tamoxifen - contrary to previous research.
Soy (found in milk, beans, cheese, burgers and other products seen above) contains properties that reduced hormone-negative tumor cells in women with breast cancer, a new study says
Researchers at Tufts University, in Massachusetts, studied more than 6,000 women living with breast cancer in the US and Canada.
They were enrolled in an international breast cancer registry and their diets were assessed over the course of nine-and-a-half years. During that period, more than 1,200 deaths occurred - that's about 20 percent of patients.
The researchers found that women who consumed a higher level of isoflavones - the compound found mainly in soy - had a 21 percent reduction in mortality compared to the women who consumed the least amount of soy.
HOW TO SPOT BREAST CANCER
Breast cancers can start in different parts of the breast.
Most breast cancers begin in the ducts that carry milk to the nipple (ductal cancers). Some can start in the glands that make breast milk (lobular cancers).
Breast cancer is the second-biggest cancer killer of women, behind lung cancer.
More than 318,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017.
It is expected that 40,610 women will die from it.
Signs and symptoms:
A new lump or mass - usually tender, soft or rounded
Swelling of all or part of a breast (even if no distinct lump is felt)
Skin irritation or dimpling
Breast or nipple pain
Redness, scaliness, or thickening of the nipple or breast skin
Nipple discharge (other than breast milk)
There are two types of treatments for breast cancer, but women will often choose a combination of them.
1) Local treatments - they treat the tumor without affecting the rest of the body
Surgery
Radiation therapy
2) Systemic treatments - the cancer is treated using drugs, which can be given by mouth or directly into the bloodstream.
They're called systemic because they can reach cancer cells anywhere in the body.
Chemotherapy
Hormone therapy
Targeted therapy
Source: American Cancer Society
'Our findings suggest that survival may be better in patients with a higher consumption of isoflavones,' said Dr Esther John, from the Cancer Prevention Institute of California, who led the study.
Breast cancer is the second-biggest cancer killer of US women, after lung cancer. More than 318,000 women, and a few men, are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer in the US in 2017, and about 40,600 die annually.
About 70 percent of breast cancers are estrogen-receptive positive - meaning they respond well to treatment with tamoxifen and other hormonal drugs.
Hormone-receptor negative cancers don't have these receptors, making such therapies ineffective.
Soy foods have been linked to helping estrogen-receptive positive tumors grow and spread because isoflavones mimic the effects of the female hormone.
Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York claimed soy could boost the expression of genes linked to breast cancer.
Their study, however, didn't address whether these changes in gene expression would lead to enhanced tumor growth.
The Tufts University study found that isoflavones in women with estrogen-receptor negative breast cancer, which doesn't respond to hormonal drugs, slowed the growth of breast cancer cells.
And death rates dropped by about one-fifth.
The researchers noted they examined only naturally-occurring dietary isoflavones, not from supplements.
How isoflavones from foods interact with breast cancer cells is unclear, but research has shown they have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and other effects that could influence tumor survival and growth.
Dr Omer Kucuk, of the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University in Atlanta, who reviewed the study, said the US is the world's biggest soy producer.
This places the country in a great position to initiate changes in health policy encouraging soy intake, he said.
Dr Kucuk added: 'We now have evidence soy foods not only prevent breast cancer, but also benefit women who have breast cancer.
'Therefore, we can recommend women to consume soy foods because of soy's many health benefits.'
Source: Daily Mail