Soy or no Soy?

FEB

My nutritionist is in the no soy camp. I trust what she says more than an onc because they do not study nutrition much. I avoid dairy too and use Vanilla flavored rice milk on my cereal. It actually tastes good. Better than no fat milk, and hormone free. I have always been a milk drinker but I got use to this real fast. Read Dr Ray Strand's book, "What your doctor doesn't know about nutrition may be killing you". He talks about giving his patients supplements during chemo and how well they did. I did moderate amounts of supplements during rads and had very little side effects(no fatigue, little burning, healed fast).

NancyD

I am starting to keep the soy products out...but have you looked at the labels on the food stuff in the stores?  Every cracker and cookie I have eaten recently uses a soy product. Every main brand salad dressing (Kraft, Seven Seas, etc) uses soybean oil. I had to comb the organic and specialty dressings to find one that didn't. Every frozen meal, especially Lean Cuisine and the very popular-in-my-house breakfast meals like Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowls, uses some soy product. Half the microwave popcorns use soybean oil. Chocolate and many other candies use soy lechithin. It is ubiquitous and insidious.

kitkat04

My doc says a regular diet would be fine, it is hard to avoid soy, but I am not to add it in, like with a shake or tofu etc.  I think the problem with people advising that we get our soy is they do not realize how many different kinds of bc there ore.  Sinse soy acts like an estrogen and I am on estrogen suppressors it just makes sense to not eat it.

Linda7411

I was ER/PR + and my onc seems to think it is OK to take flaxseed oil but I thought it had phytoestrogens.  So I'm using fish oil instead.  I don't intentionally use soy but I don't totally avoid it either.  I don't think the small amount we get in our food hurts, but I rarely have tofu, soy milk, etc.  It doesn't make sense to take Arimidex and eat soy routinely.  But we certainly are getting mixed messages on this.  The jury is still out.

Linda

Yself

This reminds me of the way doctors thought about giving women hormones before bc was linked to them. I had an OBGYN get very mad at me when I told him I had never taken hormones. Two weeks later, the news broke.

Soy is big business. Very big business. My gut tells me it is not prudent to take an estrogen blocker every day and at the same time, eat or smear soy all over your face. I found it in my facial cleanser yesterday! My dumpster is going to be full. Going back to using oil and vinegar on my salads. Haven't been able to find any bread yet.

 Yvonne

roxy42

Hi My Onc says that the soy thats in our food is a small amount  and it would take alot of it to re grow a tumor.SO I do the moderation thing.I'm on a very fixed income and cant afford health food store stuff.I did at the start and then it was costing to much,so I try to make smart choices at the store.You can find soy less bread at the health food store.Its called seven live grain bread.It only has sprouted grains 1 gram of sugar.I cant afford it any more it cost 7 dollars a loaf.My weat bread from the store says 2% or less of soy the Onc says thats fine..........godbless roxy

wallycat

My onco says this topic comes up at every conference.

The concensus is that soy as a whole food is fine; it is the supplements isoflavone products, concentrated foods that "may" pose an issue, but they don't really know.

 www.cancerrd.com is a site from a dietitian who had very aggressive breast cancer...twice, plus a cancer as a baby....she had soy 3 times/day every day and is almost 20 or more years out after THE most aggressive BC she had.  

I eat what i like because I ate so well before dx that I think its a crap shoot.

danger4vinger1

soy sauce is not harmful and it is rich antioxdants, and some other types won't harem is small amounts either......

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mdg

I am also off soy.  It is hard...I am not 100% off of it, but I try as much as I can.  The American Cancer Society offers free nutrition consulatations to cancer patients (you cand find information on their website).  I did the consultation and was told there is conflicting information on soy so for now since it is unclear they recommend no soy.  Another website I have been using regarding nutrition for BC is www.foodforbreastcancer.com. It has links to many studies on many different foods.  They have a lot more restrictions listed for BC and especially ER/PR+ gals like me listed.  I feel like it is making me paranoid about eating anything.  I just spent an afternoon at whole foods and was successful in finding some common things without soy bean oil like whole grain English muffins, whole wheat pita bread, organic salad dressing (I usually opt for olive oil and vinegar now), pizza crust, etc.....I will try to eliminate as much soy as possible, but there is no way I will be completely soy free.

Has anyone come accross any good books that address the soy thing?  I have a few nutrition books on cancer and they all barely touch on the estrogen/soy thing. 

As far as Vitamins - I found some all natual, organic, soy free, gluten free vitamins at Whole Foods.  They are made by Super Nutrition.  My med onc looked at them and said they were fine for me to take.  I also go to a holistic MD.  He said soy is bad period and for me to avoid it.  He also put me on some all natural things to help boost immune system during chemo. 

Cat123

I'm still trying to figure this out.  So many conflicting reports.  I became vegan after my diagnosis so it is hard to avoid soy.  I think moderation is key.