Diet/Nutrition - Soy???

JillyJill

My 36 year old daughter is HER+/ER-/PR-.  She is researching changes she needs to make in her diet and I am helping.  I am seeing mixed information on whether she should avoid soy products. Do any of youy have information on this? What other foods are important to include in her diet and which to avoid?  Is there a source or a few sources on diet and nutrition for this particular type of BC?

kira1234

JillyJill, There is a great web site I used when I first found out I had BC that was very helpful to me. It is called Food for Breast Cancer. It goes into detail about foods that are good and what to avoid for each kind of BC.

MelissaDallas

Here is the latest study from Vanderbilt that says that soy is o.k., and even beneficial:



http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/news/releases.php?release=2079

kira1234

Here is the web site I use. To be honest I would be very careful with the kind of soy products I would use.

.http://foodforbreastcancer.com/articles/her2-slash-neu-overexpressing-breast-cancer

sweetbean

Hi there, this is a controversial topic, however, I have come to the conclusion (after doing a lot of research) that soy is fine if it is organic and in a more pure form.  So, I eat tempeh, tofu, soy milk, and edamame.  I don't eat highly processed soy like soybean oil or soy protein isolate.  Dr. Block has a good article on his lifeovercancerblog.com site.  Just google soy and it will come up.

Sassa

As I am ER/PR - , my oncologist told me there is absolutely no problem with me eating soy in whatever form I may want it.

ballet12

I was told by my oncologist that soy foods in moderation are OK, but I also have the ER positive situation, where it is necessary to be careful about soy intake because soy is an estrogen modulator.

dlb823

I was told and follow the advice from UCLA, which says most natural soy (i.e. tofu, soy milk, edaname, etc.) is fine for us, in moderation (e.g. no more than one serving per day), and assuming you've always eaten it.   What's recommended against is soy protein isolate, which is a concentrated form of soy found in soy protein powders, and also incorporated into many foods.  That soy is too overly processed and concentrated.

The other issue with soy is that it's a mostly GMO'd crop and heavily sprayed with herbicides and pesticides as well.  So some of the soy derivatives -- the things made on down the line from what's left after making the larger products, such as soy lecithin, etc. -- may be heavily contaminated.

One other concern could be the "hidden" amount of soy we may ingest if we take a lot of supplements, as many of those use soybean oil, soy lecithin, etc., as fillers.

But there doesn't seem to be a lot of evidence that organic whole soy products are harmful, and IMO it's unfortunate that some oncs scare women into believing that soy is bad for us.  But I also think we each have to decide what feels right to us, and if soy doesn't appeal to you or your onc recommends against eating it, then you probably won't be less healthy and may have more peace of mind if you don't eat it.       Deanna

JillyJill

Many thanks for your wisdom and recommendations.