Soy? I am so confused!

The information at this point is far from conclusive, but what's important to understand is that the impact of soy consumption appears to differ for different population groups.  There is no a single answer to this one.  I suspect that this is true of many foods.  They are good for some but not good for all.

What a number of the studies seem to show is that the affect of soy intake is different for those who are young and those who consume lots of soy from birth onwards (women who live in Asian countries, for example) vs. those of us who are older, have had ER+ breast cancer and didn't grow up on soy.  For younger girls, it's believed that soy may reduce BC risk if they start consuming it when they are pre-teen or in their early teens and continue through life.  But for us, if we don't have that history of consuming soy and if we've had an ER+ breast cancer, consuming soy might increase our risk of recurrence or a new BC.

My BC nurse gave the advice of avoiding soy in large quantities (i.e. don't have a daily diet of tofu and soy milk) but she said that it's not worth worrying about the small amounts of soy that's found in hundreds of products (edible or cosmetic).  That works for me.

Beesie,

I was just wondering where to post my questions about soy products and came across this thread. I am now 73 years old and had a mastectomy with immediate Tram reconstruction Nov 2004 after three bouts of DCIS starting l994. I aslo have IBS and a very finicky stomach so I eat toast, crackers, etc. with tea or ginger ale to settle my stomach. I was shocked when I started reading labels and found so many food products that contain soybean oil or soy wheat, Almost every cracker and cookie and most bread products including melba toast has some form of soy. I can't eat too many fresh fruits and veggies because of my IBS and a recent colon resection to remove a large benign polyp that couldn't be removed during a colonoscopy. I was so relieved when I read your post and the good common sense advice that your BC nurse gave you. Thanks for passing this information on. I am going to discuss this with my BS the next time I go for a check up and I am almost positive that he will give the same advice. I couldn't believe it when I read the contents on the Jiff peanut butter label and found that it contain soybean. I have been putting it on my breakfast toast or snack cracker for year! Thanks again for the good advice.