chickpeas

Options
bexybexy
bexybexy Member Posts: 151
edited June 2014 in DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ)

Anyone know anything about chickpeas and whether they are linked to breast cancer? I read somewhere that people who have had estrogen postive breast cancer should avoid them. However I have DCIS and wasn't told by my consultant anything to do with estrogen. It just seems you can't win chickpeas you would of thought are a great healthy food lol!  I eat them quite a lot as I am vegan.

· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • Jelson
    Jelson Member Posts: 1,535
    edited November 2011

    I hadn't heard anything about chickpeas and estrogen, so I googled just that "chickpeas estrogen"and found that indeed, chickpeas show up on lists of foods high in estrogen, however, so does just about everything else that is healthy and tasty. Here is one such list: http://www.holisticonline.com/Remedies/hrt/hrt_food_and_estrogen.htm .

    Take heart however, because below it is a list of anti-estrogen foods. I am going to look for a balance. 

    Julie E

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • bexybexy
    bexybexy Member Posts: 151
    edited November 2011

    Omg there are so many foods high in estrogen! I feel so despodent now to be honest! Well I am just going to use some common sense here and not give up those foods! I eat from both lists anyway so like you there is balance!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • bexybexy
    bexybexy Member Posts: 151
    edited November 2011

    On the Foods for Breast Cancer site though it seems to contradict the warning on that list that flaxseeds are not good saying studies have shown them to help with estrogen positive breast cancers don't know what to believe anymore feel like taping my mouth up!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • AnnNYC
    AnnNYC Member Posts: 4,484
    edited November 2011

    bexybexy and Jelson,

    Here's a link to an "old" discussion on chickpeas: http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/79/topic/700425?page=1#post_823790

    Some of the links (to research) in that discussion don't work anymore -- but some do.

    An important theme in that discussion is that "phytoestrogens" are not all the same -- soy, for example, is really high in genistein, which seems to have estrogenic effects in the body.

    Chickpeas have AT MOST only a tenth of the phytoestrogens that soybeans do -- and possibly as little as 2 tenths of a percent (2 thousandths).  The major phytoestrogens in chickpeas are "biochanin A and formonetin" (also in soy, but in much greater amounts), not genistein.

    Chickpeas also are a good source of phytosterols, which may even have protective effects -- and folic acid, which may be good or bad, depending on what studies you read...  Very difficult to sort it all out, but since soy seems to have vastly more phytoestrogen than most other legumes, I'm settling for avoiding soy (and red clover, which comes close to soy), and eating most of the other beans in moderation.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • bexybexy
    bexybexy Member Posts: 151
    edited November 2011

    Ah I see what you mean! I guess you would need to eat a ton of chickpeas before there was anything negative that does make me feel better thankyou! I have decided to give all processed soy a miss but eat soya in its pure form i.e tofu, maybe once a week. I guess it is all about moderation and variety that is the key! Thankyou for reassuring me on that one! xxx

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Jelson
    Jelson Member Posts: 1,535
    edited December 2011

    yes, thanks for references AnnNYC

    Julie E

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories