Vegetarians & vegans: Does soy milk really cause breast cancer?!

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Soy products are linked to all sorts of health problems. Being one of the most heavily genetically-modified veggies, it's nearly impossible to find unmodified soy products.

No one knows what causes breast cancer. Weather soy is unhealthy or causes ill effects is still unknown. There have been studies that say soy is healthy, while others say it is not. There is not enough evidence to prove either way(healthy or unhealthy). Therefore, your best option is to eat it like you would any other food.

The notion that soy causes breast cancer, comes from the myth that soy contains estrogen. However, soy does not contain the hormone estrogen. What soy does contain is isoflavones. The chemical structure of isoflavones is similar to estrogen, however, the two function very differently in the body(and it is 1,000 times weaker than your own body's estrogen). There is no credible proof that plant isoflavones cause cancer, illness, hormone issues in young individuals, etc.

Nobody knows what causes cancer, including breast cancer. Anyone who tells you 'X causes cancer' is repeating rumour and hearsy - the world's finest scientific minds whose life's work it is to find out don't yet know.

There is no actual scientific evidence that ANY food, including soya and dairy, causes, prevents, contributes to or affects the progress of any cancer (the exception being high consumption of red and processed meat, which is a major risk factor for colorectal cancers).

Soya proteins contain isoflavones that can mimic a weak oestrogen effect. It's not the same as the oestrogen your own body makes though - it is 1,000 times weaker than your own body's oestrogen, but it's this that has led to concerns (and rumour) about oestrogen dependent cancer (not all breast cancers are oestrogen positive).

There are those in the field who argue that isoflavones may be of help in preventing breast cancer or be beneficial to women who have had breast cancer.

There is current research into whether increasing phyto oestrogens in the diet helps to prevent breast or prostate cancer, and a study in 2002 found that women with the highest levels of soya products in their diets had the lowest breast density - higher breast density being associated with higher breast cancer risk.

Women with the highest levels of isoflavones in their diet are reported to have significant risk reductions for uterine cancer.

I have had oestrogen dependent breast cancer, and have never been warned against soya.

Check with any reputable breast cancer information service or charity - go to their wegsites and do a search for 'breast cancer risk factors'; you won't find soya consumption listed anywhere. Examples:

http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/und…

http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/breas…

http://breakthrough.org.uk/breast_cancer…

The last site linked to, Breakthrough Breast Cancer actuallyaddresses the issue of soya quite thoroughly. It says:

''Because phyto-oestrogens can act like oestrogen they can have similar effects to oestrogen, but at high doses they may actually block the effects of oestrogen. ''

and

''Some studies found that regularly eating foods that contain phyto-oestrogens might lower the risk of breast cancer, whereas others found that they have no effect.''

You can download their fact shhe on the subject :

http://breakthrough.org.uk/breast_cancer…

If soy is harmful, I don't think it would have been and would be a staple of the Asian diet for generations. Also, it has been speculated that early puberty has been caused in kids due to things like hormones in cow's milk.

The aforementioned GMO soybeans aren't any better worse than many of the processed "foods" that are on the market.

From a search, "soy milk and breast cancer":
http://ww5.komen.org/BreastCancer/Soy.ht…
http://breastcancer.about.com/od/riskfac…
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009…

Personally, I would rather give both my daughter and son natural, organic soy than many of the things that corporations try and tell me are healthy, natural and good for my kids.

wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia has information
on the pros and cons of soy beans and soy products
at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soybean

wikipedia also has information on alternatives to
dairy milk at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_milk

http://www.wikipedia.org

well its true that soy is high in estrogen and if a girl about 9 or 11 drank things high in estrogen they start to develop earlier and that means a higher chance of breast cancer later in life. so no not all the time mabe in some cases

No, you cannot get breast cancer from soy milk. Dairy, however, does increase your chances of getting breast cancer.