John Myers
Women who are diagnosed with breast cancer are often warned against soy products. It is said that soy would reduce the success of anti-estrogen therapy. New research results have now brought something surprising to light: the immune system of long-term soy consumers can attack breast cancer much better. And even if breast cancer does occur, soy lovers are much better protected from recurrence than women who never ate soy, which no one believed.
Soy – from miracle beans to hazardous waste
Soy has become a real doormat lately. You can no longer leave good hair on the former miracle bean. It is warned that the legume is actually nothing but highly toxic hazardous waste.
It is true that the GM soybean is not really the yellow of the egg and you should actually refrain from a mono-nutrition with it. But it doesn’t hurt to differentiate a bit.
Because there is also good news about soy. And if you choose soy of organic quality, possibly from regional (e.g. German) production, you are welcome to do so from time to time. It doesn’t have to be in huge amounts.
Regular soy consumption – e.g. E.g. a small portion several times a week – can have extremely interesting health benefits, especially if you have loved soy since you were young.
Soy for breast cancer patients
The new soy study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) – and no, it was not sponsored by the soy industry.
The study was carried out by the research team led by Dr. Leena Hilakivi-Clarke, professor of oncology at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Professor Hilakivi-Clarke announced that she has news for all those women who have been regularly including soy products in their diet for many years.
According to the professor, it is not only completely unnecessary to stop consuming soy products when you are diagnosed with breast cancer. She even strongly advises against avoiding soy products in this case. Breast cancer patients in particular could benefit enormously from soybeans.
Soy hysteria is based – at least in part – on scientific misinterpretation
Until now it was believed that soy and in particular the contained genistein (an isoflavone) could promote and stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells. It was also believed that soy disrupted the anti-estrogen therapy commonly used in breast cancer.
As a result, oncologists have been urging their breast cancer patients to stop eating soy products.
However, this view was based on experiments with mice, and unlike humans (or rats), mice do not have so-called cytotoxic T cells, a type of cell that belongs to the immune cells.
Cytotoxic T cells, however, are exactly the cell group that can fight breast cancer.
Soy genistein helps fight cancer
In a previous study, Prof. Hilakivi-Clarke’s research team showed that rats that had been given genistein throughout their lives responded much better to anti-estrogen therapy than did control animals that had not received genistein.
Also, the Genistein squad had a lower risk of cancer recurrence.
Incidentally, genistein is not only found in soybeans (but here in the highest dose), but also in broad beans and other legumes, and in lower concentrations also in fruit and vegetables.
There are a number of known mechanisms by which genistein can reduce the risk of cancer. However, genistein can also activate human estrogen receptors, pretending to be an estrogen molecule, and in turn allowing existing cancer cells to grow.
In the current study, the researchers were looking for explanations as to how their earlier results could have come about, according to which genistein was clearly anti-cancer and did not fuel cancer growth any further.
Hilakivi’s team then found the following:
Soy strengthens cells that attack cancer
Said T-cells attack tumor cells. However, other immune cells can deactivate this ability of the T cells again. If this happens, the tumor can continue to grow – completely uncontrolled.
However, if you have been eating soy products since you were young (i.e. even before puberty), then the genistein seems to ensure that the T cells recognize and fight tumors very effectively. All attempts by cancer to hide from the attacks of the immune system fail in this case.
Genistein can therefore program the immune system to be able to fight cancer effectively when it matters most.
The substance from the soybean activates the tumor-fighting T-cells and at the same time suppresses those cells that would lead to an inhibition of the T-cells – which, according to Professor Hilakivi, would explain why long-term soy consumption (i.e. since childhood and adolescence) does this can reduce breast cancer risk.
It is best to eat soy when you are young!
However, it is crucial that the genistein is consumed regularly and well before a tumor develops, adds Hilakivi’s colleague and graduate student Xiyuan Zhang.
The results of these studies support observational studies showing that women who consume more than 10 mg of isoflavones daily for a long time have a reduced risk of breast cancer compared to women who consume less than 4 mg of isoflavones daily.
A cup of soy milk (240 ml) already contains around 30 mg of isoflavones. Most of it consists of genistein. As little as a third of a cup a day would be enough, or a small piece of tofu, or a small amount of soy yogurt.
So if you’ve been liking soy products for years, you don’t have to stop eating them because of the general soy hysteria or after a breast cancer diagnosis. On the contrary: It is possible that the immune system can only prevent cancer or deal the death blow to existing cancer with the help of soy.
Soy protects the breast cancer gene BRCA1
Soy is also said to be able to protect the so-called breast cancer gene BRCA1 so that it can continue to act as a breast cancer inhibitor. BRCA1 is called the breast cancer gene, but not because it always increases the risk of breast cancer. Instead, every woman and every man has the BRCA1 gene. Only if the gene exhibits a specific change can this lead to an increased risk of breast cancer, since the body’s own defense against breast cancer is then significantly weakened.
A healthy BRCA1 gene, on the other hand, suppresses the development of breast cancer — and genistein, the estrogen-like isoflavone found in soybeans, appears to protect and maintain this healthy function of the BRCA1 gene, researchers at the University of Arizona Cancer Center in June 2017 found Tucson in the first in-vitro tests. The results were published in the journal Current Developments in Nutrition.
Soy consumption could make ineffective cancer therapies effective again
In some cases, existing cancer no longer responds to the usual cancer therapy with tamoxifen. However, if a disabled BRCA1 gene is reactivated with the help of soybean genistein, tamoxifen can only work as hoped again. Regular soy consumption could therefore have an extremely positive effect on cancer therapy. The researchers from Tucson are now preparing further tests and clinical studies to test the discovered mechanism of action on humans.
