Cupoftea, I’m still hoping you can shed light on your consultant’s recommendation. I’ve not had chemo myself but I understand that chemotherapy patients are often recommended to avoid e.g. soft cheeses but this is because of the risk of foodborne disease (bacterial) when immune systems are compromised. Very different from a blanket recommendation not to eat dairy!
Sorry to bang on about this but I work in food science… and yes I have secondary bc.
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Thanks for the thread - I’m a veggie too - (well, vegan plus eggs) have been using Oatly recently having used soy milk for past 30 years, mostly to diversify just in case. I had also heard from a doctor that the soya contained a plant version of an oestrogen mimic and thus was safer, because it isn’t exactly the same as the bodily oestrogen. Another factor that may be relevant is that soy is now grown on a much larger scale, often in intensive faming methods whereas 30 years ago it may have been grown in less ‘exhausted’ fields.
Found Cat’s remarks about processed and unprocessed soy products useful. I was chatting with vegan shop lady who pointed out that breast cancer rates are very low in China where they eat a lot of soy products. I’ve still continued using miso and whole soya beans. I believe there is some evidence that unfermented soy products have been throwing up undesirable results in children in particular but will need time to find the chapter and verse on this.
There’s an interesting book called The China Study by T. Colin Campbell which addresses diet, particularly meat and milk products, and the connection with degenerative diseases in general.
A complex issue, I think, I’m looking at various areas of information about it.
It’s worth remembering that China is not exactly an “open” country when it comes to reporting anything negative. For example, they don’t admit to having dying rooms and yet thousands of unwanted female children are left to die in that country. Look at the sham that was the Olympics! I’d take thier reporting on breast cancer (and just about anything else)with a massive pinch of salt.
G
I think you have made a good point about China, Geraldine.
But Japan also has a similar diet and low rates of bc (and other cancers), so, I think, as Caro says, there are a lot of issues that need unpicking before anyone gets to the bottom of the soy issue.
I did read once that if you eat a lot of soy products from a young age, as is the case with many Asian diets, it is thought to give some protection, but if you start well into adulthood, this effect is missing. But other research may have come along since then with different conclusions!
S