I have recently been diagnosed with DCIS. I cannot believe this as I am not overweight. i hardly ever drink alcohol, I don’t smoke, I am a vegetarian. I have however not had kids and had 2 goes at IVF. My question is this, can Soya Milk cause breast cancer? I started by periods at a normal age and periods stopped around age. 46, which I thought was good news. So could the problem be with the soya milk. I don’t believe it is just down to luck, there must be a reason.
Hi Jean,
It is really normal and natural to try to find a reason for having breast cancer, but the reality is no-one knows for certain what causes it. There is all sorts of stuff about soya that can be found on the web, some that says it is protective against cancer (for example, lower incidence in oriental people groups with high soy content in their diet), and some that says it can be problematic _ if _ you happen to have oestrogen receptive breast cancer. Nothing is proved hard and fast, and discussions on the topic can get pretty heated as people understandably have made their decisions on the information they have read.
I don’t know enough about DCIS to know whether they might give you Tamoxifen or some other drug for hormone sensitive breast cancer, but if they do, I would speak to your oncologist to get his/her view on soy milk. Mine told me very clearly not to change from dairy to soy, and not to take soy or sage supplements for hot flushes - but my cancer was VERY different from yours.
My very wise oncologist said there is no rhyme or reason to who gets bc (I was under fifty, healthy, exercised, did not drink, never smoked, not overweight blah blah and got aggressive invasive cancer… it happens) so please don’t blame yourself or any choices you made in the past; just concentrate on getting through the treatment and on with your life.
June52, Revcat has given good info : no-one knows what causes breast cancer. I have put the link to the NHS info, which states at the end that ‘breast cancer is a complex disease and there is no single factor responsible for causing it’. Soya milk, etc. then will be a personal choice.
DCIS, as you probably know, is just that - ‘in situ’. It has not invaded tissues outside the ducts & with treatment the chance of it going any further is low. Like Revcat said, discuss soya and your concern over tumour development in other breast with your doctors. The risk of the latter, by the way is only 1 per cent.
nhs.uk/ipgmedia/national/Breakthrough%20Breast%20Cancer/Assets/Thefacts-soyaandphytoestrogens(B).pdf
Don’t beat yourself up about soya milk, and I hope you have successful treatment & all will be well!