I have started this thread on behalf of new user Maureen
Kind regards
Katie
i was told to drink soya milk for my hot flushes but is it ok, im taking letrozole and had a mastectomy and reconstrution in jan this year
Maureen,
Five weeks ago I had a masectomy and reconstruction, today I went back to the hospital and saw the oncologist and they have started me on Tamoxifen. I asked about my diet and the oncologist and breast care nurse advised me not to drink soya milk as it contains extracts of oestrogen and as my cancer was hormone receptive they
want to block the effects of oestrogen on the breast cancer cells, so it seems a bit silly me drinking something that contains oestrogen.
Everybody seems to say something different, as I have read so often that you should stay away from dairy, but if you do not have soya milk then obviously you will need ordinary milk.
Never quite sure what to do. They do say some herbs are good for hot flushes not sure which ones though.
Regards.
Jean
Hi Maureen and Jean
You both may be interested in a factsheet which Breast Cancer Care produces called ‘Diet and breast cancer’, as it contains some information about soya. The second one is about complimentary therapies and includes advice about herbal remedies commonly used.
I have given the link below to the publication which you can read online or order via the helpline on 0808 800 6000. You are welcome to call the helpline for further advice and information, the line is open Mon-Fri 9am-5pm and Sat 9am-2pm.
breastcancercare.org.uk/docs/diet_and_breast_cancer_dec_06_0.pdf
breastcancercare.org.uk//docs/complementary_therapies_aug07_0.pdf
There have been a lot of threads on this very subject over the last few months, if you feel it would be helpful to you you can read these by typing ‘soya’ into the search facility at the top of this page.
Best wishes
Lucy
I have added this post on behalf of Maureen
Kind regards
Katie
hi jeannieG and lucy,
thankyou both for your comments on soya milk, it just goes to show how areas differ i saw my oncologist just a few weeks ago and i said i was drinking soya milk but niether he or the breast nurse offered any opinion so i assumed it ok, my cancer was also oestrogen sensative but now ihave stopped drinking it just to be on the safe side.
best wishes
maureen
hiya
all this information is enough to drive anyone to distraction!! I have very low energy levels - so when Boots advertised ‘Energy’ Co-Enzyme Q10 I thought I needed to try this one out. So I googled the ingredients which include soya oil - with the cross reference for estrogen positive breast cancer and the advice from most of the sites was that there should not be a problem. I will be checking out the above sites - but am keen to know if anyone else is trying this supplement.
thanks a mill
Gill
Hi Gill
Well, I’ve been taking Boots CoQ10 for years (first at 30 mg per day, now at 50 mg per day) as an energy-booster, but never realised that it was jam-packed with soya oil! That must have had some impact on my very ER+++ BC, not to mention my bone & liver mets!! Will stop taking it now, until I can find one that doesn’t have soya in it – anyone know which brand I might have instead? Thanks for any advice you might have.
Marilyn xx
Hi all,
I have been eating soya products for decades, and was taking CoQ10 for several years. However, my breast cancer was hormone receptor negative, although of a high grade. I will continue with soya, largely because I am lactose intolerant.
Elena
I stopped using soya milk because I am oestrogen receptive, but I certainly miss it, I hate cows milk and goats milk…eek, awful stuff.
Linda
Goodness knows what to believe. This extract is from the CancerActive website and the article was originally published in December 2002 icon:
"Soya contains substances that are positive cancer inhibitors and protectors. It has been shown to restrict the blood supply needed for tumour growth and Cancer Research UK recently confirmed its benefits in reducing the risk of breast cancer.
Cancers that are hormonally driven, for example, certain breast and prostate cancers, can be limited by soya.
Soya contains phytoestrogens, plant oestrogens which bind to cellular receptor sites blocking the action of the patient’s own oestrogen, which would bind to the same cellular site and turn the host cell rogue."
Quite a lot of info about soya on Cancer research uk site. just type in soya into their search. Their advice seems to be just don’t have large quantities of it.
I am a vegetarian and use soya milk in tea and have soya yogs, also milk products for calcium. Diagnosed with oestrogen receptive cancer but I am continuing with the soya until I hear or read of conclusive evidence to prove a link.
Magsi
Hi All,
I too have read conflicting things about soya so try to avoid it where I can but don’t worry if it appears in small amounts in other foodstuffs. As a milk replacement I use Rice Dream which is available in all supermarkets in the longlife milk ailse. Have just looked at ingredients which are: Filtered water, Rice, Cold pressed sunflower oil, calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate and sea salt. It tasted nice although is a bit thinner than dairy milk, and is good for cooking with too.
Love Louisa xxx
If I’m reading things correctly (and I may well have missed something obvious), the conflicting advice seems to be whether phytoestrogens MIMIC oestrogen in binding with cancer cells (anti-soya), or actually BLOCK our own oestrogen from binding with rogue cells (pro-soya) - I haven’t read a lot about it, just enough to be baffled, and I remain very sceptical. BC dietary advice gleaned from the internet is vague, peppered with what ‘may’ and ‘may not’ (possibly) make a difference, good or bad, and clearly there is not enough known with certainty about what WILL make a difference. So much is published that is almost immediately contradicted by a different study, not only by research organisations, I suppose the best we can do is follow conventional advice on ‘healthy eating’, and stay confused. Generations on they’ll wonder how we could possibly not have understood! Lyn xx
Hello,
I had estrogen and progesterone positive bc, and like everyone else was confused about soy. My consultant told me that soy is considered “protective” for women who have not been diagnosed. But, it’s considered dangerous for anyone with hormone-related bc. So, use it until diagnosis then stop? Not exactly great advice.
For what it’s worth I never ate soya of any kind before diagnosis, but I did drink lots of cows milk and ate loads of cheese. I’ve cut back drastically on dairy, and when I do have it, it’s organic, pasteurized, lower fat and smaller amounts.
I think Oatly oat milk is great, and so is Eco-mil Almond milk. Both of these are thicker and sweeter than rice milk, both are available in lots of health shops. I use them for cooking, and for adding to tea or hot chocolate. But they’re both quite expensive too.
Buckwheat
Dr Jane Plant in “your life in your hands” (her book) says that a dairy diet seems to be the main factor in why 1 in 9 women in the UK develop BC, as opposed to 1 in 10, 000 in rural China. She recommends soya and says it is protective. The Vegetarian and vegan foundation publish a booklet about this called “one in nine” which you can by on Amazon - they also do a fact sheet on whether soya is safe, which I have sent off for. I have goone non-dairy since dx and would like to find out whether soya is safe.
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This is what I’ve gleaned from the information given by CRUK and breastcancer.org
The isoflavones contained in soya proteins can mimic a weak oestrogen effect. It’s not the same as the oestrogen the body makes - it is 1,000 times weaker than the body’s oestrogen, so unlikely to have any effect on your oestrogen levels, especially eaten in moderation.
There appears to be no scientific evidence that soya causes, prevents, contributes to or affects the progress of breast cancer, including oestrogen positive breast cancer. In fact, 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.
In addition, women with the highest levels of isoflavones in their diet are reported to have significant risk reductions for uterine cancer.
I don’t have the links right now, because this is info I copied some time ago, but I’ll look them out.
I’m vegan; I had oestrogen positive bc and I consume soy every single day and have never been warned against it by medical professionals. It would seem that consumed in moderation it’s fine.
I think of myself as disproving Jane Plant’s theory all by myself - no dairy for years, then ER+ breast cancer.
Thanks for that Louise, I have read all the links re soya and am very confused, as I think the medical profession also seem to be! I am staying non-dairy though, will wait for the VVF publications to arrive … it has been very difficult getting around all the breast cancer jargon over the past month since I was dx … I am ER+ too (oestrogen and progesterone. Is tthat right or am I ER++?) and waiting for results of pathology report after WLE and axillary clearance.
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Thanks for that link, Molly, which led to many other useful links. I think it confirms my suspicions that it was using a lot of soya products that caused my E+ bc.
I now try to avoid the stuff but, as the article says, it is in everything, even bread, unless you bake your own.
Sarcath
Hi,
Just wanted to say I was wrong when I said:
“For what it’s worth I never ate soya of any kind before diagnosis”
Rereading my last post made me realise that actually I used to eat a lot of soy - in the form of soy lecithins and soy flour that are in chocolate, processed foods and most packaged bread. It wasn’t until I started reading the nutrition labels on foods in the supermarket that I realised just how much soy I had probably consumed over many years. But hey I could also say the same about all the ready salted crisps I’ve eaten over the years and there’s no soy in them!
About its protective effects, my understanding is that soy “phytoestrogens” attach themselves to estrogen receptors of breast tissue cells, thereby blocking other more “dangerous” estrogens from attaching themselves. So, any other phytoestrogens could presumably block receptors in the same way, so what is so special about soy???
Having been diagnosed and treated for bc, like other women here I try to avoid estrogens in my diet, whether they are animal or plant.
On the other hand, recently there have been reports that eating eggs can decrease risk by something like 25 percent. And you can’t get much more estrogenic than an egg can you???
I remain confused.