Anyone Know Anything About Soy and LC?

[Linda661]

Ever just suddenly get a craving for something that you never have consumed before? Well, all of a sudden about 2 weeks ago, I decided to try soymilk and I immediately became hooked on it -- yep, just was walking past it in the grocery store and something in me was pulled (if you will) to get it and it seems to agree with me bigtime! I have never used the stuff before and really know nothing about it!

So, naturally, I've been investigating the role of soy products in health because of this, and I keep circling around evidence that it is beneficial in both the prevention of LC and can have life extending benefits in the treatment of LC. Some of the references seem tied to articles in JAMA and other reputable places, but I'm uncertain of my research, especially since I did a search in here and couldn't find much on it, plus most of my google searches on it take me to places I am unfamiliar with.

Some of this stuff seems to claim that it has protective factors for both men and women, active smokers and non-smokers......sounds wonderful, but I just don't know exactly where to hang my hat on this one. I'm finding claims of reductions in risk for LC of 40%+ in some places -- so I'm obviously curious!

Anyone have any expertise in this area?

Linda

[MsC1210]

Linda

I did a quick scan through some of the files I have here and came up with this. Hope it helps a bit..

Chris

'Phytoestrogens' May Reduce Lung Cancer Risk

Smokers, Non-Smokers Benefit From Certain Foods

Foods containing chemicals with weak estrogen-like activity appear to reduce the risk of developing lung cancer in smokers and non-smokers, according to new study results.

M. D. Anderson investigators reported in the Sept. 28 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association that participants who ate the highest amount of foods with dietary “phytoestrogens” had a 46% reduced risk of developing lung cancer, compared to those who ate the lowest quantity.

Phytoestrogens are plant chemicals (such as soy, grains, legumes and vegetables) that bind to the estrogen receptors present in normal and malignant lung tissue, and that could play a role in the regulation or deregulation of cancer growth.

Men and women benefit from different foods

The study also found the following gender-specific benefits:

Men and soy – Men who ate the highest amount of soy-isoflavones (a type of phytoestrogen found in soymilk, soy, miso) lowered their risk of developing lung cancer by 72%.

Women and fruit – Women who ate certain lignans (a type of phytoestrogen found in fruits, vegetables, seeds, berries and teas) lowered their risk of developing lung cancer by 41%. For those women who also used hormone replacement therapy, this protective effect was further enhanced.

The type of lignans found effective in the study include broccoli, carrots, lettuce, onions and flaxseed.

Reliability of participant memory may weaken study results

More than 3,500 people participated in the research, making it the largest case-control study to examine dietary phytoestrogens and lung cancer risk in the United States, researchers say. Between 1995 and 2003, the research team enrolled 1,674 patients treated for lung cancer at M. D. Anderson, and 1,735 healthy “control” volunteers from private clinics in the Houston area.

The participants were asked detailed questions about their diet for the year prior to their enrollment or to their cancer diagnosis, with the assumption that what they ate that year reflected their general eating pattern over a number of years, says the study’s lead author, Matthew Schabath, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in M. D. Anderson’s Department of Epidemiology.

“What we’ve found is intriguing and supports a small but growing body of evidence that suggests estrogenic-like compounds in food may help protect against development of lung and other cancers,” Schabath says. “But these kinds of studies, which rely on a person’s recall of the food they’ve eaten months before, have known limitations and require more investigation.”

Non-smokers’ lung cancer risk reduced by foods

One of the most intriguing findings, Schabath says, is that people who never smoked had a reduced chance of developing the disease if they ate large quantities of phytoestrogen-rich food.

“About 15% of lung cancers occur in those who have never smoked. Besides exposure to second-hand smoke, other risk factors for these cancers are yet to be determined,” Schabath says.

Previous hormone replacement research leads to study

The study builds on the group’s 2004 finding that women who used hormone replacement therapy (medication that restores estrogen to postmenopausal women) had a lower risk of developing lung cancer than women who didn’t use these agents, given a similar history of cigarette use.

If estrogen drugs could protect against lung cancer, the researchers wondered if the same is true of foods that have naturally occurring low levels of estrogens. Several epidemiological studies of phytoestrogenic foods had suggested that might be the case for breast, endometrial and prostate cancers.

Results don’t mean smoking should continue

As promising as the study findings are, they shouldn’t be seen as a license for smokers to continue smoking while increasing consumption of vegetables, cautions the study’s principal investigator, Margaret Spitz, M.D., chair of M. D. Anderson’s Department of Epidemiology.

“The best cancer prevention advice continues to be to stop smoking, and it is clear that all of us can benefit from healthy eating and exercising,” Spitz says. “Still, our results generally show that higher intake of these foods resulted in lower lung cancer risk, and that is certainly a tantalizing preliminary finding.”

http://www.cancerwise.org/october_2005/ ... isplayFull

[Linda661]

TY for posting that one Chris -- that's one of the reputable ones I ran across in my searches as well. The info. sounds so promising from what I've seen.......but I also ran across articles where claims about soy benefits had to be withdrawn (that was in the late 1990's if I remember right and I think that related to a particular company though); one nutrition-based Q&A site (that I never heard of) was advising cancer patients that soymilk is also a great protein source for the health shakes they were making to withstand the effects of chemo. and radiation -- and if it's valid at all that there's a life extension benefit from soy components...to LC as well as the other, more-published, cancers benefitting from soy........well, you can see why I'm really curious here!

Linda

[MsC1210]

Linda

I was very wary about some of the no~name sites, (so to speak) when I was looking for information, too. I have a ton of other info that I am so skeptical about that I am hesitant to post it. (about other topics as well as the soy issues)

Brad was the type that hated any type of drug so the treatment program was doubly difficult as it went against everything he used to strive to avoid. Hence my quest into natural and alternative therapies.

I will continue to dig through what I have and if I come across anything else I will be more than happy to post it.

All my best to you

Chris

[Guest Nic]

OK, I realize I am bumping this topic up quite a bit, but it is an interesting topic, and I am a nutrition nerd, so here goes:

**Soy Beans: versatile food with medicinal qualities that can help prevent diseases, especially cancer; contain phytoestrogens called isoflavones, which can mimic the effects of estrogen in the body. The protease inhibitors in soy beans also help to protect against cancer; also, Vitamin E defends cells against free radical damage and is found in soy beans; also contain B-Vitamins, which play a role in maintaining the nervous system and helping the body to cope with stress. **Choose organic or guaranteed GM-free soy products** CONTAINS ALL 8 ESSENTIAL AMINO ACIDS.

This is from a really cool book I read Called The Top 100 Immunity Boosters by Charlotte Haigh

Here are wiki links to Soy Milk, and also to Isoflavones, which are contained in soy products

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soymilk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoflavones

soy milk is also often easier for those with lactose intolerance to handle. It definitely has a different taste than milk, but that's not a bad thing at all!

[john]

Hopefully there can be more research in this area, but unlikely because of the cost.

One thing I wonder about is that there are certain cancers that are estrogen dependent. Studies have shown good and bad results related to tumor growth (and soy intake) so maybe it is good for some people and bad for others based on factors such as premenapausal, etc

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... _n18609988

I guess if your body is craving it and it makes you feel good then maybe it is good.

[Linda661]

Wow, didn't expect to see this bumped....

Anyway, little update: it was a craving that left after about 2-3 months. No idea why.

Had that craving thing happen once with avocadoes during the whole process of losing my dad -- never bought an avocado in my life and all of a sudden I couldn't get enough of them for about 4 months (and I mean consuming 2-3 of them at a meal); interesting that I lost over 25 pounds during that time as well (and needed to lose weight) and felt great mentally. Then the craving suddenly stopped and to this day I'm not attracted to them either.

The body knows what it wants from what I can tell if we just listen to it rather than everyone else's opinion of what we should or should not consume.

Linda