Discover the Odd Truth Behind Isoflavones and Breast Cancer

There has been a new study done on the connection between soy foods and breast cancer that I want you to know about right now. There has been a valid concern about soy having hormonal effects, but what is the latest you need to know? Let’s talk about the science.

Soy foods do contain things called phytoestrogens, or plant estrogens, which we have seen can sometimes correspond with negative outcomes in people (especially when it comes to synthetic varieties of estrogen), such as higher rates of:

• Breast cancer
• Ovarian cancer

At the same time, we have seen that estrogen does good things as it concerns bone loss, cardiovascular health, brain aging, and more. This has created something of a dilemma as it concerned the role of soy. Especially as it concerns plant estrogens, we as a community had a hard time mapping out this equation and figuring out where it all fit in.

Estrogen Receptors

What we have learned is that there are different kinds of estrogen receptors, called alpha and beta receptors. In order to simplify this, what you need to know is that there is one version that we want to see active, and one that we would rather not see active.

When estrogen is good, it helps make:

• Skin healthier
• Bones healthier
• Brains healthier
• Blood vessels healthier

The bad response, the kind that we do not want to see, is the kind that instigates cell proliferation. This is where cell growth can occur in key areas, which can lead to what we want to avoid (otherwise known as higher rates of breast and ovarian cancer).

SERM

A SERM is essentially the ideal when it comes to the estrogen in our bodies, helping the growth of healthy cells in our bones, brains, and more, and denying the cell proliferation in the areas where certain cancers may take root. Data has actually emerged suggesting that soy might actually act as more of a SERM (the good), rather than an estrogen (the bad).

How does a SERM work?

So, let’s go back into our thinking about receptors. A SERM would basically help activate the good receptors (within the confines of one simple molecule) and would block up the bad receptors – even in the presence of estrogen.

Existing Research

To this point, the data has been strong that soy does not cause breast cancer¹. In fact, a lot of data has shown the opposite. As an example, some population studies have shown that those communities who consume the most soy have the lowest instances of breast, ovarian, and osteoporosis amongst themselves.

What we really did not know is what would happen with regards to soy and someone who already had breast cancer. To further differentiate this, though, we need to differentiate soy isolates from soy isoflavones.

There is what we know as “whole soy” and then there are soy products which have higher concentrations of what we know as soy isoflavones (which are phytoestrogen-like molecules). Furthermore, these isoflavones have been made available as individualized supplements – which means you can take it all by itself.

The Breaking Research

A recent study³ looked at a large group of women, thousands, who had active breast cancer and had varying levels of soy intake afterward. Ultimately, it answered the question about the recurrence and the risk therein.

Amongst the women who were consuming some soy foods, on a regular basis, they not only had a lower recurrence rate, but a lower overall mortality rate – all it took was one and a half milligrams (or more) of soy. That might look like a serving of:

• Ddamame (soy beans)
• Miso, or two
• Natto
• Soy milk
• Soy proteins

Soy Supplements

What we are left with is questions about the role of soy supplements in our lives. What we need to consider is this: there have been many past examples to where some part of our diet does a good thing but is then isolated and then fails to do that same good thing that we previously relied on it to do. So, barring strong evidence from the benefits of soy isolates, I would still avoid them until we learn more about them.

But what about soy and your thyroid?

Stay tuned – I’ve got a full paper on this for you coming soon!

Staying Up To Date On Your Well-Being

I wanted to share some of this amazing new research with you so that you can have the knowledge you need when it comes to doing right by your body.

Now that you have learned more about the role of soy in your diet, isn’t it about time you also learned about other parts of your body? Try taking the Thyroid Quiz (Click Here) today, and learn a little bit more about one of the most crucial elements of your body right now.

P.S. Whenever you are ready, here is how I can help you now:

1. Schedule a Thyroid Second Opinion with me, Dr. C, Click Here for Details
2. Need a Personalized Supplement? Check out My Thyroid Specific Formulations
3. Download and use my Favorite Recipes Cookbook Here
4. Check out my podcast Medical Myths, Legends, and Fairytales Here

Dr. Alan Glen Christianson (Dr. C) is a Naturopathic Endocrinologist and the author of The NY Times bestselling Adrenal Reset Diet, The Metabolism Reset Diet and The Thyroid Reset Diet.

Dr. C’s gift for figuring out what really works has helped hundreds of thousands of people reverse thyroid disease, lose weight, diabetes, and regain energy. Learn more about the surprising story that started his quest.