Is soy bad for boobs?

[runveerun]

Both myself a friend who also Body builds (and she lives in USA) have both at the same time discovered lumps in our boobs. When she went to a specalist in the USA they told her to stay away from soy, she doesn't eat tofu or drink soy milk etc BUT found that all the whey protein powder she is using contains soy.

My specalist told me to stay away from booze,cigarettes, stress and coffee no mention of the soy but from what my friend describes it sounds likes we have the same thing. It is to do with raising the estrogen levels in your body from the soy. Has anybody heard of this before or had any experience with this?

She is going to stay away from protein shakes for a month and see what happens.

I'm wondering if I should do the same?

Here is an article on what I am referring to:

http://www.breastcancer.org/risk/everyo ... on/soy.jsp

[HumanPerformance]

Breast cancer is caused of course by the hormone estrogen. This is why it is 100 times more common in females than in males. The continued production of the estrogen causes the tumor (lump) to continue growing and have the potential to become cancerous.

There are dozens of naturally occuring substances that mimic the actions of estrogen in the human body. These are called "phytoestrogens". Basically once they are in your body your body cant tell the difference between these and real estrogen.

Soy is one of the most well known ones. It is such a powerfull phytoestrogen that many experts on health and nutrition want it banned alltogether!

If you go to a site called T-Nation and look up "soy" you will find countless articles proclaiming its evils. Of course there are many other pytoestrogens of which coffee is one (hence your doctor mentioning it) , as well as many herbs and spices that you would never consider like cumin for example.

If you want to abolish as many of these from your diet as possible just google Phytoestrogens and you will find many lists of the types of foods you should be avoiding.

I dont see how avoiding protien powders would benefit you though . If the protien powder in qestion contained soy then yes of course avoid it. But pure whey protien powders would be fine.

[tikalosh]

from wikipedia:

According to a study by Canadian researchers about the content of nine common phytoestrogens in a Western diet, foods with the highest relative phytoestrogen content were nuts and oilseeds, followed by soy products, cereals and breads, legumes, meat products, and other processed foods that may contain soy, vegetables, fruits, alcoholic, and nonalcoholic beverages. Flax seed and other oilseeds contained the highest total phytoestrogen content, followed by soy bean and tofu. [11]. The highest concentrations of Isoflavones are found in soy bean and soy bean products (eg. tofu) followed by legumes, whereas lignans are the primary source of phytoestrogen found in nuts and oilseeds (e.g. flax) and also found in cereals, legumes, fruits and vegetables.

Phytoestrogen content varies in different foods, and may vary significantly within the same group of foods (e.g. soy beverages, tofu) depending on processing mechanisms and type of soy bean used.[12] Legumes (in particular soybeans), whole grain cereals, and some seeds are high in phytoestrogen. A more comprehensive list of foods known to contain phytoestrogens includes: soy beans, tofu, tempeh, soy beverages, linseed (flax), sesame seeds, wheat, berries, oats, barley, dried beans, lentils, rice, alfalfa, mung beans, apples, carrots, pomegranates,[13] wheat germ, ricebran, soy linseed bread, ginseng, bourbon and beer[14] fennel and anise.[15]

f*ck no more:

peanut butter

flax seed oil

oats

beer

[HumanPerformance]

Nice research tikalosh,

But as to your own consumption of these products I wouldnt worry to much.

Some people are overly sensitive to phytoestrogens in foods and so should avoid them (and of course those with breast cancer should also) but for most people they are not problamatic, especially if your body fat is levels are low. So go ahead and enjoy your peanut butter

[runveerun]

Yep soy seem to be in most foods anyway, but I guess with any kind of food if you eat too much of it it will be bad for you. Thanks for the info guys!

[Flex]

BUT found that all the whey protein powder she is using contains soy.

It's soy lecithin, a phospholipid from soy, and would make up less than 1% of the protein. It helps "instantise" the protein, essentially stops it going lumpy when you mix it. One 30g serve of whey protein would contain less than 0.2g of soy lecithin. It contains essential fatty acids, and by all accounts it might actually be pretty good for us, as it can help lower cholesterol, may improve liver health, and might also help with improving weightloss.

[HumanPerformance]

Thanks Flex, I didnt know that

[orange]

There are studies that show soy-derived lecithin has significant effects on lowering cholesterol and triglyceride, while increasing HDL ("good cholesterol") levels in the blood. Thanks Wikipedia.

[OMCV6]

I would'nt say that estrogen "causes breast cancer" in the first instance.

But is sure does allow an existing tumour in the breast grow at a much faster rate.

This is why the drug Nolodex (Tamoxifen Citrate) is frequently used in patients with breast cancer.

Tamoxifen competes with estrogen for the cell receptor site and blocks estrogen delivering the message.

A good analogy of how tamoxifen works would be putting the wrong key in a door lock, and snapping it off. The wrong key cannot "lock or unlock" the lock, but it makes it bloody difficult for any other key to fit in and do anything, atleast while it is in there anyway.

[runveerun]

BUT found that all the whey protein powder she is using contains soy.

It's soy lecithin, a phospholipid from soy, and would make up less than 1% of the protein. It helps "instantise" the protein, essentially stops it going lumpy when you mix it. One 30g serve of whey protein would contain less than 0.2g of soy lecithin. It contains essential fatty acids, and by all accounts it might actually be pretty good for us, as it can help lower cholesterol, may improve liver health, and might also help with improving weightloss.

Thanks Flex! I was hoping you'd come up with something!

[Android]

I would'nt say that estrogen "causes breast cancer" in the first instance.

But is sure does allow an existing tumour in the breast grow at a much faster rate.

This is why the drug Nolodex (Tamoxifen Citrate) is frequently used in patients with breast cancer.

Tamoxifen competes with estrogen for the cell receptor site and blocks estrogen delivering the message.

A good analogy of how tamoxifen works would be putting the wrong key in a door lock, and snapping it off. The wrong key cannot "lock or unlock" the lock, but it makes it bloody difficult for any other key to fit in and do anything, atleast while it is in there anyway.

Tamoxifen is no longer made 'legitimately' to my knowledge (or so I've heard), newer drugs are available like Fempro

I wonder how Tofu-eating asian people (like my wife) go with eating so much of the stuff if it's really bad for you...maybe as said above it's only a prob if u r sensitive to it