Adolescent and adult soy intake and risk of breast cancer in Asian-Americans
Open accessAbstract
The association between soyfood intake and breast cancer risk is controversial. Most of the epidemiologic studies published on this topic in the 1990s were not designed to specifically address this question. We conducted a population-based, case-control study of breast cancer among Chinese, Japanese and Filipino women in Los Angeles County to further investigate the role of soy. Our primary objective was to quantify breast cancer risks associated with intake of soy during adolescence and adult life among Asian-American women. During 1995-1998, we successfully interviewed 501 breast cancer patients and 594 control subjects. Intake of soy among Asian-Americans is still relatively high; the median intake was 12 mg isoflavones/day, approximately one-third of that reported in a recent study in Shanghai, China. The risk of breast cancer was significantly inversely associated with soy intake during adolescence and adult life. After adjusting for age, specific Asian ethnicity, education, migration history and menstrual and reproductive factors, women who reported soy intake at least once per week during adolescence showed a statistically significantly reduced risk of breast cancer. There was also a significant trend of decreasing risk with increasing soy intake during adult life. When we considered soy intake during both adolescence and adult life, subjects who were high-soy consumers during both time periods showed the lowest risk (OR=0.53, 95% CI=0.36-0.78) compared with those who were low consumers during both time periods. Risk of breast cancer was intermediate among subjects who were high-soy consumers during adolescence and low-soy consumers during adult life (OR=0.77, 95% CI=0.51-1.10). Based on a relatively small number of subjects, the risk did not appear to differ between those who were low consumers during adolescence and high consumers during adult life. Results remained similar after adjustment for other potential confounders including other dietary and non-dietary risk factors for breast cancer. These results show that high soy intake in childhood in Asian-Americans is associated with reduced breast cancer risk. Risk may be further reduced by intake as an adult.
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Five of six studies examining soyfood consumption in childhood found higher soy intake (≥1 to ≥4 servings per week) was significantly protective against breast cancer in adulthood.
“Five of six studies examining the effects of soyfood consumption in childhood found that higher soy intake, ranging from ≥1 to ≥4 servings per week, compared to lower intake, was significantly protective against breast cancer in adulthood [62,71,73,77,78].”
From Soy, Red Clover, and Isoflavones and Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review (2013) · cites this paper as [77]
The Abstract and Results report that soy intake at least weekly during adolescence was associated with a statistically significant reduction in breast cancer risk among Asian-American women. This paper supplies one positive study, but it does not establish the citing sentence’s aggregate count of five of six childhood-intake studies. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAmong case-control studies reporting odds ratios with confidence intervals, 11 of 19 (58%) showed significant inverse relationships between soy food or protein intake and breast cancer risk.
“Of the 19 studies, 11 (58%) showed significant inverse relationships between soy food or protein intake and risk of breast cancer [44-46,61,64,71-73,77,78,81].”
From Soy, Red Clover, and Isoflavones and Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review (2013) · cites this paper as [77]
Among case-control studies reporting odds ratios with confidence intervals, nine of 16 (56%) showed a significant inverse relationship between soy isoflavone intake and breast cancer risk.
“Of the 16 studies, nine (56%) showed a significant inverse relationship between soy isoflavone intake and risk of breast cancer [42,43,45,48,49,63,75,77,81].”
From Soy, Red Clover, and Isoflavones and Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review (2013) · cites this paper as [77]
Eight of 12 (67%) studies examining high soy food or protein and six of seven (86%) studies examining high soy isoflavones reported inverse associations between soy and breast cancer risk.
“Eight of 12 (67%) studies examining high soy food or protein [45,46,61,64,72,77,78,81] and six of seven (86%) studies examining high soy isoflavones [42,43,45,75,77,81] reported inverse associations between soy and breast cancer risk.”
From Soy, Red Clover, and Isoflavones and Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review (2013) · cites this paper as [77]
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Cites
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- Authors
- Wu, A. H.
- Affiliations
- University of Southern California (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wu, A. H.
- Venue
- Carcinogenesis
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2002-09-01
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1491-1496
- ISSN
- 0143-3334 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2180
- OpenAlex
- W2097063989
- Cited by
- 406
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 23 · 2012: 17
- FWCI
- 17.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Carcinogenesis (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- California Breast Cancer Research Program (3PB-0102, 1RB-0287)
- National Institutes of Health (n01cn025403-006)
- National Cancer Institute (N01-CN-25403)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Phytoestrogen effects and research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Risks and Factors
- Keywords
- soy consumption, breast cancer risk, isoflavones, Asian American women, adolescent diet, dietary factors, Chinese women, Japanese women, Filipino women, Los Angeles County
- MeSH terms
- Asian, Breast Neoplasms, Data Collection, Diet, Eating, Female, Humans, Risk Factors, Glycine max, Case-Control Studies
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