Types of dietary fat and soy minimally affect hormones and biomarkers associated with breast cancer risk in premenopausal women
Abstract
Fourteen premenopausal women participated in a randomized, crossover controlled feeding study of three diets, each two menstrual cycles long. We compared a high saturated fat Western diet (control diet) with two other diets: the control diet plus soy protein (soy diet) and the control diet with polyunsaturated fat (PUFA diet) replacing most of the saturated fat. We measured reproductive and serum hormones, urinary estrogen metabolites and isoflavonoids, and menstrual cycle length. In the follicular phase, prolactin concentrations significantly decreased by 3.6 micrograms/dl (P = 0.047), follicle-stimulating hormone concentrations slightly increased by 0.1 IU/l (P = 0.076), and cortisol concentrations slightly decreased by 81.8 nmol/l (P = 0.088) with the PUFA diet vs. the control diet. The soy diet slightly increased menstrual cycle length by 1.8 +/- 0.7 days (P = 0.088) and significantly increased (P < 0.0001) urinary isoflavonoid excretion. These well-controlled diets did not affect serum estrogens or urinary estrogen metabolites, suggesting that type of fat or consumption of soy with a high saturated fat diet may not alter breast cancer risk by these mechanisms.
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Two of five RCTs assessing menstrual cycle length reported significant increases of 1.8 to 3.5 days in cycle length associated with soy consumption compared to control; remaining studies found no effects.
“Two of five studies assessing menstrual cycle length reported significant increases of between 1.8 to 3.5 days in cycle length associated with soy consumption compared to control subjects [149,150]; the remaining studies found no effects [147,156,158].”
From Soy, Red Clover, and Isoflavones and Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review (2013) · cites this paper as [149]
Of nine RCTs assessing impact of soy on estrogen metabolism via urinary metabolites, five reports of six studies found no significant change in 2-hydroxyestrone, 16α-hydroxyestrone, or 2:16α hydroxyestrone ratio compared to control.
“Of these, five reports of six studies found no significant change in 2-hydroxyestrone, 16α-hydroxyestrone, or 2:16α hydroxyestrone ratio compared to the control group (p>0.05 for all) [148,149,156,161,164].”
From Soy, Red Clover, and Isoflavones and Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review (2013) · cites this paper as [149]
A total of 18 RCTs assessed circulating estrogen levels; 15 of 18 found no significant impact from soy compared to control.
“A total of 18 RCTs assessed circulating estrogens levels (E1, E2, and/ or E3) Fifteen of 18 studies found no significant impact from soy compared to the control group (p>0.05) [129,132,133,138,140,143,145,147,149,150,155,156,158,160,163].”
From Soy, Red Clover, and Isoflavones and Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review (2013) · cites this paper as [149]
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- Authors
- Brown, B. D., Thomas, W., Hutchins, A., Martini, M. C., & Slavin, J. L.
- Affiliations
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Venue
- Nutrition and Cancer
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2002-05
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 22-30
- ISSN
- 0163-5581 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-7914
- OpenAlex
- W2006566807
- Cited by
- 34
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 1.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Nutrition and Cancer (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5r01ca071046-02)
- National Cancer Institute (5R01-CA-71046-02)
- National Center for Research Resources (M01RR000400)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Phytoestrogen effects and research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Risks and Factors
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Keywords
- dietary fat, soy protein, polyunsaturated fatty acids, saturated fat, breast cancer risk, premenopausal women, prolactin, follicle-stimulating hormone, cortisol, menstrual cycle length, urinary estrogen metabolites, serum estrogen, Western diet
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Breast Neoplasms, Dietary Fats, Estrogens, Non-Steroidal, Fatty Acids, Unsaturated, Female, Hormones, Humans, Isoflavones, Luteal Phase, Reference Values, Risk Factors, Biomarkers, Single-Blind Method, Premenopause, Cross-Over Studies, Plant Preparations, Soybean Proteins, Phytoestrogens
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