Soy-derived estrogens don't seem to up cancer risk

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Soy-derived estrogens don't seem to up cancer risk

Last Updated: 2004-07-09 11:41:34 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Will Boggs, MD

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Unlike the familiar estrogen replacement

products, soy isoflavones taken at dietary doses do not stimulate the

proliferation breast or uterine cells that could trigger cancerous

changes, according to a new report.

Soy isoflavones are naturally occurring plant estrogens that have been

widely marketed as alternatives to traditional estrogen replacement

therapy -- so-called conjugated equine estrogens -- for postmenopausal

women, the authors explain in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and

Metabolism.

Whether these isoflavones stimulate cell growth in the breast and uterus

and thereby promote development of estrogen-driven tumors has been

unclear.

Dr. E. Wood and colleagues from Wake Forest University Health

Sciences in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, evaluated markers of breast

and uterine proliferation in response to long-term treatment with soy

isoflavones or conjugated equine estrogens in monkeys.

Three years of soy isoflavone treatment did not significantly alter any

of these markers, the researchers report. In contrast, conjugated equine

estrogen treatment produced significant increases.

Soy isoflavone treatment also lowered levels of the animals' natural

estrogens, the team found.

" We are following up on the observation that soy isoflavones may lower

endogenous estrogens ... we are measuring intramammary estrogens and

expression/activity of estrogen-producing enzymes, " Wood told Reuters

Health.

They are looking into the possibility that soy isoflavones may actually

oppose proliferation in the breast induced by estrogen, Wood added.

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, July 2004.

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