There has been a lot of attention in recent years about whether soya is safe for women or whether it can cause or exacerbate breast cancer because of the phyto-oestrogens it contains.

My own view has always been that it is positively beneficial for women – because it contains the phyto-oestrogens. The weaker soya oestrogens actually compete with the stronger body oestrogens at the receptor sites and that can have the effect of protecting women from oestrogen dominance and especially if the woman has a lot of the most risky oestrogen types (which you can see in a hormone test). Less strong or risky oestrogen at receptor sites means less risk of breast cancer. That’s how I see it anyway.

If, however, a woman is not producing a lot of oestrogen and is low (check your adrenals as they have to pick up the slack after 40ish!), the extra that comes from soya can really help pick levels up. But, women have been reluctant to follow that advice because of the soya breast cancer worry.

Anyway, I was interested to see an article in the Natural Medicine Journal today which gives more weight to the safety of soy. Have a read; it’s interesting if not totally conclusive research-wise (more needs to be done), but they do say:

To date, not a single study of moderate soy consumption has found detrimental effects in any women with a history of breast cancer (premenopausal or postmenopausal, ER-negative or ER-positive).

Soy and Breast Cancer