Adolescent and adult soy food intake and breast cancer risk: results from the Shanghai Women’s Health Study
Open Access
- 1 June 2009
- journal article
- Published by Elsevier BV in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
- Vol. 89 (6), 1920-1926
- https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.2008.27361
Abstract
Background: Soy food is a rich source of isoflavones—a class of phytoestrogens that has both antiestrogenic and anticarcinogenic properties. Objective: The objective was to evaluate the association of adolescent and adult soy food intake with breast cancer risk in a cohort of 73,223 Chinese women who participated in the Shanghai Women’s Health Study. Design: A validated food-frequency questionnaire was used to assess usual dietary intake during adulthood and adolescence. After a mean follow-up of 7.4 y, 592 incident cases of breast cancer were identified for longitudinal analyses by using Cox regressions. Results: Adult soy food consumption, measured either by soy protein or isoflavone intake, was inversely associated with the risk of premenopausal breast cancer, and the association was highly statistically significant (P for trend < 0.001). The multivariate-adjusted relative risks (RRs) for the upper intake quintile compared with the lowest quintile were 0.41 (95% CI: 0.25, 0.70) for soy protein intake and 0.44 (95% CI: 0.26, 0.73) for isoflavone intake. High intake of soy foods during adolescence was also associated with a reduced risk of premenopausal breast cancer (RR: 0.57; 95% CI: 0.34, 0.97). Women who consumed a high amount of soy foods consistently during adolescence and adulthood had a substantially reduced risk of breast cancer. No significant association with soy food consumption was found for postmenopausal breast cancer. Conclusion: This large, population-based, prospective cohort study provides strong evidence of a protective effect of soy food intake against premenopausal breast cancer.Keywords
This publication has 32 references indexed in Scilit:
- Dietary Patterns and Risk of Mortality From Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer, and All Causes in a Prospective Cohort of WomenCirculation, 2008
- Plasma Isoflavone Level and Subsequent Risk of Breast Cancer Among Japanese Women: A Nested Case-Control Study From the Japan Public Health Center-Based Prospective Study GroupJournal of Clinical Oncology, 2008
- Epidemiology of soy exposures and breast cancer riskBritish Journal of Cancer, 2008
- Whole Grain, Bran, and Germ Intake and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: A Prospective Cohort Study and Systematic ReviewPLoS Medicine, 2007
- Consumption of soy foods and the risk of breast cancer: findings from the Japan Collaborative Cohort (JACC) StudyCancer Causes & Control, 2007
- Dietary Intakes of Flavonols and Flavones and Coronary Heart Disease in US WomenAmerican Journal of Epidemiology, 2007
- Meta-Analysis of Soy Intake and Breast Cancer RiskJNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2006
- Validity and reproducibility of the food frequency questionnaire used in the Shanghai Women's Health StudyEuropean Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2003
- Decreased serum estradiol concentration associated with high dietary intake of soy products in premenopausal Japanese womenNutrition and Cancer, 1997
- Modification of spontaneous mammary tumors in mice fed different sources of protein, fat and carbohydrateCancer Letters, 1983