FAQ - Women's Health

Women's Health

• What are the benefits of using soy during pregnancy?
• Is there any relation between soy and breast cancer?
• Can soy help osteoporosis?

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Answers

What are the benefits of using soy during pregnancy?
The benefits of pregnant women including soy in their diets has not been explored. In fact, we are not aware of any research that has looked specifically at soy food consumption and neonatal health. However, soy can be a healthy addition to a pregnant woman's diet. Including moderate (moderation is the key, more is not always better), approximately 25 grams, or 3-4 servings of soy in the diet per day has been shown to be very beneficial to health in general. Vegetarians or vegans typically consume this amount of soy in their diet, as can anyone who puts a little effort into it. Being pregnant you do want to include soy foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals such as calcium. Calcium-fortified soy milk is a good option. There are other nutrients that have also been found to be healthy additions to the pregnant women's diet. For example, eating fish or taking fish oil capsules has been shown to promote cognitive development in infants. Addition of soy to one's diet has been proven to be beneficial, pregnant or not.

Is there any relation between soy and breast cancer?
The benefits of soy in preventing breast cancer is an area of on going research. There are many studies being done in both animals and humans to help us better understand this topic. From the scientific literature that is available at this time, it is our personal opinion that soy should be protective for women with a family history of breast cancer.

What is the soy and breast cancer connection? Breast cancer is a hormone-driven cancer. Tamoxifen, an anti-estrogen pharmacological agent, has been shown to be especially effective in treating and/or preventing estrogen-sensitive cancer. Tamoxifen appears to act in a similar manner as isoflavones (naturally occurring plant chemicals) in soy. Isoflavones can simplistically be looked at as weak hormones which have both pro- and anti-estrogenic (yes, very confusing even for those in the field) qualities. Therefore, it is this hormone connection that has researchers excited about the potential therapeutic role of soy in cancer.

At this time we recommend that women who have a personal or family history of cancer include only moderate amounts of soy in their diet. This amounts to approximately 2-3 servings of soy per day. We define a serving of soy as being 6-7 grams of soy protein and 12-14 milligrams of isoflavones. It is very easy to include this amount of soy in the diet with such soy foods as soy milk, roasted soynuts, soy cereal, soy snack bars or soy meat or cheese alternatives. We do not recommend isoflavone supplements until we know more about the health impact of them.

We do encourage you to speak with your oncologist about your including soy in your diet as only they are familiar with your medical history and should be able to offer you the best advice.

Can soy help osteoporosis?
Incorporating soy into your diet not only helps to alleviate some of the symptoms associated with menopause, but also helps to preserve bone mass and, as such, prevent osteoporosis.

We recommend that postmenopausal women try to include moderate amounts of soy in their diet. This amounts to approximately 25 grams of soy protein and 50 milligrams of isoflavones per day. You can achieve 25 grams of soy protein in the diet with approximately 4 servings of soy per day. Soy milk, such as that that you are drinking is a good choice. However, do make sure that the soy milk that you are drinking is fortified with calcium as some soy milks are not. Calcium is very important in the prevention of osteoporosis.

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