Soy Bean

[mango juice]

What's with this email I received saying soy bean causes cancer in women? Is this true?

[soonny]

isolfavones is one of the soy bean extracts and when they get into your body it acts like weak oestrogens. Oestrogens are hormones that play a major part in ovulation, development of the secondary sex characteristics (eg. enlarged breasts, specific sexual fat deposits, coarse voice etc) and growth of long bones too. It can also prevent heart disease.

However, long tern exposure to excessive oestrogen is found to cause cancers. And this is especially prominent in women causing uterine or vaginal cancers, sometimes breast cancers as well.

I think reasonable amounts of soy bean won't do any harm but exposure to any chemical over a long period of time in a very high dosage, no matter how beneficial it may be, will somehow cause adverse side effects.

[ursula62]

A few months ago they were recommending that women INCREASE their intake of soya products to protect them from cancer because the phytoestrogens had a beneficial effect.

I suspect it's young babies that shouldn't be fed soya products as it can lead to allergies in later life.