Soy Protein Helps Prevent Breast Cancer

January 27, 2000

Soy protein has been found to help prevent breast cancer with a 20-25% rate of success. Results were published this month in the journal Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, the official publication of the American Association for Cancer Research.

The research was conducted in Arkansas, funded by USDA. Researchers found that both soy protein and whey protein help protect against br3east cancer.

In laboratory studies, Thomas M. Badger, director of the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center, said soy protein prevented about 25% of breast cancer that had been chemically induced in test rats.

"Our results indicate that diets rich in soy reduce the incidence of chemically-induced mammary tumors by about 20%," the research team reported.

Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said the research may "help protect women and children from developing breast cancer." Badger said more than 180,000 new breast cancer cases are diagnosed each year in women who live in the United States.