ARS | Publication request: Soy Consumption and Colorectal Cancer Risk in Humans: A Meta-Analysis

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: December 15, 2009
Publication Date: April 24, 2010
Citation: Yan, L., Spitznagel, E.L., Bosland, M.C. 2010. Soy Consumption and Colorectal Cancer Risk in Humans: A Meta-Analysis. Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; 2010; 2010. Abst nr. 1893.

Technical Abstract: The purpose of the present study was to determine the relationship between soy consumption and colorectal cancer risk in humans by conducting a meta-analysis of available epidemiologic studies. We systematically reviewed publications obtained through a Medline literature search and identified four cohort and seven case-control studies on soy and colorectal cancer risk that met the inclusion criteria. We extracted the risk estimate (hazard ratio, relative risk or odds ratio) of the highest and the lowest reported categories of intake from each study and conducted this analysis using a random-effects model. Our analysis did not find that soy consumption was associated with colorectal cancer risk (combined risk estimate: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.79, 1.03) nor the separate analyses on colon cancer (combined risk estimate: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.74, 1.06) and rectal cancer (combined risk estimate: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.67, 1.14). However, when separately analyzed on the basis of gender, we found soy was associated with an approximately 21% reduction in colorectal cancer risk in women (combined risk estimate: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.65, 0.97; P = 0.026), but not in men (combined risk estimate: 1.10, 95% CI: 0.90, 1.33). Thus, consumption of soy foods may be associated with a reduction in colorectal cancer risk in women, but not in men.