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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Little Rock, Arkansas » Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #172790
Title: SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE AND PROTECTION AGAINST CANCER

Author
item BADGER, THOMAS - UAMS/ACNC
item RONIS, MARTIN - UAMS/ACNC
item SIMMEN, ROSALIA - UAMS/ACNC
item SIMMEN, FRANK - UAMS/ACNC

Submitted to: Journal of American College of Nutrition
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/2/2005
Publication Date: 4/1/2005
Citation: Badger, T.M., Ronis, M.J., Simmen, R.C., Simmen, F.A. 2005. Soy protein isolate and protection against cancer. Journal of American College of Nutrition. 24(2):146S-149S.

Interpretive Summary: Populations that consume soy foods on a regular basis (daily) and in substantial amounts have lower risk of certain diseases, including cancer. In addition, recent data suggest that early exposure (in adolescents) to soy foods may have a permanent protective effect on breast cancer later. We reviewed the epidemiological literature to determine the effects of soy food intake on cancers and found that, in general, the weight of the evidence suggests that soy consumers have lower breast, colon and prostate cancer.

Technical Abstract: Of the environmental factors known to protect against cancer, diet may be the most important. Consumption of diets rich in soy appears to lower the risks of certain cancers. typically, however, people who consume soyfoods also differ from the average American in other areas of lifestyle and diet. For example, Asian soy consumers generally eat more rice and fish, and less red meat and fat, and have greater daily physical exercise and lower total daily caloric intake. Furthermore, the pattern of lifetime exposure to soyfoods and the components in soy differs from that of Western cultures. Infants who are fed infant formula made with soy protein isolate (SPI) may be the segment of the human population exposed to the greatest levels of soy proteins and their associated phytochemicals (i.e., isoflavones, phytosterols, saponins, lipophospholipids). In the USA, 0.5-1 million infants are fed soy infant formula for a significant period during the first year of life. We are studying long-term health consequences of soy formula in infants and of SPI in animals. Our infant and animal studies demonstrate that diets rich in SPI improve some general health characteristics (i.e., body composition) and animal studies revealed reduced (P<.05) incidence of chemically-induced mammary and colon cancers, and reduced (P<.05) phase I activation of procarcinogens and increased phase II elimination.