Women With High Soy Intake More Likely To Survive Lung Cancer

A study published in the journal of Clinical Oncology claims that women with lung cancer who consumed more soy food before being diagnosed with cancer lived longer than women who never consumed soy.

Soy contains significant amount of isoflavones that are known to affect the molecular pathways linked to tumour development and growth.

"To our knowledge, this is the first study to suggest an association between high soy consumption before a lung cancer diagnosis and better overall survival," lead study author Gong Yang, MD, MPH, a research associate professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said in a press statement.

Prior to this, the team had conducted a study in which they linked high intake of soy to 40 percent decrease in lung cancer. But this new study evaluated the impact of soy intake on lung cancer survival.

A large observational follow-up study was conducted on participants of the Shanghai Women's Health Study that tracked the occurrence of cancer in 74,941 Shanghai women. During the study enrolment the researchers collected in-person data on dietary intake of soy food like tofu, soy milk or other soy products. The same data was collected after two years. Based on the Chinese Food Composition tables, soy food and isoflavone content in various foods was calculated.

During the study, the researchers identified 444 women with lung cancer and the median time between first dietary assessment and cancer diagnosis was calculated as 5.8 years.

They divided the patients into three groups based on the intake of soy food products prior to lung cancer diagnosis. The highest and lowest intake levels were equivalent to 4 oz or more and 2 oz or less tofu per day.

They noticed that those who had higher intake of soy survived longer. Even after twelve months of diagnosis 60 percent of patients in the highest intake group and 50 percent in the lowest intake group were alive. The risk of death declined with high intake of soy.