A new study claims foods rich in soy can significantly reduce bone fractures in breast cancer survivors. Researchers say this is especially beneficial for women who are pre-menopausal.
A team from Yale University wanted to conduct the study to investigate how exercise and soy food could reduce bone fracture rates among breast cancer patients who battled the disease.
The team examined data from the Shanghai Breast Cancer Survival study that included 5,042 newly diagnosed breast cancer survivors. The patients were between the ages of 20 to 75. Through their research, the team found soy foods that are big sources of isoflavones supply selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM. This helps to increase bone mineral density. Previous research has also found tamoxifen, a drug that acts as a SERM has also been found to reduce fractures in breast cancer patients. The study's results also showed the risk of osteoporotic fractures was reduced by 77 per cent in younger women due to soy foods.
"The menopausal transition is known to be a period of high risk for bone loss, and given the relative scarcity of data related to fracture risk among younger women with breast cancer, this study marks an important contribution to this body of literature," lead author of the study Evelyn Hsieh, Assistant Professor at Yale University, told a news portal. Adding, "Our findings, in particular regarding the protective effects of soy food consumption, provide novel insight into how future interventions can be best tailored to different risk groups," Hsieh said. The findings were originally published in the JNCI Cancer Spectrum journal.
Various breast cancer treatments can cause patients to experience menopause prematurely, as well as decrease bone mineral density. This causes an increased risk in osteoporosis-related fractures among breast cancer survivors.
The most commonly diagnosed cancer in women is breast cancer. It is also becoming a big health issue in India. Scientists recently developed a new form of treatment to curb this issue many women face. The technique, known as AccuBoost, is non-invasive breast brachytherapy. "AccuBoost is a way of delivering radiotherapy to the post-lumpectomy area after the breast conservation surgery. It can itself be the only post-operative treatment for five days (accelerated partial breast irradiation [APBI] or as a boost after whole breast radiotherapy)," Dr Mathangi J., Senior Consultant and In-Charge, Department of Radiation Oncology, BGS Gleneagles Global Hospital, told a news portal. However, APBI is still undergoing a series of trials as researchers have yet to determine its influence on survival.
