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Popular Science Essay: Relationship Between Soy And Breast Cancer

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Popular Science Essay
Over 220,000 Americans each year develop breast cancer per the CDC. About 40,000 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer die each year. And men are not excluded from those numbers. 2,000 men are being diagnosed each year with breast cancer and about 400 die each year due to breast cancer. Breast cancer is disease involving the abnormal cell growth of breast tissue with the potential to spread to other parts of the body. However, recently published research by Dr. Fang Fang Zhang has called into question a previously established relationship between soy and breast cancer development in Americans. Soy oil, from soybeans, are commonly used in the production of food. More specifically, women in Asian countries are known to consume more soy on regular basis than American women. Previous research has suggested that the consumption of soy may increase the risk of developing breast cancer. The mechanism is still unclear …show more content…

There are two that involve the estrogen hormone. One type is estrogen and progesterone sensitive and has been coined as estrogen- and progesterone-positive cancer. The other is estrogen- and progesterone-negative cancer. The women that consumed more soy, around a half to one serving per week, were 21% less likely to die over the study’s nine year follow up when compared to the women who ate less soy. “We should not recommend that women with breast cancer avoid soy. Because we found no evidence to support that it’s harmful.” But Dr. Zhang isn’t completely ready to recommend that all women who are diagnosed with breast cancer to start eating soy to starve off death. Her study is finished, but more research and more information is needed to better understand the relationship between soy and breast cancer. “It’s encouraging that despite the overall low consumption [of soy], women living in North America still benefit from increasing

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