DO SOY FOODS PREVENT CANCER?
How about the claim that soy foods prevent cancer? This claim is predicated on two suppositions: i) that Asian populations consume large amounts of soy foods; ii) that Asian populations have low amounts of cancer. Both of these statements are wrong. The average consumption in China is 9 gm – that is less than a tablespoon, and the average consumption in Japan is 30 gm, which is between two and three tablespoons. Yet, The Simple Soy Bean and Your Health recommends one cup, or 230 grams of soy products per day in an optimal diet to prevent cancer. Now, nothing of the kind is being consumed in the Orient. And certainly, these are traditional soy products being consumed, not the soy protein isolate and so forth. Furthermore, studies have shown that consumption of legumes is not strongly correlated with the prevention of any degenerative disease, including cancer. Some studies, in fact, link the actual consumption of soy foods with increased rates of cancer. Why are rates of breast cancer a
