With the voice of an angel, Yao Beina passed away due to a recurrence of breast cancer, once again drawing women's focus to the "silent killer of women"—breast cancer. In recent years, the incidence and mortality rates of breast cancer have been gradually climbing. It is no longer a "patent" for elderly women, or even a "patent" for women alone. How can breast cancer be prevented? What can be eaten to prevent it? Today, we will review several beverages that are often misunderstood to help everyone correctly understand the key points of dietary prevention of breast cancer.
Women drinking soy milk is beneficial for preventing breast cancer
For several years now, many topics related to soy milk have been popular on the internet, such as "women who often drink soy milk are more likely to develop breast cancer" and "men who often drink soy milk should be careful of turning into women." In reality, these are all misunderstandings about soy milk. As a soy product, soy milk contains the highest quality plant protein. Soy protein is also the only plant protein classified as a high-quality protein. In addition, soy milk contains many biologically active substances such as soy oligosaccharides and soy isoflavones, which are beneficial to human health. The widely circulated claim online is that soy isoflavones in soy are a type of estrogen-like substance, and drinking large amounts of soy milk may lead to excessive intake of soy isoflavones, affecting the body's own hormone secretion, causing hormonal imbalance, and inducing breast cancer.
In fact, so-called phytoestrogens are different from human estrogen, and there is no direct relationship between phytoestrogens and breast cancer. In 2012, experts from the United States and China jointly investigated 9,154 breast cancer patients and found that there was no difference in breast cancer mortality between the group that drank more than 10 grams of soy milk per day and the group that did not drink soy milk. However, the group that drank more than 10 grams of soy milk per day had a significantly lower recurrence rate of breast cancer. Furthermore, according to multiple international studies and research surveys conducted on large populations in different regions around the world, it has been found that soy isoflavones have significant preventive and therapeutic effects on the occurrence and development of breast cancer, prostate cancer, and some other cancers. Comparative studies have shown that the higher the intake of soy products and isoflavones among residents, the lower the incidence of these cancers. Soy also has a significant preventive effect on breast cancer in premenopausal women.
Women drinking more green tea can also help prevent breast cancer
If we talk about the world's recognized anti-cancer beverage, it must be green tea, which is one of the world's most recognized healthy beverages. According to analysis, tea contains more than 300 chemical components, such as protein, fat, amino acids, carbohydrates, vitamins, and tea polyphenols, theine, aromatic oils, and lipopolysaccharides, all of which are indispensable and have important nutritional and medicinal effects for the human body. Tea polyphenols can block the synthesis of various carcinogens such as nitrosamine in the body, and have the effects of directly killing cancer cells and improving the body's immune function. According to relevant information, tea polyphenols in tea are beneficial for the prevention and adjuvant treatment of various cancers such as stomach cancer, colon cancer, and breast cancer. In addition, green tea itself does not contain carbohydrates, fat, or protein. As long as no artificial additives are included, it does not contain excess energy and will not bring additional energy intake to the body, making it one of the healthiest and most reliable anti-cancer beverages. When choosing beverages, women may consider green tea as a priority.
The effect of adult women drinking milk on the breast is not clear
For women, besides soy milk, milk is also a very friendly food. Milk contains high-quality protein, vitamin A, and rich calcium. For menopausal and perimenopausal women, insisting on drinking milk to supplement calcium is an effective means to prevent osteoporosis caused by hormonal changes during menopause. In addition, milk contains stearates, lactobacillus, conjugated linoleic acid, and lactoferrin, which have been found in laboratory studies to induce apoptosis of breast cancer cells, reduce breast tumor size, and lower the incidence of breast tumors. In fact, it has been found that drinking milk in infancy and childhood has an antagonistic effect on the future development of breast cancer and has a slight protective effect on the breasts.
However, in multiple studies, it has been found that high intake of animal fat increases breast density, and breast density is a risk factor for the occurrence and recurrence of breast cancer. A study on carcinogen-induced breast tumors in adult rats found that if the rats' ovaries were removed, the number and size of breast tumors would decrease. However, when milk was fed to ovariectomized rats, the incidence of breast tumors induced by carcinogens, as well as the number and size of tumors, increased. Therefore, women drinking milk should preferably choose low-fat or skim milk, as a low-calorie diet has been proven to help prevent breast cancer.
The effect of women drinking coffee on the breast is currently still unclear
Like green tea, coffee is also a world-recognized healthy beverage. It not only contains caffeine but also various polyphenolic substances with strong antioxidant capabilities, which have a certain effect on the human central nervous system. Of course, as an imported product, Chinese people have always maintained a cautious attitude towards coffee. But despite the many health benefits of coffee having been scientifically recognized, its effect on women's breast health is still not confirmed by clear research results. There are many international studies on coffee and the breast, but they are very controversial. Some studies believe that coffee harms the breast, while others believe it can protect it. In 2006, a study suggested that black tea (containing caffeine) had a protective effect on breast lobular tissue. However, in 2008, Harvard University in the United States found after 22 years of follow-up that caffeine in black tea and coffee was correlated with the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Drinking more than 4 cups of coffee a day can increase the incidence of breast cancer in postmenopausal women by 6%, and if there is a family history of breast cancer gene mutations, it can increase the incidence by 69%. Therefore, in the current controversial situation, netizens should not blindly believe some information on the internet that vigorously promotes the benefits of coffee or severely criticizes its harms. In principle, if you like to drink coffee, drinking 2 cups a day is relatively safe. If you are more concerned, you can also replace coffee with green tea.
Women who want to protect their breasts should absolutely avoid alcohol
From the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine, there is something called "health-preserving wine." Many claims suggest that as long as you drink alcohol in moderation, not exceeding 2 liang per day, it will not harm the body and may even be beneficial to health. Perhaps this statement is true for the human body as a whole, but if we look at it purely from the perspective of breast protection, regardless of whether the amount of alcohol consumed is moderate, the incidence of breast cancer is directly proportional to the amount of alcohol intake.
The meaning of a directly proportional relationship is that regardless of what type of alcohol a woman drinks, whether it is store-bought or homemade, high-proof or low-proof, whether she drinks a lot or just a sip, it will damage the breasts and increase the risk of breast cancer. The only difference is that drinking less carries a smaller risk, while drinking more carries a greater risk. From the perspective of breast protection, there is no such thing as a "moderate" or "safe line" for alcohol intake. As long as you drink, it will harm your breasts. Therefore, from the perspective of breast protection, nutrition experts and breast specialists do not recommend any woman to start or continue drinking for any purpose.