Green tea question

IMHO, it is just not so simple and I think the diet is also way more important than just any one component (like green tea) . I LOVE it , drink it daily , have for years and had MBC after 4 1/2 yrs out from surgery,chemo , rad and anti-estrogen ( anastrozole aka arimidex ) . It cant hurt ,but this is not looking deep enough into overall lifestyle ( like, none are cigarette smokers , or they are not eating greasy fat-laden diets .... ) etc etc /

Hi,

You are so correct with lifestyle change. I take ECGC Green Tea in the form of capsules, but also incorporated other supplements, herbs, anti-cancer fighting teas, etc. I ended up becoming a vegetarian mainly because my breast cancer was driven by Estrogen/Progesterone. I wanted to cut anything out of my diet (besides what my body was producing) to help stop this, and all animals have natural hormones. Now, are you free from having MBC or is it still ongoing?

What about phytoestrogens from plants? Ex. soy?

Personally I avoid them . I do like tofu and still stay away from it . Also soy sauce , there are other better flavors now used .

Any sites for appropriate recipes or products? Almost everything I find involves soy/soy protein isolate... 🙁

I have read that soy may in fact reduce the risk of recurrence for positive breast cancer: https://www.oncologynutrition.org/erfc/healthy-nutrition-now/foods/soy-and-breast-cancer
I too have adopted a vegetarian diet. I have replaced dairy milk with soy milk and yogurt and cook with tofu products for increased protein and bone health. I don't use much soy sauce because of the high sodium content. Green tea contains an active antioxidant that may also reduce risk of recurrence and metastasis.

For what it's worth, my Cleveland Clinic oncologists are still recommending that women who've had breast cancer avoid soy in all of its forms. The studies cited in that article are quite old so maybe more recent ones are suggesting differently. I noted that the article looked at the diets of women who ate a lot of soy and noted that their diets also likely differ from SAD (the Standard American Diet) in multiple ways that might be explanatory of different cancer rates. For example, Japan has a higher risk of stomach cancer than the U.S.

I volunteer at a botanical garden and attend the County Extension continuing education seminars as part of the job. One speaker addressed the increasing difficulty of buying non-GMO foods and specifically mentioned soy as an example.

According to him, there's very little non-GMO soy being grown and 100% of that is pre-ordered by top-star restaurants so doesn't end up in the marketplace for household consumption. I'd add that soy is one of those plants that absorb pesticides throughout the plant so is considered a "dirty" plant as a food source. (Kale is another plant that absorbs pesticides, and pollutants, that he cited as odd that people see it as a healthful addition to their diets. )

I use soy milk and tofu to avoid animal products, and the certified organic products I eat I purchase at a health food store. The topic of soy and breast cancer is easily researched. I cited that particular article for its clear summary. A November 2021 article https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/soy-and-breast-cancer has a good summary as well. Even our Mayo Clinic recently weighed in: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/soy-breast-cancer-risk/faq-20120377 I think the more salient point is changing lifestyle to better nutrition, exercise, and mental calm, which in turn nuture the better health needed to fight cancer. That kale made the EWG Dirty Dozen list for pesticide contamination is surprising and all the more reason to grow it organically in our own gardens. Be well.

I'm not dogmatic about any of this and figure that we're likely all here doing the best we can. I'm a follower of the EWG too and appreciate their research.

I did note that the Mayo article differentiated between eating soy (as, say, tofu) versus thing the supplements. That makes sense as, as we know is true of many food items, eating the whole food is the best practice since there's a synergy involved.

I'm perturbed because I recently found out that all almonds grown in California have been being 'pasteurized' for over a decade without it being common knowledge. And we love almonds and eat a lot of them. Now I have to order them directly from an organic grower to get them still raw. [The pasteurization process subjects almonds to high temperatures for a minimum of ten hours.]