Nomura SJO, et al. - Authors planned this project to assess the association between dietary intake of soy or cruciferous vegetables and breast cancer treatment-related symptoms among Chinese-American (CA) and Non-Hispanic White (NHW) breast cancer survivors. They observed less treatment-related menopausal symptoms and fatigue with higher soy and cruciferous vegetable intake in this population of breast cancer survivors.

Methods

• Researchers performed a cross-sectional study including 192 CA and 173 NHW female breast cancer survivors (stages 0–III, diagnosed between 2006 and 2012) recruited from two California cancer registries, who had completed primary treatment.
• Via telephone interviews, they collected patient-reported data on treatment-related symptoms and potential covariates.
• They assessed dietary data by mailed questionnaires.
• Menopausal symptoms (hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, vaginal discharge), joint problems, fatigue, hair thinning/loss, and memory problems were the evaluated outcomes.
• They used logistic regression to assess the associations between soy and cruciferous vegetables and symptoms.
• They further stratified the analyses by race/ethnicity and endocrine therapy usage (non-user, tamoxifen, aromatase inhibitors).

Results

• In this study, soy food and cruciferous vegetable intake ranged from no intake to 431 g/day and 865 g/day, respectively.
• In CA survivors, higher soy food and cruciferous vegetable intake was observed.
• Higher soy food intake seemed linked with reduced odds of menopausal symptoms (≥ 24.0 vs 0 g/day, OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.25, 1.03), and fatigue (≥ 24.0 vs 0 g/day, OR 0.43, 95% CI 0.22, 0.84).
• When stratified by race/ethnicity, the associations were statistically marked in NHW survivors only.
• In the overall population, compared to low intake, higher cruciferous vegetable intake was linked with lower odds of experiencing menopausal symptoms (≥ 70.8 vs < 33.0 g/day, OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.25, 0.97).