Dietary phytoestrogens and breast cancer risk.

High intake of phytoestrogen-rich foods, such as isoflavones and lignans, may have little or no effect on breast cancer risk in Western women.

Isoflavones and lignans are rich sources of phytoestrogens. This study evaluated the effect of high consumption of dietary phytoestrogen on breast cancer risk. Using dietary questionnaires, researchers examined the phytoestrogen intake of 15,555 Dutch women between the ages of 49 to 70 years drawn from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. The breast cancer hazard ratio was also assessed in all the subjects.

Researchers observed that increased dietary exposure to phytoestrogens had no significant effect on breast cancer risk in the participants in this study. The results of this study show that high consumption of phytoestrogen-rich foods, such as isoflavones and lignans, is not associated with breast cancer risk in Western populations.