Subject: Re: comments re plant estrogens

From: Lara Wiggert <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 1994 18:05:17 -0500 (EST)

The assertion that plant estrogens are more associated with health 
problems than animal estrogens is false.  In fact, plant estrogens 
(phytoestrogens) actually have a protective effect when it comes to 
cancer.  According to Dr. Andrew Weil, MD, a professor at the University 
of Arizona College of Medicine, instead of acting like a superefficient 
key in the body's estrogen receptor "lock", phytoestrogens act more like 
rusty keys that fit the lock, but fail to turn it easily, if at all.  By 
occupying the receptors without activating them or activating them only 
slightly, phytoestrogens  prevent other estrogens from occupying these 
sites.  This results in a net decrease in estrogen exposure.

This is consistent with studies that have observed that Japanese women, 
for instance, have much lower rates of breastand other female 
reproductive cancers than American women, but, if these japanese women 
move to america and adopt a typical american diet, their breast cancer 
rates rise quickly to equal those of their American counterparts.  
Until recently , it was thought that a difference in fat intake accounted 
for this difference in cancer incidence, but now some researchers are 
thinking that protective phytoestrogens in traditional Japanese soy foods 
might be the key.

I'm expecting to see more and more about this in the near future  - its 
makes sense to me, with a background in the biological/nutritional sciences.

Lara Wiggert