Taipei City Hospital

      Breast cancer has become the top cancer affecting women and 56 in every 10 thousand women suffer from the disease; the occurrence rate increases year by year. According to the study titled ‘The After Breast Cancer Pooling Project’, during breast cancer treatment, half of the patients are able to maintain their weight, 15% lose weight (of over 5%) and 35% gain weight (of over 5%). In 2011, the Journal of Clinical Oncology also pointed out that the probability for distant metastasis of cancer cells 10 years later among breast cancer women of moderate obesity (BMI≥30) increases by 46% and the probability of death among these women 30 years later increases by 38%, indicating that weight control is indeed an important prognostic factor for breast cancer patients.

      Sun Yachi a nutritionist in the Nutrition Department at the Renai Branch of Taipei City Hospital, says that patients who lose weight can be provided with a high calorie and high protein diet during treatment, and have more meal times with smaller quantities of food. However, after completing treatment, breast cancer patients should return to a healthy and balanced diet, pay attention to weight, have a balanced intake of the six categories of food, replace red meat with beans and white meat, eat less saturated fat and cholesterol, and exercise more to achieve good health and prevent recurrence of the cancer.

      In 2009, The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) collected data on 5,042 breast cancer women in Shanghai and tracked them for an average of 3.9 years; it was found that a moderate intake of soybeans can reduce the mortality risk and recurrence rate in breast cancer patients. This indicates that the phytoestrogen derived from soybeans and other natural food sources are of a lower content but with many natural phytochemicals and high-quality protein, which can reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, so an adequate intake is actually beneficial. Sun reminds people that there are many phytoestrogen supplements on the market, but they have high phytoestrogen content and therefore are not recommended.