Everybody thinks that tofu is a health food, but a new study has linked this popular choice for clean eaters with prostate cancer.
The plant-derived compounds known as phytoestrogens are the culprit, according to a recent study, and they are found in soy products such as tofu and edamame beans. They are linked to prostate cancer because they are structurally similar to a hormone that increases the disease's severity, reported the Daily Mail.
Lead author Dr. Jianjun Zhang from Indiana University said that men need to be more careful with their tofu intake. The test was conducted on 27,004 men taking part in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial. Within a span of 11 years, 2,598 of the study's participants developed prostate cancer, of which 287 were advanced cases.
During the course of the research, the participants answered a food questionnaire through which Zhang discovered a common denominator - phytoestrogens.
"Prostate cancer is a major cancer in Western countries, and its incidence rate has been remarkably increasing in Asian countries during the last several decades. Age, ethnicity and family history are the only established, but non-modifiable, risk factors for this malignancy," said Zhang.
"Our study offers novel evidence that dietary intake of isoflavones [a type of phytoestrogens] has different effects on advanced and non-advanced prostate cancer."
However, other experts argued that "much more research is needed" to fully tie tofu to prostate cancer. Prostate Cancer UK director Dr. Iain Frame told The Express that the study's findings are alarming, but it is not enough to pin the health food down.
"This study suggests a potential link between foods high in isoflavones such as soyabeans and tofu and increased risk of advanced prostate cancer, however, there is currently not enough concrete evidence to say whether this is actually the case," he said. "Much more research is needed to measure the actual intake of isoflavones in people with varied eating habits."
