Can men prevent lung cancer by eating more soy products? Does drinking beer frequently increase the risk of lung cancer?

Can men prevent lung cancer by eating more soy products?

According to a report on the website of Japan's Asahi Shimbun on February 6, the research team conducted a follow-up survey of about 76,000 men and women aged 45 to 74 for up to 11 years. They divided the subjects into four groups according to the amount of soy products they consumed daily, and compared the relationship between the amount consumed and the incidence of lung cancer.

The results showed that the risk of lung cancer in men who consumed the most soy products was 57% lower than that in the least group. The researchers said that the preventive effect of soy products on lung cancer seems to be related to the isoflavones rich in soybeans. Previous studies have shown that isoflavones can also prevent breast cancer and prostate cancer.

However, the preventive effect of soy products on lung cancer is limited to non-smoking men. Among smoking men and men who have quit smoking, the amount of soy product consumption did not bring about a difference in the risk of lung cancer. Researchers said that eating more soy products has little effect on preventing lung cancer in men who have quit smoking, probably because the genetic damage caused by smoking is difficult to eliminate.

Does beer pose a risk of lung cancer?

According to AFP in Monterey: A recent Canadian study found that drinking more beer is more likely to cause lung cancer, while drinking more wine can help prevent lung cancer.

Prior to this, Quebec Province had conducted two studies on the relationship between alcohol consumption and lung cancer risk, one in the 1980s and the other in the mid-1990s, with 699 male lung cancer patients and one thousand and ninety-four lung cancer patients (both sexes). However, researchers at McGill University in Montreal pointed out that many people smoke and drink, and some of the subjects in the above studies may have had lung cancer partially or even completely caused by smoking; they therefore improved the accuracy of the study to address this point.

The study was published in the May issue of the journal Cancer Causes and Control this week. Lead author Andrea Benedetti said they knew the smoking history of the subjects well enough to rule out the possibility that smoking may cause cancer.

The first old study was revised, and the result showed that drinking six glasses of beer a week would increase the risk of lung cancer by 20%, and drinking at least seven glasses would increase the risk by half. The second old study, after revision, showed that beer would increase the risk of lung cancer in men who did not eat fruits and vegetables (eating fruits and vegetables regularly would help reduce this risk); men who drank wine regularly would reduce the risk of lung cancer by 40%, and women would reduce it by 70%.

Like some previous studies, the McGill researchers believe that the obvious health differences between beer and wine drinkers may be due not only to the alcohol itself, but also to differences in the drinkers, such as their social and economic status, education level, lifestyle and eating habits (people often eat French fries with beer and salad with wine).

Previous studies have also pointed out that excessive drinking is likely to be related to various cancers, but most of them have not provided a substantive explanation for the carcinogenic process. Some scientists have inferred from animal experimental results that it is one of the components of ethanol or the oxidation of alcohol that causes cancer, but these inferences have not been confirmed.

Vitamin supplements not only cannot prevent lung cancer, but may increase the risk of lung cancer to a certain extent. It is recommended that eating fruit twice a day and refusing to smoke are the most effective measures to prevent lung cancer.