Estrogen-like Compounds in Diet May Reduce Effectiveness of Breast Cancer Treatment

[Toomanyquestions]

This is an article about Letrozole and Ibrance, I knew not to eat grapefruit or pomegranate. But I didn’t know about this... Are there any other foods I should be avoiding?

breastcancer-news.com/2018/...

[Barbteeth]

Just read this

Hmmm..maybe I’ll reduce my bread intake though it’s one of my fave foods

I noticed rye wasn’t mentioned and I think oars maybe ok?

Something else to worry about

Barb xx

[Barbteeth]

Meant oats!!!

[RLN-overcomer in reply to Barbteeth]

I just made 55 low calorie, low sugar, and healthy cupcakes for Valentines Day. I used oat flour, I made from old fashioned oats in my magic smoothie blender. They are 90% Stevia with 10% natural brown sugar, unsweetened shredded coconut, and unsweetened cocoa powder, carob powder, dark chocolate.and unsweetened applesauce. I still have frozen batter for 45 more. I made Chocolate chip coconut, and Banana Walnut. They are diabetic friendly, for my family, and loved ones who need to, or want to limit sugar in their diets. My cupcakes don't need visually pretty, fluffy sugar, and unhealthy dye laden frosting. Yes they are a little dense, and I am working on how to make them rise a little more??? My nephews saying is" yummy in my tummy". I have people asking me to bake, and sell them large numbers. I can't bake for profit, but I have baked 100 for a very worthy charity to help young girls. I know this sounds crazy, but I don't know how to make less than 50 cupcakes at a time, and there never enough. my recipes start with 50 to 100. I know sometimes I can go on, and on. Forgive me, this is not one of my my stronger God given gifts. XoXoXoXo

[Julie2233]

Interesting. I can understand the theory but if you think about the number of women who have take these meds with good results and have large quantities of cereals in their diets as they are part of our staple diet in the west. The article is interesting but doesn't mention any clinical trials - even in mice. There always seems to be some new theory about what we can or can't eat.

[Toomanyquestions]

Someone said to avoid watercress - has anyone else heard that?

[Hidden]

Hi,

Thanks for sharing this article. I was only told to avoid soya products (by two hospital pharmacists) in case there is a link to ER+ breast cancer. My oncologist is not convinced it plays a role, but I have taken the pharmacists' advice on board and have cut out soya products. As well as the obvious places such as soy sauce and Teriyaki sauce, it's added to so many foods, notably chocolate (in the form of soy lecithin), bread, biscuits and many other products. I even had to change from the chewable Adcal D3 my oncologist recommended, to capsule form, as the chewable kind contains soya! It meant upping the dosage from two a day to four, but I don't care about that. I just wanted to cut out soya.

Take care,

Sophie x

[Northcarolinafighter in reply to Hidden]

I was also wondering about soybean oil. It’s in a lot of foods including salad dressings.

[Hidden in reply to Northcarolinafighter]

Hi,

American brands of salad dressing tend to contain soybean oil as one of the main ingredients, as does mayonnaise, whereas that's not normally the case with British salad dressings. You can just as easily make your own salad dressing or vinaigrette if you are concerned about what you are eating. I grew up using lemon juice or vinegar for salads, which I still prefer over shop bought products. I have modified my stance on soya products since 2018. Whereas back then I endeavoured to cut out everything what I try to do now is avoid overly processed soya products. If I do consume soya I try to stick with the least processed, best quality products. So I try to avoid soya flour (it's used a lot in British bread), soya protein or lecithin and so on and keep consumption to a minimum. I hope that helps.

Sophie

P.S. I lived in Goldsboro from 2002-3 the first time I lived in America.

[mariootsi]

You know I don't know what to eat anymore. I also like bread and my palliative care Dr just gave me wheatgrass powder to help my platelets. Now I don't know whether to stop taking it. I have cut out soy and I'm trying to limit sugar. I just wish there was a definitive list that Drs. Can agree on. So confusing. I don't want to mess up the effectiveness of my treatment with Ibrance and Faslodex.

[Toomanyquestions in reply to mariootsi]

I think wheatgrass is very different to the wheat grain x

[Nannymop]

Hi all grapefruit and pomegranate accelerate ibrance and letrozole but soy products reduce the effects of ibrance xx

[Baseface in reply to Nannymop]

Hi, do you have a link for this info?

Off the back of this thread I spoke to the Onc (via the nurse) about Pomegranate and Grapefruit. They apologised for not making it clear but said that Grapefruit should be avoided (Not Pomegranate). Also said not to worry about it if it was only a small amount.

I think Grapefruit is contraindicated in quite a few drugs.

On the Soy thing, I think there is more than just Soy that contains phytoestrogens and again there are a few schools of thought on this.

This article basically says ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[mariootsi]

Sandra, I agree!

[Red71]

That sounds like we should eat grapefruit and bread and they would cancel each other out...lol! I think we should just eat well rounded diets and keep ourselves healthy. Too much of any one thing is probably not good for us. I asked my doc early on about sugar and he said our cells need it for metabolism and if we don’t have some our cells will take it from somewhere else in our body. Eating a well rounded diet is what he recommended and what makes sense to me.

[Southside25]

I'm 72 and dianosed a year ago. Doing well on Ibrance and letrozole, but I figure I've got limited time, so I eat pretty much what I want...it's one of the few pleasures left in my life. I try to eat a healthy diet - for the most part, I make real food at home, not out of a box or can. I am trying to limit sugar and carbs, up my veggies, but dammit, if I want pizza or a grilled cheese sandwich, I'm going enjoy that - at least occasionally.

[Zebra2018 in reply to Southside25]

I agree with you, I am seventy and I think a well balanced diet that is what we need! I called Pfizer about pomegranate (I love it)! They weren’t aware of it!? So I was wondering can we have some on off days or no?

[Southside25 in reply to Zebra2018]

I don't know about days off. The label info for Ibrance says to avoid pomegranant and grapefruit; it can increase or decrease effectiveness of the Ibrance - I'm not sure which. I would avoid it all together, but ask your onc.

[Zebra2018 in reply to Southside25]

Thank you

[Maludagui in reply to Southside25]

🎀 me too 🌹

[Lovemylakie]

I am on Ibrance and Faslodex, I eat tofu on occasion. I read that if you eat soy in its unrefined state that it is ok. The article was interesting. For over 30 years I was a vegetarian and then a vegan to keep healthy. I didn't, drink or smoke and exercised regularly. Apparently that didn't work out so well. After diagnosed I I went to being unhealthy. Now I am trying to stay being healthy. I eat in moderation.

Thank you for the info

Robin

[PLASEM]

I do not what to eat anymore because at the beginning I was eating vegetables and some fruits like berries almond milk and protein plant base, no rice no flour no breads no pasta my weight was 124 I lost weight then my weight was 110 and I looked sick and I was very anemic and I have to get blood transfusions my doctor told that I have to eat some meat like liver at least twice a week to avoid complications we have to have a healthy diet

[Zebra2018]

That is what Pfizer told me!

[Southside25]

Pfizer website has downloadable patient info which says to avoid both grapefruit and pomegranant which may increase the amount of ibrance in your blood. ibrance.com/sites/default/f...

[Southside25]

Oh, my, you're right. I must have been told by my onc. to avoid pomegranant, although I know I'v read it somewhere to avoid both. Sorry for my mistake. Now I'll spend the next hour trying to find where I read that!

[Southside25]

I found a couple references: breastcancer.org/treatment/...

and

cancerresearchuk.org/about-...

[Hidden]

Hi Sandra,

I agree they should be making more of an effort to cure this disease, but we are big business to them!

Sophie ❤

[Boogitymom]

My onc said I could have a single grapefruit (I just love it) on the 4th or 5th day of my off week. I’ve been doing it for 4 months now, so far so good

[Baseface in reply to Boogitymom]

I was thinking the very same thing. As there are benefits to pomegranate also. It is a mine field.

[SeattleMom]

So interesting and valuable!! Thanks so much for sharing! Linda

[superstar007]

kinda hard to avoid xenoestrogens

[Mindysooty]

Oh no Im more confused than ever now. Ive read soya bean products are good but now reading these comments its seems not. I was going to try some tofu and other soya stuff. And all these long complicated names we have to look for in products is mind blowing. I'll have torn all my hair out long before I lose it through meds.

[Hidden in reply to Mindysooty]

This was just one article. Soy products can be a problem but bread, etc is not from what my doctor tells me. I used to drink soy milk as I’m lactose intolerant so I stopped and switched to lactose free milk or there is almond and rice milk.

[Mindysooty]

Thanks. Been researching again this morning. Ive discovered dairy free and soya free cheese and yogurt so going to use those together organic meat/chicken and as much varied veg and fruit as poss. I love almond milk on granola its lovely. Got high protein/low carb bread too. Drinking 3-4 litres of water/green tea per day and everything else in moderation. Its the best I can do for now cos it's enough to drive you nuts trying to fathom all the pros and cons of everything. Im happy that Im doing my best for now anyway.

Take care x

[Hidden]

I read this and am concerned! Mycotoxins are in so many things. It's sad and maddening at the same time. There's about 11 foods that have the highest percentage of Zearaleone and I'm avoiding those as much as I can. I am going to email the oncology pharmacist and see what she knows about this

[needabreakfromcancer]

I agree that we need more research on both the disease and the drugs to treat it, as they have way too many side-effects. Big-Pharma doesn't have much incentive to make them better, even with all the horrible side-effects, because of the huge profits they make. One of Pfizer's CEO's went from a salary of$25M last year to an increase of $28M this year, and that's just one CEO! I actually called them and said that money would be better spent to fine-tune their awful side-effects!