Breast cancer statistics

Researchers at Tokyo's National Cancer Center Research Institute have found that women who ate at least three bowls of miso soup a day had a 40 percent reduced rate of breast cancer than those who ate only one bowl of the soy-rich delicacy. The women who ate two bowls a day cut their risk by 26 percent Miso--which contains fermented soy paste, seaweed, bean curd and vegetables--is loaded with isoflavones, which mimic the action of estrogen and are thought to block the cancer-causing effects of the female hormone. The study, published in the June 18, 2003 Journal of the National Cancer Institute, tracked the eating habits of more than 21,000 women aged 40-59 for 10 years. The benefit was greatest among postmenopausal women.