Keith Singletary, a scientist with the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, is evaluating the soy isoflavones genistein and daidzein.
Initial studies point to an effect on noncancerous, normal human mammary cells.
The isoflavones slow the growth and proliferation of the cells. Genistein appears as effective at slowing down normal breast cell lines as breast cancer cell lines. The next step, then, is to investigate how that effect could benefit the cell. One hypo-thesis is that the response of normal cells to genistein may provide some protection against chemicals that could cause cancer. We're working to find out if this is the case.