• The effect of genistein supplementation on the gut microbiome and its role in inhibiting breast tumors
  • samira zare,1,*
    1. Master of Clinical Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.


  • Introduction: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women globally, leading to high mortality and significant financial cost. Lifestyle factors, particularly diet, can influence breast cancer risk.- The relationship between dietary soy consumption and breast cancer risk is widely debated.- Soy contains isoflavones like genistein and daidzein, which chemically resemble 17-β estradiol, a known breast cancer risk factor. The reviewed work aims to provide a comprehensive and current overview of scientific literature on soy, dietary isoflavones, and their effects on breast cancer risk.
  • Methods: Articles were searched for and retrieved from the SID and Google Scholar databases using the keywords and of soy isoflavones on gut microbiome composition and breast cancer.
  • Results: Studies have shown that in the gut microbiome of GE-treated humanized mice, there was an increase in the abundance of the genera Lactococcus and Eubacterium. The phylum Verrucomicrobia exhibited a statistically significant difference in abundance between the GE-fed and control groups (p = 0.02). Additionally, an increase in bacteria belonging to the Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae families was observed in GE-fed mice. Tumor growth delay was approximately 25% greater in GE-fed humanized mice compared to control-fed humanized mice. Furthermore, the mean tumor size in the GE group was significantly reduced compared to that in the non-GE group.
  • Conclusion: Taken together, our results suggest that the gut microbiota is altered by a GE diet prior to tumor induction. Genistein inhibits the expression of inflammatory factors and modulates the breast tumor microenvironment by activating the PPAR-γ pathway and promoting nuclear NF-κB degradation.
  • Keywords: breast cancer, soy bean, microbiome, genistein (GE), diet