According to a recent study by experts at Loma Linda University Health, men who consume more dairy products, particularly milk, have a noticeably higher chance of developing prostate cancer than those who consume less of them. The study showed no links between increased prostate cancer risk and calcium intake from non-dairy sources, indicating factors other than calcium may contribute to the risk of prostate cancer associated with dairy diets.
Gary Fraser, MBChB, PhD, the study’s principal investigator and a professor at Loma Linda University School of Medicine and School of Public Health, stated that “our findings add significant weight to other evidence associating dairy products, rather than non-dairy calcium, as a modifiable risk factor for prostate cancer
According to the study’s findings, men who drank more than 430 grammes of dairy a day (1 3/4 cups of milk) had a 25% higher chance of developing prostate cancer than men who only consumed 20.2 grammes of dairy a day (1/2 cup of milk every week). When compared to males who drank no dairy at all, men who consumed roughly 430 grammes of dairy daily saw an even higher increase in risk.
When comparing the consumption of full fat milk with reduced or nonfat milks, Fraser observed that the results showed little difference; cheese and yoghurt consumption were not found to have any significant connections.
Fraser and co-authors published their study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition titled “Dairy foods, calcium intakes, and risk of incident prostate cancer in Adventist Health Study-2.”
Over 28,000 North American men who had varying exposure to dairy and calcium and who were all initially cancer-free were examined for their dietary consumption. Food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) and repeated 24-hour recalls were used to assess dietary consumption. A baseline survey asked about demographics, physical activity, alcohol use, prostate cancer screening, BMI, and family history of the disease.
The participants’ prostate cancer status was then monitored by researchers for an average of nearly eight years using cancer state registries. By the end of the trial period, 1,254 additional cases of prostate cancer were discovered among the participants during follow-up, according to state cancer registries.
Fraser said he and co-authors divided calcium intake from non-dairy sources (such as nuts, seeds, cruciferous and other green vegetables, legumes, fruits, and fortified cereals) from calcium intake from meals containing dairy. They focused on the consumption of dairy foods regardless of other characteristics including calcium intake from non-dairy sources, family history of prostate cancer, race, or age.
Data did not show much support for a link between calcium intake and prostate cancer incidence. According to the study, “one view is that consumption of dairy products, or some closely related undiscovered risk factor, are causally related to the incidence of prostate cancer.”
According to Fraser, the presence of sex hormones in dairy milk could be one of the causes of these links between dairy milk and prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is a cancer that responds to hormones, and up to 75% of lactating dairy cows are pregnant. Additionally, earlier studies have linked increased blood levels of the hormone insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), which is known to cause a number of malignancies, including prostate cancer, with consumption of dairy and other animal proteins.
According to Fraser, a previous Adventist Health Study-2 investigation into the connection between dairy consumption and women’s risk for breast cancer found similar results in terms of the magnitude and non-uniformity of the risk with consumption levels.
The similarities between our research from a year ago on breast cancer in women and this one about men are startling, he declared. It might be the same biological processes that are involved. Fraser claims that this study does not yet prove beyond a reasonable doubt that milk promotes prostate cancer.
Fraser advises prudent men with a family history of prostate cancer or other risk factors to “be cautious” about consuming even moderate amounts of dairy milk as part of their diet until this is clarified. This is because more research is needed to determine whether dairy consumption increases the risk of developing prostate cancer.
Consider soy, oat, cashew, and other non-dairy milk alternatives if you believe your risk is higher than typical, he advised.
