According to a study from Loma Linda University in California, men who very regularly consume Dairy products, and in particular milk, are at a significantly higher risk of prostate cancer than men who consume less of them.
This is not the first time that the consumption of cow’s milk has been pointed out, especially in the United States where milk consumption is often more than 1 liter of milk per day and per person. For this study, the researchers studied the diet of over 28,000 North American men consuming a wide range of dairy and calcium products, all initially cancer-free. Then they separated those who had a non-dairy calcium intake (nuts, seeds, crucifers and other green vegetables, legumes, fruits and fortified cereals) and those whose calcium was provided by dairy products.
A risk with milk and not with calcium
A total of 1254 incident cases of prostate cancer (190 at an advanced stage) were detected during an average follow-up of 7.8 years. “The study data provided little evidence of an association between calcium intake and prostate cancer incidence. Dairy products, on the other hand, are causally linked to the risk of prostate cancer.
According to the Californian researchers, the possible reasons for this association between prostate cancer and cow’s milk could be the content of sex hormones in cow’s milk. Because in the United States, up to 75% of dairy cows are pregnant. However, prostate cancer is a hormone-sensitive cancer. These same researchers, who had previously published a study on the link between milk consumption and the risk of breast cancer in women, believe that it is “possible that the same biological mechanisms are at work”.
Source : Dairy foods, calcium intakes, and risk of incident prostate cancer in Adventist Health Study–2, The American journal of clinical nutrition, June 2022
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