Throughout modern advertising history, marketing efforts have pointed excitedly at the myriad benefits of drinking milk, deploying several creative ways to convince us all that we aren’t getting enough of it. We have even been told that dairy is so good that it will reduce risk of breast cancer.
A new study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, has found “fairly strong evidence” that drinking even one cup of dairy milk a day is linked with a sharp increase in a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer. And in some cases, the increase is up to 80 per cent.
“Consuming as little as one-quarter to one-third of a cup of dairy milk per day was associated with an increased risk of breast cancer of 30 per cent,” Dr. Gary E. Fraser, the first author of the research paper, said in a news release.
“By drinking up to one cup per day, the associated risk went up to 50 per cent, and for those drinking two to three cups per day, the risk increased further to 70 percent to 80 per cent.”
Reduce Risk Of Breast Cancer: This Study Says Dairy Will Not Help You
Woman drinking a glass of milk. | YACOBCHUK VIA GETTY IMAGES
Over the course of nearly eight years, the observational study tracked the dietary intake of some 53,000 North American women. All of them were aged 30 or older and all of whom were initially cancer-free. By the end of the study period, 1,057 breast cancer diagnoses had cropped up.
The study’s authors believe this might be a result of the sex hormone content of the milk; since about 75 per cent of the dairy herd is pregnant. Intake of dairy and other animal proteins has also been previously associated with higher blood levels of growth factor-1(IGF-1). This hormone also has links with certain cancers.
Researchers did not seem to find an association between soy milk and an increased risk of breast cancer.
“However, dairy foods, especially milk, were associated with increased risk; and the data predicted a marked reduction in risk associated with substituting soy milk for dairy milk,” Fraser said. “This raises the possibility that dairy-alternate kinds of milk may be an optimal choice.” (It’s no wonder recent years have seen advances in synthetic biology, in the quest for cow-free dairy. So in essence, soy milk will reduce risk of breast cancer, but dairy milk will increase it.
Let’s note, though, that the research located a link between dairy consumption and breast cancer; but not a definitive cause-effect relationship.
Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, a professor of nutrition sciences and senior scientist with the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Centre at the University of Alabama Birmingham; told Global News that, while the study is “very strong,” this distinction should be made.
“It’s a very large sample size [and] the sample is racially and ethnically diverse,” she said. “[However], this is one study and it’s observational. There’s no cause and effect … only associations.”
Reduce Your Risk Of Breast Cancer
Around the world, most health expert dietary guidelines still recommend the average person to drink three cups of milk a day. This they associate with “improved bone health” among other things. But Fraser says this recommendation should be viewed “with caution.”
Many factors over the course of your life can influence your breast cancer risk. You can’t change some of these factors, like getting older or your family history; but you can reduce your risk of breast cancer by taking care of your health in the following ways:
Staying healthy throughout your life will lower your risk of developing cancer, and improve your chances of surviving cancer if it occurs.
HuffPost CDC
Also read: What Is Anastrozole? Understanding Its Impact On Breast Cancer Reduction
