Canberra Vegan: Dairy is implicated in prostate cancer etiology

Dairy is implicated in prostate cancer etiology

A long term study of male doctors in the USA has found that dairy milk is associated with prostate cancer incidence and mortality. The complete story is somewhat complex, with results divided into skim milk and whole milk. Both types of milk are implicated. In particular, it was found that high intake of whole milk doubles the risk of dying after diagnosis. High intake was defined as anything over 237ml/day (about 1 cup per day).

This is an important finding. The risk of dying after prostate cancer diagnosis can potentially be halved by quitting dairy consumption. Note that since this study also found that low fat milk contributed to prostate cancer incidence, quitting dairy entirely seems prudent. If there was a cancer treatment that could halve the risk of dying it would be hailed as a miracle treatment. Why not take it?

This is not the first time these sort of associations have been found. A large Japanese cohort study published in 2008 found that high dairy consumption increased the risk of prostate cancer by 63%. Both milk and yoghurt were found to contribute to this risk. Prior to this study, in 2007 a meta analysis of dairy product and prostate cancer risk was published which also demonstrated the link.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer for men in Australia and it is not to be messed with. Getting prostate cancer seems to be the new normal for men. While dairy is not the only risk factor, it is important to do everything that can be reasonably done to minimise the risk. This means that it is important to educate ourselves and to act on the available evidence. Based on the evidence, dairy is not a health food. And anything that is not health food is junk.

The bodies that write the official dietary guidelines take a long time to admit to mistaken advice. The most recent dietary guidelines have downplayed the history of results linking dairy and prostate cancer. Also, Dairy Australia is a major sponsor of the Dietitians Association of Australia, the body that gives accreditation to practising dietitians. It therefore seems unlikely that DAA will be able to acknowledge the damage that dairy is causing to men's health.

Canberra Milk uses marketing aimed at children to persuade them into a lifetime habit of dairy consumption. There's no doubt that if the diet is otherwise lacking in nutrients such as magnesium and calcium, dairy could provide some health benefits. But plant foods (especially leafy greens) are more dense in these essential nutrients. In the food modelling for the latest Australian dietary guidelines, the insistence on having dairy as a food group meant that in many cases it was impossible to meet all of the required nutrients without going over the limit of 10 per cent of energy as saturated fat. And that was with "low fat" dairy. Read our submission to the dietary guidelines for further details.

Whether we really need to have a creamy milky substance in our diet is questionable. However, if you like having milk in your cereal and coffee, soy milk is likely to be a safer choice.

References

[1] Song Y, Chavarro JE, Cao Y, Qiu W, Mucci L, Sesso HD, Stampfer MJ, Giovannucci E, Pollak M, Liu S, Ma J. Whole Milk Intake Is Associated with Prostate Cancer-Specific Mortality among U.S. Male Physicians. J Nutr. 2012 Dec 19. [Epub ahead of print]

[2] Kurahashi N, Inoue M, Iwasaki M, Sasazuki S, Tsugane AS; Japan Public Health Center-Based Prospective Study Group. Dairy product, saturated fatty acid, and calcium intake and prostate cancer in a prospective cohort of Japanese men. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2008 Apr;17(4):930-7.

[3] Qin LQ, Xu JY, Wang PY, Tong J, Hoshi K. Milk consumption is a risk factor for prostate cancer in Western countries: evidence from cohort studies. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2007;16(3):467-76.

[4] Yan L, Spitznagel EL. Soy consumption and prostate cancer risk in men: a revisit of a meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Apr;89(4):1155-63.

Source: http://canberravegan.blogspot.com/2012/12/dairy-is-implicated-in-prostate-cancer.html

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