Benefits Of Milk, July 7 / 04

Lisa Rose
Lisa Rose Member Posts: 598 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Drinking milk may protect against colon cancer
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Drinking at least a glass of milk a day may lower the risk of colorectal cancer, according to researchers who pooled some of the world's largest studies on the long-believed link.

Calcium from milk or other sources has long been thought to play a role in preventing colorectal cancer, a leading cancer killer. Studies show high calcium intake reduces the occurrence of polyps that can turn cancerous, but diet-tracking studies stopped short of finding final proof of a truly lowered cancer risk.

To better define that link, scientists at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital analyzed 10 studies that together tracked nutrient consumption of more than half a million people, nearly 5,000 of whom eventually got colorectal cancer.

People who consumed a glass of milk a day - about 180 to 250 millilitres - had a 12 per cent lower risk of developing colorectal cancer than those who drank less than two glasses a week, the researchers report Tuesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

With more than a glass a day, the risk reduction was 15 per cent.

Other dairy foods didn't show a statistically significant relationship.

A total calcium intake - from diet plus calcium supplements - of 1,000 milligrams a day was protective, too. The researchers calculated that if all study participants had consumed that much, the women may have suffered 15 per cent fewer cases of colorectal cancer and the men 10 per cent fewer.

Vitamin D, commonly added to milk, is also thought to play a role because it helps the body absorb calcium. The study found the highest doses of both nutrients provided the biggest protective effect.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance.

Comments

  • kangatoo
    kangatoo Member Posts: 2,105 Member
    #2
    Hey Lisa--hope you are doin ok.
    Re; the milk---a similar program was done here in oz--read about it some time ago.
    Unfortunately I must have been in the no-help % as since a youngster I have been a milk fanatic.I literally lived on tha stuff--I used to drink nearly 2 litres a day and have done most of my life.I even wondered after my dx. if it was possible that milk could have been a possible cause of my cancer.Having said that, I often wonder just how many so-called additives in our foods are of some suspicion.Even these days many say that things like micro-waves and cell phones can cause it.
    I guess that also milk today is not what it used to be what with pasturization , homogonization etc.--ad nauseum.
    he he--makes one think , don't it?
    As my mum died of brain cancer I guess my ill-gotten thoughts tend to sway towards genetics--but thats my opinion.
    luv n huggs--kanga n Jen

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