Milk Linked to Ovarian Cancer:U.S. Experts Recommendation Based on New Swedish

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Milk Linked to Ovarian Cancer:

U.S. Experts Issue Recommendation Based on New Swedish Study

http://www.strongbones.org/news.html

 

WASHINGTON—Nutrition experts with the Physicians Committee for

Responsible Medicine (PCRM) are available to comment on a new study

reaffirming the association between milk consumption and ovarian

cancer. Conducted by researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institute,

the new meta-analysis found that the strongest evidence of the milk-

cancer association came from three prospective studies. Every 10

grams of lactose (the amount in one glass of milk) ingested on a

daily basis increased ovarian cancer risk by 13 percent. Case-

control studies, a weaker line of evidence, produced conflicting

results. The study, authored by Susanna Larsson and colleagues,

appears this month in the International Journal of Cancer.

 

" For more than ten years, researchers have reported on the

association between milk consumption and ovarian cancer risk, " says

Neal D. Barnard, M.D., nutrition researcher and president of

PCRM. " There is now sufficient evidence to recommend that women

avoid dairy products in order to avoid this potentially lethal

cancer. "

 

In Harvard's Nurses' Health Study of over 80,000 participants,

researchers found that each daily glass of low-fat or skim milk was

associated with a 20 percent increase in serous ovarian cancers (Int

J Cancer 2004). Researchers hypothesize that galactose, a component

of the milk sugar lactose, may damage ovarian cells, making them

more susceptible to cancer. The Iowa Women's Health Study of more

than 29,000 postmenopausal women showed that the highest consumers

of lactose (milk sugar) had a 60 percent increased risk of ovarian

cancer as compared to those who consumed the least lactose (Am J

Epidemiol 1999).

 

For an interview with Dr. Barnard, or another nutrition expert,

please contact Jeanne S. McVey at 202-686-2210, ext. 316, or 415-509-

1833.

 

Founded in 1985, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

is a nonprofit health organization that promotes preventive

medicine, especially good nutrition. PCRM also conducts clinical

research studies, opposes unethical human experimentation, and

promotes alternatives to animal research.