Bowel cancer risk could be reduced with an extra glass of milk

Misleading headline suggesting the benefit is only from milk. The study authors note that it is calcium sources not dairy specifically. This is very problematic from a bias perspective, but also to the 70% of the population that is lactose intolerant and for those who choose not to have dairy for other reasons including ethical, religious and environmental. The headline should be changed.

Seems misleading. Consuming calcium rich foods = reduced risk in cancer, is not the same conclusion as drinking milk = reduced risk in cancer. There’s so many other sources of calcium that don’t come with all the downsides milk does (saturated fats, hormones, antibiotic use, animal cruelty etc.).

Why does Cancer Research focus on milk as the major food of benefit? It comes across as biased, unscientific and misleading. Why not just go clearly with the truth that it is calcium benefitting people and that calcium can be obtained from important healthy plant food sources that do not have the other negative health, welfare or environmental issues of dairy.

I read the research. CALCIUM is what they concluded made the difference, in any form (dairy or plants etc).

Here are some quotes about other things which the study believes may have a positive (bad) or inverse (good) effect on this cancer.

“Apart from alcohol, the only dietary factor which was positively associated with colorectal cancer risk in these data was red and processed meat consumption.

We showed a positive association with red and processed meat intake and weaker inverse associations with breakfast cereal, fruit, wholegrains, carbohydrates, fibre, total sugars, folate, and vitamin C.

We conclude that dairy products help protect against colorectal cancer, and that this is driven largely or wholly by calcium.”

It seems vitamin D is crucial to absorbing calcium, which so many of us don’t get. Also factors like K2 and magnesium needed. Is it more our modern diets to blame? I try to eat a very varied healthy diet and I still feel a lot better by taking a vitamin B complex tablet, which helps enormously with low mood and a multivitamin helps me with the restless legs and sleeping. I lost a brother to bowel cancer and my sister is battling it now.

The paper specifically says there was no variation in risk reduction based on the specific source of dietary calcium, and that when they looked at calcium itself and dairy milk, the calcium was protective *but the dairy milk was not*. So it’s not a directive to drink more milk, and doesn’t say that milk will cure or prevent bowel cancer! Just a link between having more calcium (from any source) and a bit of a reduction in risk. Certainly doesn’t mean people won’t get cancer if they drink milk every day.

When we are in Junior School, we are given milk (calcium), which aids in bone health, so why do people still get bowel cancer, Research also shows that we should avoid eating food like bacon as it contains nitrates, but are expected to eat a lot of fruit and vegetables and nitrates are also i fruit and vegetables. Also foods like cheese which is rich in calcium, but may also contain a lot of fat, this is misleading research.

Many of these studies do not prove “cause/effect” and are often funded/influenced by special interest. There are a few common sense and obvious things to avoid such as smoking but beyond that you are unlikely to live much longer by avoiding many of the foods and beverages they tell you to avoid and you could actually die sooner because of being stressed about what to do and what not to do.

Best advice is to stay active, do everything in moderation and enjoy your life while you can. When your time is up it’s up, plain and simple.

I was very upset about this article as I have drunk milk every day since I was born, some 69 years ago and yet I got bowel cancer in May 2019, no warning signs and saw two doctors who said there were no concerns, I’d had tummy issues and one borderline bowel screening test!,
Where did go wrong.

So it’s calcium that has the impact, not milk itself? Seems misleading to go with this as the headline when there are millions of people around the world who are intolerant to dairy and/or don’t want to buy into the dairy industry.

Fantastic. Great to see natural milk back in the conversation. In balance a glass of dairy milk is better for you, than many of these ultra processed alterntive milk drinks that contain extra salt, sugar and stabilisers. Back to whole foods for me!

Many thanks for this information. I have porridge oats everyday, made with water, but will switch now to low fat milk. I usually only consume milk in coffee or tea so hopefully this is a small step in the right direcion.

Who funded this research please?

I had breast cancer Stage 3 in 2009 (age 58) – treatment was mastectomy, chemo and radiotherapy. I drink 2 glasses of white wine per day, eat processed ham and red meat regularly however I eat a varied diet with plenty of fish, fresh veg, nuts, fruit and fibre. I also drink around 1 pint of milk per day plus 2 large tablespoons of full fat natural yogurt with milk on my muesli in the morning plus I take 1 x 253 mg calcium tablet per day to guard against osteoporosis. Now aged 73, I shall continue to do so but at the same time am trying to be more sparing with the processed and red meat.

Fantastic back to reality that milk is good for you 👍

Given that livestock farming is extremely damaging to the environment (and therefore people) it might have been better to focus on the benefit of calcimin enriched milks rather than the harmful industry dairy industry. Also why have you not mentioned red and processed meat that were included in the study?