Dairy or NO dairy

You will hear from a lot of women that dairy is a no-no. That is a common belief.  That concerned me, because I consume a lot of dairy. So I dug into the research. What I found, to my complete surprise, is that if there is any connection between dairy and breast cancer, it may be beneficial connection. 

This Breast Cancer Risk Factors Table from Komen states that there is no increase or decrease in risk from dairy consumption.

And here's a great article that reviews dozens of studies that have looked at the connection between dairy and breast cancer:  Consumption of dairy products and the risk of breast cancer: a review of the literature

Their conclusion:  "Differences in eating patterns and breast cancer rates across countries suggest that several dietary components, including dairy products, could affect breast cancer risk. However, dairy products are a diverse food group in terms of the factors that could potentially influence risk. Some dairy products, such as whole milk and many types of cheese, have a relatively high saturated fat content, which may increase risk. Moreover, milk products may contain contaminants such as pesticides, which have carcinogenic potential, and growth factors such as insulin-like growth factor I, which have been shown to promote breast cancer cell growth. In contrast, the calcium and vitamin D contents of dairy products have been hypothesized to reduce breast cancer risk. We reviewed the current epidemiologic literature on the relation between dairy product intakes and breast cancer risk, focusing primarily on the results of cohort and case-control studies.Most of the studies reviewed showed no consistent pattern of increased or decreased breast cancer risk with a high consumption of dairy products as a whole or when broken down into high-fat and low-fat dairy products, milk, cheese, or butter. Measurement error may have attenuated any modest association with dairy products. The available epidemiologic evidence does not support a strong association between the consumption of milk or other dairy products and breast cancer risk."

This article is from 2004 but it's a good summary of all the research done up to that time. All the more recent studies that I found on dairy & breast cancer risk either show no relationship or actually show an inverse relationship between dairy and BC risk, particularly in pre-menopausal women but also possibly in post-menopausal women. In other words, the more dairy consumed, the lower the breast cancer rate. Note however that most of these results are not statistically significant but are directional.

Dairy products, calcium intake, and breast cancer risk: a case-control study in China.   January 2011  "Our study supports a protective effect of high intake of dietary calcium on breast cancer risk, and no association with dairy product intake."

Dairy consumption and calcium intake and risk of breast cancer in a prospective cohort: the Norwegian Women and Cancer study   November 2010  "Premenopausal women with the highest consumption of white cheese had half the risk of breast cancer compared to those with the lowest consumption.... CONCLUSION: Dairy consumption is not strongly related to breast cancer risk in this prospective study. A non-significant negative association between calcium intake and breast cancer risk was seen, particularly among premenopausal women."

Meat, eggs, dairy products, and risk of breast cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort.   September 2009  "We have not consistently identified intakes of meat, eggs, or dairy products as risk factors for breast cancer. Future studies should investigate the possible role of high-temperature cooking in the relation of red meat intake with breast cancer risk."

Dairy products, calcium and the risk of breast cancer: results of the French SU.VI.MAX prospective study.   May 2007  "Our data support the hypothesis that dairy products, through calcium content or a correlated component, might have a negative association with the risk of breast cancer, particularly among premenopausal women."

Dairy, calcium, and vitamin D intake and postmenopausal breast cancer risk in the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort  December 2005  "Our results support the hypothesis that dietary calcium and/or some other components in dairy products may modestly reduce risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. The stronger inverse associations among estrogen receptor-positive tumors deserve further study."

Based on this, I eat all the dairy I want.

The Kaiser Permanente study conclusions were specific to "high fat dairy", not to dairy in general.

"High-fat dairy is generally not recommended as part of a healthy diet," said senior author Bette J. Caan, DrPH, research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. "Switching to low-fat dairy is an easy thing to modify."

"High-fat dairy is generally not recommended as part of a healthy diet," said senior author Bette J. Caan, DrPH, research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. "Switching to low-fat dairy is an easy thing to modify."

High-fat dairy products linked to poorer breast cancer survival

So the author of the study is suggesting that women switch to low fat dairy.  She is not saying that women shouldn't consume dairy.  That recommendation seems to make sense not just from the standpoint of breast cancer risk, but from an overall health perspective. We all know that consuming high fat products isn't good for us. Except for cheese, which I only eat once or at most twice a week, all the dairy I consume is either low fat or non-fat.

As for the studies I referenced, I provided all the links so that anyone can read the results for themselves.  You are right that food studies are notoriously unreliable; that's why I looked at so many studies. And I actually have a research background so I was able to dig into the details of some of the studies. I'm very comfortable with the conclusions and it's important to realize that it's not just one study concluding that dairy is fine, it's study after study after study.

I agree about the concerns with dairy that might have the growth hormone IGF-1. I'm in Canada and it's banned here.  It's banned in Europe as well.

Ultimately everyone has to do what they feel is right.  I did my research and I'm happy that I can continue to consume dairy products and not have any concerns.  You have to do whatever makes you comfortable.  

Kathy044: I found his book was very light with regard to dairy and breast cancer. It didn't say much of anything, if I recall. Isn't that right? So I'm not sure what makes you comfortable about it using him as a reference.  

Jessica, I appreciate that you prefer to go with your gut on this, and that's your decision to make.  But if you are saying that this is a gut decision, why are you at the same time challenging the validity of the research that shows that diary is not harmful? 

In your first post you commented that you "don't have the ability or knowledge to delve into the studies and how they were done, and how and why they may differ from the other studies that show other results." The implication from your comment was that the research I provided might be faulty and was not representative of all the studies done in this area. Yet you didn't provide any other research except for one study about which you misstated the conclusions, suggesting that the study was negative to dairy when it in fact it wasn't.

In your latest post you've commented that "Of course, I know you do realize that lots of bad evidence doesn't make it better evidence." Here you seem to be suggesting that the 'evidence' that I provided is bad evidence. Did you read the studies in the links that I provided? I did. The first link was a review of 46 different studies - and I went through the references and read all of the studies that were referenced - and then I provided links to 5 additional studies that I found that came out in the years after this review was done. Are all those studies are bad?  Or are the bad studies only the ones that didn't find a positive association between breast cancer and dairy consumption?

Not all research is good and it's important to not take at face value a written summary of any piece of research.  It's better to dig into the data, if possible (and it's obviously not always possible) or to at least to look at whatever numbers are provided.  Questioning research based on the data is good.  But challenging the validity of research just because you don't support the conclusions, and providing no evidence to support your allegations... that's not something that would pass any legal test, is it?

Obxflygirl1 - I told my MO that due to digestive issues, I had switched to soy milk long before my BC dx. She suggested that I give up the soy milk for fat-free, calcium-enriched Lactaid, which I love.

(As for other soy products, she said that she preferred that I did not consume them in great quantities, especially as my main source of protein, but if they were listed way down on the list of ingredients in certain foods, I needn't worry. I'm 100% ER+)

You may also find these links on our site helpful:

http://www.breastcancer.org/risk/organic_living/articles/dirty_dairy

http://community.breastcancer.org/livegreen/plant-milks-seeking-—-and-finding-—-worthy-alternatives-to-dairy/

5 yrs ago I was diagnosed.  I gave up dairy even though I loved it.  And now just this past Nov. I am diagnosed Stage IV.  I am loving my milk etc once again!!!!

Europa, I'm sorry that you've moved to Stage IV.  But I like your attitude!

To me, although I'm a research geek and I enjoy digging through the studies, research results are just one factor in my decisions. This is true whether the research says that something is good for us, bad for us, or neutral. I simply incorporate that information into my general knowledge; I don't base my dietary choices on what the research says.

Instead, for me, it all comes down to a few basic principles that I follow:

* Eat a well-balanced diet.  I don't focus on what's good or bad for breast cancer; I focus on what's good for my overall health. 

* Avoid artificial ingredients and additives. If there is something I really like that has some artificial crap in it, I might make an exception but I try to minimize the amount of artificial ingredients that I consume.

* Moderation is key. Too much of anything, even something that's good for you, can be harmful.  And cutting out things that may increase risk in one area of your health might result in a greater risk increase in another area of your health.

* Don't give up the things you enjoy. For me, food and wine are among the pleasures of life. So I refuse to sacrifice foods that I love, be it chocolate, wine, dairy, meat, etc.. I'm not going to allow breast cancer to lessen my pleasure in life. Why should breast cancer have that power? In fact the lesson I've learned from breast cancer (and other life experiences) is to not sacrifice or delay pleasure because one never knows what's around the corner.

Of course if I ever were to develop a condition where a particular food item could cause serious short-term harm - sodium for those with severe kidney failure is an example that comes to mind - then I would make adjustments to my diet so that I could stay alive. But as someone who is basically healthy (as most of us with breast cancer are), for now those princples work well for me.

p22nut5,  I have seen Forks Over Knives.  It's very informative, and I was following the diet until I started losing too much weight.  The most interesting thing to me was the information about dairy leaching calcium from our bones...

Thanks for the reference to that documentary.  I looked it up and in reading about it, it brought T Colin Campbell's book The China Study to my attention.  I know that Campbell and his book is a primary source for other material that I've read that's influenced me, but your post and looking up the documentary, then the book by Campbell (as Campbell participates in the doc), motivated me to reserve both from my local library. Have been interested in reading Campbell's book for a while. Noticed library also has the documentary, so I'll check it out too!