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from plant-based/The Aquarian, Spring 2002
updated May 7, 2005
Ovarian Cancer
In 1989, Daniel Cramer and his associates at Harvard University published a tantalizing clue to the origins of ovarian cancer. Not only was ovarian cancer more common in countries with high milk consumption, but women with the disease were significantly more likely to be deficient in an enzyme called GALT. GALT is required to digest a breakdown product of lactose (milk sugar), galactose. It was a provocative finding, because galactose appears to damage ovarian egg cells, causing ovarian failure. And premature ovarian failure may be a precursor to ovarian cancer.

Flash forward to 2002. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is citing Cramer's research to suggest milk is a cause of ovarian cancer. And Cramer is badmouthing PCRM.

"We don't have the scientific proof to say that it has definitely been linked to cancer," Cramer is telling CNSNews.com."I think that particular group has their own sort of agenda . . ."

Indeed, PCRM never mentions the studies that cast doubt on the viability of the milk-galactose hypothesis. As recently as 2000, Cramer's own group found no difference in milk consumption or in GALT activity between 563 new cases of ovarian cancer and 523 controls. But they did find a few other GALT-related abnormalities – enough to keep the hypothesis alive.

VERDICT: The evidence may still be half-baked, but if you have a family history of ovarian cancer and low GALT activity (the only practical way to know, according to Cramer, is if someone has galactosemia in your family), you might ask yourself if you really need dairy.

Back to MILK: What is the Deal?
Syd Baumel
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UPDATE:
Swedish study affirms dairy/lactose ovarian cancer link