HOME | MILKfrom plant-based/The Aquarian, Spring 2002Prostate Cancer
A couple years ago, when PETA painted a milk mustache on billboard images of New York's prostate cancer-stricken mayor Rudy Giuliani, it was baaad taste. But the science was sound.
"Dairy intake has been consistently associated with increased risk of prostate cancer," according to June Chan and Edward Giovannucci of the Harvard School of Public Health. "This is one of the most consistent dietary predictors for prostate cancer in the published literature."
How bad is it?
"In these studies," Chan and Giovannucci continue, "men with the highest dairy intakes had approximately double the risk of total prostate cancer, and up to a fourfold increase in risk of metastatic or fatal prostate cancer relative to low consumers."
Thirteen of the studies looked specifically at milk; and in all but four, milk – including low fat and skim – was incriminated.
You'd think that when Larry King sports that milk mustache, there would at least be a fine print warning. So does PCRM. A couple years ago it complained to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which led to a report this June by a USDA-convened panel of experts. "Advertisements related to high-risk groups for prostate cancer or cardiovascular disease (i.e. adult males) should clearly indicate that low-fat milk is preferred or indicate that risks may be associated with whole milk consumption," the panel recommended.
But according to Chan and Giovannucci, the research suggests it's not the fat but the calcium in milk (which depletes cancer-protective vitamin D) that's the problem, along with milk's ability – again, regardless of fat content – to increase blood levels of a hormone called insulinlike growth factor-I (IGF-1) that can promote cancer growth.
VERDICT: If you're old enough to grow a silver mustache, you may want to scrap the milk mustache.
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