(23-02-08) MILK AND PROSTATE CANCER

The relationship between milk and prostate cancer has long been troubling, despite the dairy industry's attempt to get you to think that your health is dependent on you're drinking three glasses a day of the stuff.

In nine- count 'em, nine- separate studies, the strongest and most consistent dietary factor linked with prostate cancer was high consumption of milk or dairy products, says Walter Willet, MD, PhD, Chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. At first lots of folks blamed the old boogeyman of diet, saturated fat. Then there was concern that it wasn't the dairy products, but rather too much calcium (without enough vitamin D). Why? Because too much calcium acts as to prevent vitamin D from doing it's anti-cancer work of acting like a brake on the growth of cancer cells.

Two new studies point the finger back at homogenized, pasteurized milk itself. In a study involving 82,483 men over the course of about 10 years, researchers found that there was absolutely no evidence that calcium increased the risk of prostate cancer. They also found that the consumption of skim milk or low-fat milk did. (Why whole milk had the opposite effect is a bit of a mystery).

I've spoken to a lot of researchers off the record, and many suspect- though they can't prove yet- that the hormones in commercial milk may have something to do with it's troubling association with both prostate cancer and acne.

Who knows? Meanwhile, I'm sticking with raw, certified, organic milk which unfortunately you can only get in two states. I've never been a fan of homogenized pasteurized milk, and think we can do just fine without it. We certainly don't need three glasses a day.

And consider this: the countries with the highest milk consumption also have the highest osteoporosis rates. You don't need milk to prevent bone loss- just an adequate intake of all the right minerals and vitamins (including vitamin D!) and some good weight bearing exercise!

Source: jonnybowden.com

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