What is your take on this recent stud... - Prostate Cancer N...

Prostate Cancer Network

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What is your take on this recent study that found little or no additional prostate cancer risk with all levels of dairy consumption?

jronne profile image
3 Replies

Does this also apply to post RP guy that are possible candidates for BCR?

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

There were 4134 confirmed prostate cancer cases out of the 49,472 men in the PLCO cohort between 1998 and 2013 during the average of 11.2 follow-up years. As descriptive analysis, after classifying participants into quartiles of total dairy product consumption, the fourth quartile (>194.7 g/1000 kcal) had the most prostate cancer cases, although only slightly (Table 1). Those in the highest quartile of total dairy intake tended to be slightly older, to be non-Hispanic white, to have a personal history of diabetes, to be never or former alcohol drinkers, and to be never smokers, when compared with those in the lowest quartile. The maximum PSA levels tended to be higher in the higher quartiles; however, there was no clear pattern in the frequency of prostate cancer screenings based on PSA and DRE. Similarly, across quartiles of total dairy consumption, no clear pattern was observed in educational attainment, family history of cancer, BMI, ibuprofen use, and physical activity engagement. Those at higher quartiles tended to report lower total energy intake than those in lower quartiles.

Total dairy products had no statistically significant association with prostate cancer risk (HR = 1.05, 95% CI = 0.96–1.15 for highest quartile compared with lowest quartile, P-trend = 0.48) (Table 2). Similarly, there were no associations with low-fat dairy products (HR = 1.07, 95% CI = 0.98–1.17, P-trend = 0.34) or regular-fat dairy products (HR = 1.05, 95% CI = 0.96–1.15, P-trend = 0.90). When we grouped dairy products by fermentation methods, neither fermented dairy products (HR = 1.01, 95% CI = 0.93–1.10, P-trend = 0.92) nor non-fermented dairy products (HR = 1.07, 95% CI = 0.98–1.17, P-trend = 0.15) had a statistically significant association with prostate cancer risk. Similarly, milk intake variables, as total or separately by fat content, were not associated with a risk of prostate cancer (Table 3). The HR (95% CI) for total milk was 1.06 (0.97–1.15) comparing the highest quartile with the lowest with a P-trend of 0.39. By individual milk intake, the HR (95% CI) for comparing the higher than median intake and no intake ranged from 1.00 (0.92–1.09) for skim/nonfat/0.5%-fat milk to 1.06 (0.98–1.15) for 2%-fat milk.

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jronne
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AlanMeyer profile image
AlanMeyerModerator

If I remember correctly, Dean Ornish, a strong advocate of low calorie plant based diets, did a study of the effect of dairy products on men who already had prostate cancer. Again IIRC, he found that the dairy group had a six percent reduction in the rate of growth of PSA. In other words, both the men eating dairy products and the men who didn't eat them had disease progression with increasing PSA, but the men who ate dairy had a 6% faster growth of PSA. I think that study got a lot of attention and started the theory that dairy products fed prostate cancer. However we should note that the study did not produce a very large result and any errors in randomization of subjects, misreporting of diets, or other possible mistakes could have accounted for a very minimally significant outcome.

The study cited by Tall_Allen seems more convincing to me, but if it's not, I at least have reason to believe that eating dairy products (which I do a fair amount of), isn't having a big effect on my prostate health.

Alan

timotur profile image
timotur

Casein, one of the proteins in milk, is associated with PCa progression. I used to drink two gallons/wk, now I only use powder milk occasionally and some yogurt.

α-Casein Changes Gene Expression Profiles and Promotes Tumorigenesis of Prostate Cancer Cells

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/311...