According to a new survey published ahead of Prostate Cancer Awareness Month in September, only 20% of men know that consuming milk and other dairy products can increase their risk of prostate cancer. The survey, carried out by Morning Consult for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) among 1,102 US men, also found that only 20% had ever received information from a healthcare professional about the link between nutrition and prostate cancer risk. After being told about the increased risk, 66% of respondents said they were likely to avoid dairy products.
Noah Praamsma, MS, RDN, a dietitian and nutrition education coordinator with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, said, “Physicians and other healthcare professionals need more education on the dangers of dairy products and the benefits of a plant-based diet for prostate cancer…The good news is that most men surveyed knew that consuming fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans can help protect them against prostate cancer, and research shows that consuming a 100% plant-based diet is the most beneficial.”
High intakes of dairy, including milk and cheese, have been linked to a greater risk of prostate cancer in a meta-analysis covering 32 studies. In one study, men who had one or more servings a day of skim or low-fat milk had a 19% higher risk of prostate cancer than those who rarely drank it. Another study, which followed 3,612 men for eight to ten years, found that those with the highest low-fat dairy intake were more than twice as likely to develop the disease as those with the lowest. A separate meta-analysis of 11 studies involving more than 700,000 participants found that men with the highest whole milk consumption had up to a 50% greater risk of dying from prostate cancer than those with the lowest.
Given these risks, 76% of the men surveyed said they would support warning labels on dairy products. The Adventist Health Study-2 found that men on a vegan diet had a 35% lower risk of prostate cancer than those eating meat or fish. A study of more than 2,000 men with the disease found that those eating the most plant-based foods had a 56% lower risk of progression and a 59% lower risk of recurrence than those eating the least.
