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Can milk cause cancer?

By SONA PARMAR MUKHERJEE
We have all been brought up with the idea that milk is good for us (I remember my parents making sure my brother and I both had a pint of milk a day), but now science is telling us that the growth factors
and hormones it contains are not just risky for breast cancer, but also other hormone-related cancers, such as prostate cancer and ovarian cancer.
As I have said time and again, milk is the perfect food to feed any infant – but only so long as the supplying mother and the baby are of the same species. Simply put, cow milk is only good for calves.
So what happens if you happen to be prone to cancer and do consume dairy produce? Well, scientists now believe that cancer-causing genes may not become active unless particular conditions that switch
them on arise. So, eating dairy can have an impact at the genetic level.
Cancer cells are pretty sensitive and especially to chemical messenger proteins called growth factors and, in hormonal cancers, to oestrogen.
While growth factors are produced by our own bodies and perform vital tasks (for example, they make cells grow), there are other substances called binding proteins that normally control them (and have a
potential impact on cancer cells). The risk of cancer increases when we have abnormally high levels of ‘unbound’ growth factors (or hormones) circulating in our blood.
The main protein in cow milk is called casein and according to one well-respected nutritional scientist from Cornell University, Professor Colin Campbell, it should be regarded just like oestrogen – as a potent
carcinogen (cancer-causing chemical).
Furthermore, according to Professor Jane Plant, five-time cancer survivor and author of
The Beat Cancer Diet, cow milk has been shown to contain 35 different hormones and 11 growth factors. It is the
circulating levels of one such growth factor in milk, called IGF-1, which is now strongly linked to the development of many cancers. It is also interesting that research shows that ‘unbound’ IGF levels are
lower in vegans than in both meat-eaters and other vegetarians.
So where are you supposed to get your calcium from if your ditch dairy? Plant sources appear to be best and there is plenty of easily absorbed calcium in dark leafy greens, such as sukuma wiki, as well as
broccoli, dried beans, figs and almonds.
The writer is a clinical nutritionist .
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