Breast cancer is sometimes called the “rich woman’s disease” because only women who can afford to eat a western diet high in red meat and dairy get breast cancer.
Much has been reported on the link between the genetically engineered rGBH growth hormone injected into cows to boost their milk production and the incidence of breast cancer in women who are exposed to it. But what about the naturally-occurring hormones in cow’s milk NOT treated with rGBH? Up until the last few years, powerful dairy interests have successfully convinced the public that milk and cheese is not only safe but provides many health benefits. But what does the scientific community with no industry affiliations report on the link between dairy and breast cancer? That is the question this story attempts to answer by citing text from a collection of the leading experts on the subject.
“Women who ate one portion of full-fat dairy a day were 64 per cent more likely to die from any cause – not just breast cancer.” — Kaiser Permanente research centre study that analyzed the records of 1,500 women diagnosed with breast cancer between 1997 and 2000
“The 9 million cows in America, for the most part, are not healthy. Half the herds in America have cows affected with bovine leukemia virus, half the herds have cows infected with a disease called Crohn’s disease, which is caused by a bacterium called mycobacterium paratuberculosis, which 40 million Americans have been affected with irritable bowel syndrome from this. Every person with Crohn’s disease tests positive for mycobacterium paratuberculosis. Every one! One hundred percent! And this was published in 1965 for the Proceedings for the National Academy of Science. So we’re talking about real science, here, not things I’m making up. You’ve got thousands of studies published in scientific journals, thousands of converging lines of evidence that tell us that milk does not do the body any good. We drink body fluids from diseased animals.” — Dr. Robert Cohen, author of Milk, the Deadly Poison
“It appears that when individuals do not have the correct enzymes to metabolize many of the hormones naturally found in any type of cow’s milk., a glass of milk can flood the body with excess estrogen. This raises the risk of developing or accelerating the growth of existing breast cancer.” — Susan Wadia-Ells, Founding Director of Knowbreastcancer.net
In her groundbreaking book Your Life in Your Hands (2007), Jane Plant PhD claims that milk, in particular, contains growth factors and hormones that can promote cancer. She therefore advocates changing from dairy to soy products. Such a dietary regime is the norm in Far Eastern countries and Professor Plant points out that even in Hiroshima, the chances of contracting breast cancer are half that of western nations. Only when Chinese and Japanese women move to Europe or the United States does their chance of contracting breast cancer dramatically increase. — Professor Jane Plant is one of the world’s leading geochemists and chief scientist of the British Geological Survey (BGS) from 2000 to 2005
“Any lactating mammal excretes toxins through her milk. This includes antibiotics, pesticides, chemicals and hormones. Also, all cows’ milk contains blood! … the USDA allows milk to contain from one to one and a half million white blood cells per millilitre. … another way to describe white cells where they don’t belong would be to call them pus cells.” — Robert M. Kradjian, MD, Breast Surgery Chief Division of General Surgery, Seton Medical Centre
“Dr. Davaasambuu cited a study comparing diet and cancer rates in 42 countries that showed a strong correlation between milk and cheese consumption and the incidence of testicular cancer among men age 20 to 39 – rates were highest in high consuming countries such as Switzerland and Denmark and low in Algeria and other parts of the world where people eat less dairy. She also linked rising rates of dairy consumption to the increased death rates from prostate cancer (from near zero per 100,000 men five decades ago to seven per 100,000 men today) and noted that breast cancer also appears to be linked to milk and cheese consumption.” — Andrew Weil, M.D.
In the most comprehensive study of human nutrition ever conducted, “What protein consistently and strongly promoted cancer? Casein, which makes up 87% of cow’s milk protein, promoted all stages of the cancer process. What type of protein did not promote cancer, even at high levels of intake? The safe proteins were from plants, including wheat and soy. As this picture came into view, it began to challenge and then to shatter some of my most cherished assumptions.” — Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study
“While scientists are hard at work searching for specific breast cancer-fighting compounds, the safest approach is to apply what we already know: Diets that are highest in a variety of plant foods and stay away from heavy oils, meat, and dairy products, help prevent a great many diseases. The earlier in life we start, the better.” — Dr. Neal M. Bernard
“I performed multiple regression analysis on breast cancer incidence. The highest correlation with breast cancer incidence was from animal source calories as compared to plant source calories.”The saturated fat in meat and milk products increases the risk of breast cancer.” — Dr William Harris, author of Cancer and Vegan Diet
“Some dairy products, such as whole milk and many types of cheese, have a relatively high saturated fat content, which may increase risk. Moreover, milk products may contain contaminants such as pesticides, which have carcinogenic potential, and growth factors such as insulin-like growth factor I, which have been shown to promote breast cancer cell growth.” — The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
“Since the 1980’s, study after study has linked dairy consumption to a high incidence of breast and other cancers. Women seeking to minimize their chances of breast cancer should avoid milk, other dairy products, and meat.In Asia, where milk consumption is extremely rare, breast cancer is almost unheard of.” — Phil Richardson, Nutritionist
“As families became more affluent in Japan, they began adopting daily meat and dairy into their diet. What was the result? Well, nothing short of shocking, actually. The affluent Japanese women developed breast cancer at a rate EIGHT times higher than their non-affluent Japanese neighbors who ate a diet free from heavy meat and dairy.” — Dr. Janet Bruno
“… several epidemiological studies have indicated a relationship between dairy consumption and breast cancer risk in pre-menopausal women (Outwater, 1997). Elevated levels of IGF-1, in particular, have been associated with increased risk of breast cancer (Hankinson, 1998).” — Breast Cancer Fund
“Of all the cancers, egg consumption was most tightly correlated with breast cancer risk. Those eating more than a half an egg a day were found to have nearly 3 times the odds of breast cancer compared to those that stayed away from eggs entirely.” — Michael Greger, MD
“The increase in cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity and asthma that has occurred in the Western world over the past century directly correlates with the increase in dairy consumption.” — Dr. Adam Meade, Chiropractor and national health advocate
“Researchers found that among 14,800 Greek women followed for a decade, those who kept most closely to the region’s traditional diet were less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than those whose eating habits were least Mediterranean-like. In general, the Mediterranean diet is rich in fish, olive oil, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and legumes, and relatively low in red meat and dairy.” — Dr. Alan H. Pressman, Chiropractor and Board Certified Dietitian/Nutritionist, host of radio program, Healthline (WWRL 1600 AM New York City)
“Humans now carry dioxin levels in their bodies hundreds of times greater than the “acceptable” cancer risk as defined by the EPA, and 95 percent of that results from eating red meat, fish and dairy products. An Earth Save study of 11,000 people showed that those on a vegetarian diet have a 40 percent lower risk of developing cancer than meat-eaters.” — Jennifer Bogo, author of The Diet-Cancer Connection
— The World Health Organization
“IGF-1 is one of the most important hormone signallers in the body, but circulating levels in the blood have to be right…This link between IGF-1 and cancers has been shown through population studies, which show a correlation between average milk consumption in the population and the occurrence of cancers. For instance there are 68.8 cases of breast cancer among every 100,000 woman in England and Wales compared with just 11.2 per 100, 000 in rural China where dairy is not included in the diet.” — JHolmes MD, Pollak MN and Hankinson SE. Lifestyle Correlates of Plasma Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 and Insulin-like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3 Concentrations. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention. 11: 862-867. 2002.
“You can control your exposure to estrogen. A study that was reported on in ‘Human Nutrition: Clinical Nutrition’ said that women whose diets were high in fiber and low in animal fat had a reduced risk of overexposure to estrogen and thereby a reduced risk of breast cancer.” — Christina Pirello, MFN, CCN, preeminent authority on natural and whole foods
“To assess the relationship between childhood and adult consumption of milk and breast cancer incidence, Dr. Anette Hjartaker of the University of Oslo, Norway and colleagues prospectively studied 48,844 premenopausal Norwegian women. The investigators note that 317 incident cases of breast cancer were diagnosed during a mean follow-up of 6.2 years… Dr. Hjartaker’s group found that childhood milk consumption was inversely associated with subsequent breast cancer among women between the ages of 34 and 39 years old…” — Hjartåker A, Laake P, Lund E., Institute of Community Medicine, University of Tromsø, Norway
