Milk and breast cancer: Is there a link?

A recent study concludes that women who drink greater amounts of milk might have an increased risk of developing breast cancer than those who drink little or no milk.According to the American Cancer Society, in 2019, there were around 268,600 new cases of breast cancer among women in the United States.Over the years, scientists have uncovered a number of lifestyle-related risk factors for breast cancer; these include alcohol consumption, higher body mass index, and lower levels of physical activity.Many scientists believe that there may also be nutritional risk factors, but as the authors of a recent study explain, “Results have been inconsistent for virtually all nutritional factors to date.”Two food groups that have received a fair amount of attention are soy and dairy. Conversely, other scientists have concluded that dairy intake might increase breast cancer risk.However, because individuals who consume more soy are likely to consume less dairy, and vice versa, untangling the relationship has proven challenging.Unperturbed, the authors of a recent study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology set out to look for links between milk and soy consumption and breast cancer.To investigate, the authors delved into a unique dataset created as part of the Adventist Health Study-2; they used data from 52,795 women aged 30 or older.