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| November 2001, Volume 55, Number 11, Pages 1000-1007 |
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| Original Communication |
| Prospective study on milk products, calcium and cancers of the colon and rectum |
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| R Järvinen1, P Knekt2,3, T Hakulinen4,5 and A Aromaa2,3 |
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1Department of Clinical Nutrition, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland
2National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland
3The Social Insurance Institution, Helsinki and Turku, Finland
4Finnish Cancer Registry, Helsinki, Finland
5Unit of Cancer Epidemiology, Radiumhemmet, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
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Correspondence to: R Järvinen, Department of Clinical Nutrition, University of Kuopio, PO Box 1627, Fin 70211 Kuopio, Finland. E-mail: Ritva.Jarvinen@uku.fi
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Guarantors: R Järvinen and P Knekt. Contributors: RJ prepared the manuscript and interpreted the results. PK designed the study and carried out the statistical analyses. TH provided the cancer incidence data. AA prepared the baseline data. All investigators contributed to the paper. |
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| Abstract |
| Objective: To study the relationship between consumption of milk and milk products, calcium, lactose and vitamin D and occurrence of colorectal cancers. Design: Prospective cohort study. Subjects: A total of 9959 men and women aged 15 y or older without history of cancer at baseline. During a 24 y follow-up, 72 new cancers of the large bowel (38 in the colon and 34 in the rectum) were detected. Results: Consumption of milk and total milk products was suggested to be inversely related to colon cancer incidence, whereas no similar association was seen for rectal cancer. The relative risk between the highest and lowest quartiles of intake adjusted for potential confounding factors was 0.46 (95% confidence interval 0.14-1.46, P for trend 0.09) for milk and 0.37 (95% CI=0.12-1.39, P for trend 0.06) for total milk products. Lactose intake showed a similar inverse relationship with colon cancer: the relative risk was 0.31 (95% CI=0.08-1.15, P for trend 0.03). Intake of vitamin D or total dietary calcium was not significantly related to colorectal cancer risk, whereas calcium provided by fermented milk products was associated with increased colorectal cancer incidence; in the highest quartile the multivariate adjusted relative risk for colorectal cancer was 2.07 (95% CI=1.00-4.28). Conclusions: Our results indicate that individuals showing high consumption of milk have a potentially reduced risk of colon cancer; however, the association does not appear to be due to intake of calcium, vitamin D, or to specific effects of fermented milk. Sponsorship: This study was supported by a grant from the Swedish Cancer Foundation. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2001) 55, 1000-1007 |
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| Keywords |
| cohort studies; colorectal neoplasms; dietary calcium; lactose; milk; vitamin D |
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| Received 6 November 2000; revised 24 April 2001; accepted 28 April 2001 |
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| November 2001, Volume 55, Number 11, Pages 1000-1007 |
| Table of contents Previous Abstract Next Article PDF |
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