Does eating dairy foods during childhood and adolescence change a womans risk of breast cancer?
Several studies have indicated the possibility of a small decrease in breast cancer risk associated with childhood and adolescent milk food consumption. Childhood, in Western cultures, is the time of highest consumption of milk. Bone growth throughout this period requires calcium, and milk is an especially good source of calcium. Three case-control studies examined the effect of childhood or adolescent consumption of dairy foods on breast cancer risk. One study examined the relationship of remembered childhood consumption of whole milk and the risk of premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer. A small decrease in risk for both types of breast cancer was associated with drinking whole milk daily during childhood. Two studies examined breast cancer risk and dairy food consumption during adolescence. The first of these studies found no change in the risk of breast cancer associated with eating dairy foods as an adolescent. The second study focused on fat types and found a decrease in
