Consumption of Cow’s Milk in Teens Tied to Later Prostate Cancer

Researchers in Iceland have found that men who remember consuming a lot of milk in their teens are three times as likely to be diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer as more-moderate milk drinkers.

“We believe that our data are indeed solid and provide important evidence for the role of adolescence as a ‘sensitive period’ for prostate cancer development,” Johanna Torfadottir, a nutrition scientist and a graduate student at the University of Iceland, told Reuters.

For their study, the researchers used data from more than 2,200 men born between 1907 and 1937. These men had been part of a medical study started in the 1960s and, in the early 2000s, had answered questions about their diet in early and mid-life as part of another study.

Among 463 men who recalled drinking milk less than once a day in their teens, one percent developed advanced prostate cancer or died of the disease over a quarter century of follow-up.