Milk Intake in Early Life and Later Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 14; no. 6; p. 1233
• Main Authors: Gil, Hyeonmin, Chen, Qiao-Yi, Khil, Jaewon, Park, Jihyun, Na, Gyumi, Lee, Donghoon, Keum, Nana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 15.03.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: adolescence; Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult; Adults; Age; Animals; Asymmetry; Bias; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - epidemiology; Breast Neoplasms - etiology; Cell division; Child development; childhood; Children; Cohort Studies; Colorectal cancer; Colorectal carcinoma; Confidence intervals; Dairy products; Health risks; Heterogeneity; Humans; Insulin-like growth factors; Male; Menopause; Meta-analysis; Milk; milk intake; Observational Studies as Topic; Prostate cancer; Prostatic Neoplasms - epidemiology; Prostatic Neoplasms - etiology; Review; Risk analysis; Risk Factors; Subgroups; prostate cancer; colorectal cancer; childhood; milk intake; adolescence; meta-analysis; breast cancer
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu14061233

Dairy consumption in adulthood has been demonstrated to influence cancer risk. Although childhood and adolescence represent critical periods of rapid growth, the relationship between milk intake in early life and later cancer risk is unclear. Thus, we examined this relationship by conducting a meta-analysis of the observational studies. PubMed and Embase were searched for relevant articles that were published throughout December 2021. The summary relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated using the DerSimonian-Laird random-effects model. The summary RR for the highest vs. lowest milk intake was 0.83 (95% CI = 0.69-1.00; = 0.05; I = 60%; seven studies) for breast cancer, 0.98 (95% CI = 0.72-1.32; = 0.88; I = 51%; four studies) for prostate cancer, and 0.90 (95% CI = 0.42-1.93; = 0.78; I = 83%; three studies) for colorectal cancer. No evidence of an association emerged in subgroup analyses of menopausal status, cancer stage, fat content of milk, life stage of milk intake, or study design. Consistent results were observed in the meta-analyses using total dairy intake. In conclusion, milk intake during childhood and adolescence might not be associated with risks of breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer later in life. Given the small number of studies that were included in our meta-analysis, and the high heterogeneity, more studies are warranted for a definitive conclusion.