Colon cancer survivors should have diets high in dairy, reports new research, though not everyone involved in related research efforts agrees with the newest study contention.
A study by the American Cancer Society's epidemiology research program indicates calcium and milk may boost survival rates among colon cancer patients, but researchers also note more study is required as the results do not prove dairy intake is the direct reason for longer survival.
"If you are a colorectal cancer patient, calcium and milk consumption may improve your survival. But do not change your diet just yet before more research is conducted," said lead researcher Peter Campbell.
Researchers say the results seem to indicate cancer survivors who ingested the most dairy lived a bit longer and had a lower chance and risk of dying overall.
"If our findings are replicated in future studies, we may see changes in dietary guidelines for cancer survivors: patients might be encouraged to increase calcium and milk intake," Campbell said. The report was published this week in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Dr. Donald Abrams, an integrative oncologist at the University of California, San Francisco, however, is not as confident about the reveal.
"It's silly to look at milk in isolation, because [according to the study] the people who drank the most milk also were the leanest, did the most physical exercise, ate less red meat, and ate more fruits and vegetables," he said. "The message is it's the whole diet, not a single component."
The study involved 2,300 patients suffering from colon cancer who had been diagnosed between 1992 and 2009. Of those in the study, 949 had died by 2010, with colon cancer the cause for 408 of the patients.
The researchers say those who did not die had eaten the most dairy and call the finding "marginally statistically significant." Patients who drank the most milk had a 28 percent lower risk of dying overall, say researchers.
But Abrams counters past research has shown dairy to be high in saturated fat and that could impact hormones, which could boost the risk of other cancers.
"I believe dairy should be avoided by all people, let alone people with cancer," he said.
As Tech Times reported in March, a higher incidence of screenings and increased colon cancer awareness has led to a 30 percent drop in cases of the disease, according to a recent study.
While rates of the disease have been decreasing steadily since the 1980s, the swiftest decline yet occurred between 2001 and 2010, which saw development of the disease drop an average of 3 percent per year. Preceding years saw a slower, though definite, drop of 2 percent per year, though despite promising numbers, the disease is still the No. 3 cancer killer in the United States. It's estimated that 2014 will see 136,000 new incidences of the disease, of which an approximate 50,000 will likely end in death.
The 7 percent drop in cases for those aged 65 and over can largely be attributed to a jump in colonoscopy rates, with the screening procedure advancing in popularity. Of those aged 50 to 75 in the year 2000, just 19 percent underwent colonoscopies -- as opposed to 55 percent of the same age group in 2010. Across all age groups, that number jumped yet higher to 65 percent of people undergoing colo-rectal screeening. The data was parsed by the American Cancer Society, which accessed key information from governmental surveys.
"These continuing drops in incidence and [death rates] show the lifesaving potential of colon cancer screening; a potential that an estimated 23 million Americans between ages 50 and 75 are not benefiting from because they are not up to date on screening," said Dr. Richard Wender, chief cancer control officer at the American Cancer Society.
