Can Milk Increase Your Cancer Risk?

Two of our country's top health experts have joined forecs to expose the dangers of one of America's top foods, milk. David Ludwig and Walter Willet, two of the nation's leading nutrition scientists from Harvard, called out the government for advising 3 daily cups of low fat milk for most Americans. Their argument: The milk recommendations are not evidence based and their potential harms could be severe.

Milk contains a brew of hormones that entice cancer cells to grow. An average glass of milk contains about 60 different hormones in it. Anabolic hormones are many and actually promote cancer. These hormones are necessary for baby calves who need to bulk up fast, but for humans its dangerous. The horrible conditions for today's livestock such as keeping the dairy cows in a constant state of milk production(hormones), means they are often milked while pregnant, so the milk we receive from them is full of hormones.

IGF-1 is a known cancer promoter and is also linked to kidney disease, diabetes, and heart disease. Prominent researchers have found that people with reduced levels of IGF-1, live longer and have lower rates of cancer. Milk can take your IGF-1 levels in the wrong direction. In control studies, researchers found that those who followed our government recommendations of 3 glasses of milk daily, had a 10% increase in their IGF-1 levels after only 12 weeks compared to those who drank no milk at all.

In The Journal of Nutrition, milk consumption was linked to a higher risk of prostrate cancer. We also know there is a link between breast cancer and milk. The Nurses' Health Study found women who drank 2 or more servings of milk daily had a higher risk of breast cancer, especially those fueled by estrogen.

Why risk it? Let's leave the cow milk for baby cows and look to alternatives such as plant based milks. Even reducing your consumption of milk and opting for organic, grass fed milk(alot less hormone), you're taking steps in the right direction towards better health.