Milk/dairy products consumption, galactose metabolism and ovarian cancer: meta-analysis of epidemiological studies.

Abstract

Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cause of cancer death among women and the leading cause of gynaecological cancer death in the United States. Milk/dairy products consumption was considered to be a risk factor for ovarian cancer mainly because milk carbohydrate-lactose and galactose metabolism is toxic to oocytes. However, recent evidence does not support this hypothesis completely. We collected epidemiological studies related to the association between milk/dairy products consumption or galactose metabolism (lactose, galactose, galactose-1-phosphate uridyltransferase, lactose/transferase) and ovarian cancer published between January 1966 and August 2003 and found 27 items from 22 independent studies. Twenty studies were case-control studies and the other two were cohort studies. A meta-analysis method was conducted to estimate relative risk combining all relative data. In general, we did not find any association between milk/dairy products or galactose metabolism and ovarian cancer risk in this meta-analysis. The consumption of whole milk and butter, which contain relatively high amounts of fat, was positively (relative risk > 1.2), but not significantly, associated with an increased risk.

• Authors: L-Q Qin, J-Y Xu, P-Y Wang, A Hashi, K Hoshi, A Sato
• Journal: European journal of cancer prevention : the official journal of the European Cancer Prevention Organisation (ECP) (Eur J Cancer Prev) Vol. 14 Issue 1 Pg. 13-9 (Feb 2005) ISSN: 0959-8278 [Print] England
• PMID: 15677891 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Meta-Analysis)

Chemical References

• Galactose

Topics

• Case-Control Studies
• Dairy Products
• Diet
• Epidemiologic Studies
• Female
• Galactose (metabolism)
• Humans
• Ovarian Neoplasms (epidemiology, etiology)
• Risk Factors