Milk and dairy consumption among men with prostate cancer and risk of metastases and prostate cancer death.
BACKGROUND
Whether milk and dairy intake after a prostate cancer diagnosis is associated with a poorer prognosis is unknown. We investigated postdiagnostic milk and dairy intake in relation to risk of lethal prostate cancer (metastases and prostate cancer death) among participants in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.


METHODS
The cohort consisted of 3,918 men diagnosed with apparently localized prostate cancer between 1986 and 2006, and followed to 2008. Data on milk and dairy intake were available from repeated questionnaires. We used Cox proportional hazards models to calculate HRs and 95% CIs of the association between postdiagnostic milk and dairy intake and prostate cancer outcomes.


RESULTS
We ascertained 229 prostate cancer deaths and an additional 69 metastases during follow-up. In multivariate analysis, total milk and dairy intakes after diagnosis were not associated with a greater risk of lethal prostate cancer. Men with the highest versus lowest intake of whole milk were at an increased risk of progression (HR = 2.15, 95% CI: 1.28-3.60; P(trend) < 0.01). Men in the highest versus lowest quintile of low-fat dairy intake were at a decreased risk of progression (HR = 0.62; 95% CI: 0.40-0.95; P(trend) = 0.07).


CONCLUSIONS
With the exception of whole milk, our results suggest that milk and dairy intake after a prostate cancer diagnosis is not associated with an increased risk of lethal prostate cancer.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first larger prospective study investigating the relation between postdiagnostic milk and dairy intake and risk of lethal prostate cancer.
Department of Medicine, Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. apetter s@hsph.harvard.edu
Andreas
A
Pettersson
Julie L
JL
Kasperzyk
Stacey A
SA
Kenfield
Erin L
EL
Richman
June M
JM
Chan
Walter C
WC
Willett
Meir J
MJ
Stampfer
Lorelei A
LA
Mucci
Edward L
EL
Giovannucci
D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D003611:Dairy Products; D004435:Eating; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008892:Milk; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000401:mortality*; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015996:Survival Rate