ArticleBMC medicine2020
Genetically proxied milk consumption and risk of colorectal, bladder, breast, and prostate cancer: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study.
Article in BMC medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- Protein intake and cancer: an umbrella review of systematic reviews for the evidence-based guideline of the German Nutrition Society.European journal of nutrition · 2024Pooled it
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- Relationship between the microbiome and obesity-associated cancer risk using Mendelian randomisation.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2026Article
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- GraphBAN-based identification of active ingredients and key gene targets in compound Chinese herbal medicines for polycystic ovary syndrome.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Article
- Burden of colorectal cancer attributable to diet low in milk among middle-aged and elderly population from 1990 to 2021: a population-based study.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2025Article
- Diet-wide analyses for risk of colorectal cancer: prospective study of 12,251 incident cases among 542,778 women in the UK.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Percentage of fat in milk consumption and risk of six cancers: a Mendelian randomization study.Translational cancer research · 2024Article
- Skimmed milk intake reduces the risk of ER- breast cancer: a Mendelian randomization analysis.Discover oncology · 2024Article
- Mendelian randomisation analysis for intestinal disease: achievement and future.eGastroenterology · 2024Review
- Dairy consumption and liver cancer risk: A meta‑analysis of observational studies.Oncology letters · 2024Article
- Milk and dairy products - a scoping review for Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2023.Food & nutrition research · 2024Article
- The burden of colorectal cancer attributable to dietary risk in Middle East and North African from 1990 to 2019.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Dairy product consumption and lung cancer risk: A prospective analysis.Clinical nutrition ESPEN · 2023Article
- Associations of intakes of total protein, protein from dairy sources, and dietary calcium with risks of colorectal, breast, and prostate cancer: a prospective analysis in UK Biobank.British journal of cancer · 2023Article
- Association Between Insomnia and Migraine Risk: A Case-Control and Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Study.Pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine · 2021Article
- Evaluating the Causal Association Between Educational Attainment and Asthma Using a Mendelian Randomization Design.Frontiers in genetics · 2021Article
- Dietary Risk-Related Colorectal Cancer Burden: Estimates From 1990 to 2019.Frontiers in nutrition · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundObservational studies have shown that milk consumption is inversely associated with colorectal, bladder, and breast cancer risk, but positively associated with prostate cancer. However, whether the associations reflect causality remains debatable. We investigated the potential causal associations of milk consumption with the risk of colorectal, bladder, breast, and prostate cancer using a genetic variant near the LCT gene as proxy for milk consumption.
methodsWe obtained genetic association estimates for cancer from the UK Biobank (n = 367,643 women and men), FinnGen consortium (n = 135,638 women and men), Breast Cancer Association Consortium (n = 228,951 women), and Prostate Cancer Association Group to Investigate Cancer Associated Alterations in the Genome consortium (n = 140,254 men). Milk consumption was proxied by a genetic variant (rs4988235 or rs182549) upstream of the gene encoding lactase, which catalyzes the breakdown of lactose.
resultsGenetically proxied milk consumption was associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer. The odds ratio (OR) for each additional milk intake increasing allele was 0.95 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.91-0.99; P = 0.009). There was no overall association of genetically predicted milk consumption with bladder (OR 0.99; 95% CI 0.94-1.05; P = 0.836), breast (OR 1.01; 95% CI 1.00-1.02; P = 0.113), and prostate cancer (OR 1.01; 95% CI 0.99-1.02; P = 0.389), but a positive association with prostate cancer was observed in the FinnGen consortium (OR 1.07; 95% CI 1.01-1.13; P = 0.026).
conclusionsOur findings strengthen the evidence for a protective role of milk consumption on colorectal cancer risk. There was no or limited evidence that milk consumption affects the risk of bladder, breast, and prostate cancer.
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