Friday June 13, 2014 (foodconsumer.org) -- Eating too much cheese and drinking too much milk may substantially increase risk of liver cancer or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a study in the International Journal of Cancer suggests.

Intake of dairy products like cheese has been associated with elevated risk of some cancers, but not all studies are consistent and research on the link between dairy products like cheese, milk and yoghurt, and liver cancer risk is scarce.

The cohort study shows that those in the highest tertile of intake of total dairy products. milk, and cheese, were 66%, 51% and 56% more likely respectively to develop liver cancer, than those in the lower tertile of intake.

No association between yoghurt and risk of liver cancer was observed.

Also dietary calcium, vitamin D, fat and protein from dairy products were correlated with elevated HCC risk, but the same nutrients from non-dairy food products were inversely associated with the risk or have no effect on the risk.

The nested case-control study led to similar associations among individuals who were free of hepatitis.

The authors concluded "this large prospective cohort study suggest that higher dairy products consumption, particularly milk and cheese, may be associated with increased HCC risk."

For the study, 477,206 participants were followed-up for an average of 11 years.

Early studies suggest people who eat dairy products like cheese and milk are more susceptible to the toxicity of aflatoxin b and hepatitis viruses which can cause liver cancer. (David Liu, PHD)

Duarte-Salles T, Fedirko V, Stepien M, Trichopoulou A, Bamia C, Lagiou P, Lukanova A, Trepo E, Overvad K, Tjønneland A, Halkjaer J, Boutron-Ruault MC, Racine A, Cadeau C, Kühn T, Aleksandrova K, Trichopoulos D, Tsiotas K, Boffetta P, Palli D, Pala V, Tumino R, Sacerdote C, Panico S, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB, Dik VK, Peeters PH, Weiderpass E, Gram IT, Hjartåker A, Quirós JR, Fonseca-Nunes A, Molina-Montes E, Dorronsoro M, Navarro Sanchez C, Barricarte A, Lindkvist B, Sonestedt E, Johansson I, Wennberg M, Khaw KT, Wareham N, Travis RC, Romieu I, Riboli E, Jenab M.  Dairy products and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma: The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).  Int J Cancer. 2014 Feb 26. doi: 10.1002/ijc.28812.