Eating dairy overall doesn’t seem to make breast cancer come back or kill more women from breast cancer, but it might be linked to dying from other causes — and that’s probably because the bad stuff (like full-fat dairy) is hiding in the average.

59

Pro

0

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

59

Community contributions welcome

59

High- and low-fat dairy intake, recurrence, and mortality after breast cancer diagnosis.

Cohort Study

Human

2013 May 1

The study found that drinking or eating regular dairy (like whole milk and cheese) after breast cancer might increase the risk of dying from any cause, but low-fat dairy (like skim milk) doesn’t. When all dairy is grouped together, the bad effect of high-fat dairy gets hidden — which is exactly what the claim says.

Contradicting (0)

0

Community contributions welcome

No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

High- and low-fat dairy intake, recurrence, and mortality after breast cancer diagnosis.

Score: 59

DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djt027

Similar Assertions

Eating dairy products like milk and cheese doesn’t seem to make breast cancer come back or kill more women from breast cancer, but people who eat a lot of dairy tend to die sooner from other causes — probably because of the fat in dairy, not the dairy itself.

59

0

96%

Eating dairy doesn’t seem to make breast cancer come back or kill more women from breast cancer, but it might make people more likely to die from other causes — and that’s probably because of the fat in dairy, not dairy itself.

59

0

96%

If you’ve had early-stage breast cancer, switching from full-fat dairy like whole milk or cheese to low-fat versions won’t make your cancer come back or shorten your life — so you don’t have to stress about this change.

59

0

93%

Eating a lot of full-fat dairy like cheese and butter might be linked to a higher chance of dying from cancers other than breast cancer — and it could be because it harms your heart or metabolism, not just because it feeds cancer.

59

0

92%

If you’ve had early-stage breast cancer, switching from full-fat dairy like whole milk or cheese to low-fat versions won’t make your cancer come back or shorten your life — so you don’t need to stress about this change.

59

0

92%