Calcium may lower a woman’s risk of developing colorectal cancer, a new study says.
According to the findings in the U.K. study, which was published in Nature, woman need to take in 300 mg of the mineral a day to lower their cancer risk by 17%. And that happens to be the approximate amount in a glass of milk.
“Dairy products (including evidence for total dairy, milk and cheese, as well as dietary calcium) and calcium supplements probably decrease the risk of colorectal cancer,” wrote the Oxford University and Cancer Research UK in the study.
“It highlights the potential protective role of dairy, largely due to calcium, in the development of bowel cancer,” said lead researcher Dr. Keren Papier, according to the BBC.
Researchers said they came to their conclusion after following the diet and health patterns of more than 542,000 women over 16 years.
They warned, however, that mitigating your cancer risk isn’t as simple as just inhaling a pint of rocky road, as researchers found that, “of the dairy-related foods and nutrients examined in the present study, all were inversely associated with risk of colorectal cancer, except for cheese and ice-cream.”
The “probable protective role of calcium,” researchers added, may come from the way it binds to bile acids and free fatty acids in the colon — “thereby lowering their potentially carcinogenic effects.”
“We conclude that dairy products help protect against colorectal cancer,” the study said. “And that this is driven largely or wholly by calcium.”
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The study also found an 8% higher risk of colorectal cancer with “higher red and processed meat consumption” and noted “a larger association for processed meat than for red meat.”
Researchers also determined that alcohol raised one’s risk by 15%.
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And while the study did focus on “dairy milk,” Dr. Lisa Wilde, from the charity Bowel Cancer UK, told the BBC that there are ways to increase your calcium intake even if you avoid animal products.
“If you don’t drink dairy milk there are other ways you can get calcium,” she said. “For example, from broccoli or tofu, and still reduce your bowel cancer risk.”
