Eating at least two servings of yoghurt a week may help protect you from cancer in a particular part of the colon, suggest scientists – as colorectal cancer rates in young people rise an alarming rate, according to the American Cancer Society.
In the recent study, published in Gut Microbes, people who ate two or more servings of yogurt per week tended to have lower rates of proximal colon cancer positive for Bifidobacterium, a type of bacteria found in yoghurt, said the research team from Massachusetts General Hospital.
Proximal colon cancer occurs on the right side of the colon and can have worse survival outcomes than cancers in the distal colon on the left side, they said.
Yoghurt appears to change the gut microbiome, having a protective effect against cancer, reports WebMD. The finding builds on previous research linking regular yoghurt consumption with overall gastrointestinal health and lower risk of health conditions such as osteoporosis and diabetes.
“This paper adds to the growing evidence that illustrates the connection between diet, the gut microbiome, and risk of colorectal cancer,” said co-author Andrew Chan, MD, MPH, chief of the Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit at Mass General Hospital.
“It provides an additional avenue for us to investigate the specific role of these factors in the risk of colorectal cancer among young people.”
The researchers analysed health data collected over at least three decades for more than 100 000 female registered nurses and 51 000 male health care professionals. Study participants were asked various questions about their health, including the daily average intake of plain and flavoured yoghurts and other dairy products.
The study had limits, however. Participants self-reported the information and were not from the general population but worked in a specific industry: healthcare.
It also did not break down whether flavoured or plain yoghurts were more effective in providing health benefits, though dietary experts generally say that plain yoghurt that is low in fat with no added sugar is the healthiest option.
The study did not find eating yoghurt leads to a general reduction in overall colorectal cancer risk. More studies are needed on that subject, the researchers said.
Study details
Long-term yoghurt intake and colorectal cancer incidence subclassified by Bifidobacterium abundance in tumour
Satoko Ugai, Li Liu, Keisuke Kosumi et al.
Published in Gut Microbes on 12 February 2025
Abstract
Evidence suggests a tumour-suppressive effect of the intake of yoghurt, which typically contains Bifidobacterium. We hypothesised that long-term yoghurt intake might be associated with colorectal cancer incidence differentially by tumour subgroups according to the amount of tissue Bifidobacterium. We utilised the prospective cohort incident-tumour biobank method and resources of two prospective cohort studies. Inverse probability weighted multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression was used to assess differential associations of yoghurt intake with the incidence of colorectal carcinomas subclassified by the abundance of tumour tissue Bifidobacterium. During follow-up of 132,056 individuals, we documented 3,079 incident colorectal cancer cases, including 1,121 with available tissue Bifidobacterium data. The association between long-term yoghurt intake and colorectal cancer incidence differed by Bifidobacterium abundance (P heterogeneity = 0.0002). Multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) (with 95% confidence intervals) in individuals who consumed ≥2 servings/week (vs. <1 serving/month) of yoghurt were 0.80 (0.50–1.28) for Bifidobacterium-positive tumour and 1.09 (0.81–1.46) for Bifidobacterium-negative tumour. This differential association was also observed in a subgroup analysis of proximal colon cancer (P heterogeneity = 0.018). Long-term yogurt intake may be differentially associated with the incidence of proximal colon cancer according to Bifidobacterium abundance, suggesting the antitumour effect of yoghurt intake on the specific tumour subgroup.
WebMD article – Yoghurt May Help Lower Your Colon Cancer Risk: Study (Open access)
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