Chapter 34 – Dairy Intake During the Adolescence Period and Risk of Prostate and Breast Cancer

Evidence suggests that early-life lifestyle and environmental exposures may affect the risk of developing cancer later in life. This topic is, however, methodologically challenging due to long followups needed for each study. Growth is affected by nutritional status in early life, and adult height has been used as a marker of predicting cancer risk, where positive association has been observed between tallness and many cancers. Height is, to some extent, thought to be a marker of preadult insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) bioactivity and both nutritional status and milk consumption correlates with IGF-I concentrations. Few studies, however, are available on milk and dairy consumption during childhood and adolescence, and prostate and breast cancer risk later in life. In order to create preventive strategies for reducing cancer risk later in life, future studies with young participants should include questions on dietary habits in early life.