Abstract

PARKINSONS DISEASE AND BREAST CANCER ASSOCIATED WITH CONSUMPTION OF DAIRY PRODUCTS

Liya Jose and Akhila S. Arjun*

ABSTRACT

Milk and other dairy products are the top source of saturated fat in the American diet that contributes for some important health issues. Consumption of dairy products increases the risk of breast cancer and Parkinson’s disease is a hypothesis that is studied and evaluated in many published articles. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a long term degenerative neurological condition that affects 6.2 million people worldwide. Dairy products consumed widely would be an important modifiable risk factor for this disease, it may play an important role in the etiology of Parkinson’s disease, either by altering the oxidative balance in the brain or by serving as a vehicle for environmental neurotoxins. Few epidemiologic studies have been able to examine potential associations between intake of dairy products and Parkinson’s disease because of the relatively low incidence of the disease and its insidious onset. Several studies show that there is a linear relationship between dairy intake and risk of Parkinson’s disease, especially the intake of low fat dairy products at least three serving per day could increases the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease by 34 percent, compared to consuming less than one serving daily. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide. Differences in eating patterns and breast cancer rates across countries suggest that several dietary components, including dairy products, could affect breast cancer risk. However, dairy products are a diverse food group in terms of the factors that could potentially influence risk. Some dairy products, such as whole milk and many types of cheese, have a relatively high saturated fat content, which may increase risk. Moreover, milk products may contain contaminants such as pesticides, which have carcinogenic potential, and growth factors such as insulin-like growth factor I, which have been shown to promote breast cancer cell growth. But the studies conducted to prove the hypothesis that intake of dairy products increases the risk of breast cancer could not show the linear relationship. So that studies concluded that there is no strong association between dairy intake and risk of breast cancer.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease, Breast cancer, Dairy products, Risk factor, Hypothesis.