Dairy fats cut colon cancer risk
By Janet Raloff
A diet high in dairy products dramatically reduces the risk of colon cancer, the third most lethal type of cancer, a Swedish study finds. The catch: To have the effect, these foods must be rich in fat, the component that nutritionists have been trying to pull out of whole milk and other foods for years.
Previous studies of the protective effect of dairy foods against colon cancer had shown that calcium was a factor, but not the only one. Susanna C. Larsson and her colleagues at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm decided to examine trace fats in dairy products with purported anticancer activity.