Milk
and dairy products in cancer prevention: focus on bovine lactoferrin
Hiroyuki Tsuda*,
Kazunori Sekine, Yoshihiko Ushida, Tetsuya Kuhara, Nobuo Takasuka,
Masaaki Iigo, Beom Seok Han and Malcolm A. Moore
Experimental
Pathology and Chemotherapy Division, National Cancer Center Research
Institute, Tsukiji 5-1-1, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan
Abstract
Milk and dairy products constitute an important part of the western
style diet. A large number of epidemiological studies have been conducted
to determine effects of consumption on cancer development but the
data are largely equivocal, presumably reflecting the different included
components. It has been proposed that whereas fats in general could
promote tumor development, individual milk fats like conjugated linoleic
acid could exert inhibitory effects.
There is also
considerable evidence that calcium in milk products protects against
colon cancer, while promoting in the prostate through suppression
of circulating levels of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. Whey protein may
also be beneficial, as shown by both animal and human studies, and
experimental data have demonstrated that the major component bovine
lactoferrin (bLF), inhibits colon carcinogenesis in the post-initiation
stage in male F344 rats treated with azoxymethane (AOM) without any
overt toxicity. The incidence of adenocarcinomas in the groups receiving
2% and 0.2% bLF were thus 15% and 25%, respectively, in contrast to
the 57.5% control value (P<0.01 and P<0.05, respectively).
Results in other
animal models have provided further indications that bLF might find
application as a natural ingredient of milk with potential for chemoprevention
of colon and other cancers.
Author Keywords:
Bovine lactoferrin; Preventive agents; Carcinogenesis; Colon; Rat
Articles
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