What kind of hormones are in milk

Hormones play a role in a number of cancers, particularly testicular, breast and prostate. Breast cancer risk increases with fewer pregnancies, early puberty and late menopause, probably due to increased exposure to estrogens. Prostate cancer is rare in eunuchs, suggesting that testosterone production by the testes is a risk factor.

This argument is buttressed by the fact that prostate cancer can be triggered in rats by administering testosterone and that removal of the testes has been shown to be an option for the treatment of this cancer. Because these hormone-related cancers appear to be increasing, there has been a great deal of interest in so-called environmental estrogens, compounds that can mimic estrogen activity.

And that may be due to increased environmental hormone exposure, but not necessarily from synthetic chemicals. Natural estrogens are up to , times more potent than the synthetics that have estrogen mimicking properties. Where are these potent natural estrogens? Thus, it is possible that milk does offer a protection against the development of breast cancer, but estrogens in high-fat milk might counteract these protecting mechanisms.

Experiment in rats performed by Qin et al. Similarly, consumption of estrone sulfate increased mammary tumor incidence in the same study, suggested that estrone sulfate from milk which is water soluble and therefore present in low-fat milk also might be causing increased incidence of mammary tumors. However, Nielsen et al. Additionally, tumor incidence and total number of tumor buds were lower in milk-treated group, even though the serum E2 concentration was higher in milk-fed rats.

These two studies cannot be compared directly since milk treatment in the study by Nielsen et al. Designs of these two studies are different and thus show different controversial influences of milk estrogens on mammary carcinogenesis. Qin et al. Prostate cancer is a cancer that is closely related to the exposure to sex steroid hormones, in particular, testosterone.

However, this connection is purely speculative as the authors did not provide any evidence about the direct link between milk consumption and the risk for developing prostate cancer, and increased incidence of prostate cancer could have many other origins.

Nevertheless, some epidemiological studies do provide stronger evidence for the connection between milk consumption and prostate cancer risk. A study by Torfadottir 13 reported increased risk for prostate cancer in Icelandic men who consumed more dairy products in adolescence, but, interestingly, no such correlation was found between consumption of dairy products in adult life and prostate cancer risk, highlighting the potential importance of adolescent exposure to sex steroids from milk.

Milk consumption has also been associated with prostate cancer recurrence especially in obese men 66 and progression of cancer growth and increased mortality in patients with localized prostate cancer 14 , In a recent meta-analysis, Aune et al.

However, in contrast to these studies, Andersson et al. Another male cancer, testicular cancer, has been associated with higher dairy products consumption during adolescence However, there are discrepancies in different studies whether full-fat milk or other dairy products present a higher risk.

A case-control study by Davies et al. Similarly, a study by Ganmaa et al. However, there were important differences between these studies. While studies by Davies et al. Furthermore, it is quite plausible that males who consumed more cheese in adult life and had increased incidence of prostate cancer Canadian cohort did consume more milk during adolescence, and this might be connected with the higher incidence of prostate cancer, rather than the direct influence of cheese consumption.

In contrast, the epidemiological study by Ganmaa et al. This study is therefore much less specific and thus less informative. Numerous studies have examined potential effects of dairy products consumption and development of different cancers; yet, there is no conclusive evidence for either protective or promoting influences of dairy products on development of various cancers.

This topic has been widely studied and discussed in numerous publications 72 , 73 , Several large studies have investigated possible connections between consumption of dairy products and different cancers. A large cohort study by Park et al. This study strongly suggests that calcium intake is associated with lower risk for all types of cancers in the digestive system, but especially for colorectal cancer. Ma et al. A recent case—control study by Chen et al.

In general, it seems that the protective effect of milk is mainly observed in consumers of low-fat milk. A cohort study by Mettlin et al. In this study, there was an increased risk for cancers of the oral cavity, stomach, colon, rectum, lung, bladder, breast and cervix in people who regularly consumed whole milk in comparison to people who rarely consumed milk.

However, there was also a reduced risk for cancers of oral cavity, stomach, rectum, lung and cervix in people who regularly consumed low-fat milk in comparison to people who rarely consumed milk, suggesting that low-fat milk could lower the risk for various cancers, while high-fat milk could promote the incidence of various cancers. At present, it is not known what could be the reason for these differences between whole fat milk and skimmed milk, although one possible explanation could be a very simple one: people who consume low-fat milk are usually more health conscious and have in general healthier lifestyle, and this could perhaps contribute to the lower incidence of certain cancers.

It is very likely that protective effects of milk are not associated with the absence or presence of estrogens or other sex steroid hormones in the milk. Most likely anti-carcinogenic effects of milk are associated with the effects of other milk ingredients. Namely, calcium reduces proliferation and enhances differentiation of mammary cells, and inhibit enteral absorption of some carcinogenic compounds bile acids, saturated fatty acids 79 , Calcium can also modulate some intracellular pathways that could impact differentiation of healthy cells and trigger apoptosis in transformed cells.

Additionally, vitamin D, lactoferrin, casein and whey proteins reduce cellular proliferation and enhance cellular differentiation, poses apoptotic, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties and therefore express an anti-carcinogenic effect It seems that milk contains both carcinogenic and anti-carcinogenic compounds. The content of these compounds in the milk may vary widely and this could explain large differences between different studies that suggest protective, neutral or even harmful effects of dairy product consumption in regard to cancer risks, even without taking into account individual differences in both risk for cancer development, and possible individual differences in metabolism of milk and contents of milk.

The role of milk consumption in cancer occurrence is not clear and since there is no general conclusion this question remains the subject of debate. Further observations of long-term exposure in animals and humans in combination with more accurate estimations of estrogen exposure from different sources and estimations of dose—response steps are necessary to better address these questions, although general answers would be difficult to obtain due to aforementioned individual differences in susceptibility for cancer, variations between milk consumed and differences in metabolism of milk and dairy products in individuals.

Estrogens could be present in milk in relatively large quantities due to intensive farming and milking of cows late into the pregnancy, when secretion of estrogens increases. With the exception of skimming, which removes fat-soluble sex steroid hormones, other manipulations of milk do not reduce the content of estrogens in milk. Commercial milk and dairy products, bought in the shops therefore do contain similar amounts of estrogens as native milk. Yet, it seems that these concentrations are too low to present a risk for reproductive health or development of different endocrine-related cancers in adult humans and animals.

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of this review. Epidemiology of testicular cancer. BJU International — Breast cancer: epidemiology and etiology. Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics 72 — Testicular cancer in the United States: trends in incidence and mortality. International Journal of Epidemiology 15 — Evidence for decreasing quality of semen during past 50 years. BMJ — Paulozzi LJ. International trends in rates of hypospadias and cryptorchidism.

Environmental Health Perspectives — Is milk responsible for male reproductive disorders? Medical Hypotheses 57 — Temporal trends in sperm count: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis. Human Reproduction Update 23 — Are estrogens involved in falling sperm counts and disorders of the male reproductive tract? Lancet — Endogenous hormone levels and risk of breast, endometrial and ovarian cancers: prospective studies.

Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology — Current concepts in neuroendocrine disruption. General and Comparative Endocrinology — Exposure to exogenous estrogens in food: possible impact on human development and health. European Journal of Endocrinology — Endocrine disrupting chemicals and disease susceptibility. Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology — Milk intake in early life and risk of advanced prostate cancer. American Journal of Epidemiology — Incidence and mortality of testicular and prostatic cancers in relation to world dietary practices.

International Journal of Cancer 98 — Male reproductive functions disrupted by pharmacological agents. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology 13 — Parodi PW. International Dairy Journal 22 3 — Effects of milk and milk products consumption on cancer: a review. Oestrone sulphate in milk as an indicator of a viable conceptus in cows.

British Veterinary Journal — Journal of Dairy Science 91 — Estrone and estrone sulfate concentrations in milk and milk fractions. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics — Journal of Dairy Science 90 — Journal of Dairy Science 95 — Fertility and Sterility 82 — Acne is strongly influenced by hormonal changes, which is one reason so many teenagers struggle during puberty. Why would we put ourselves through that anymore than necessary?

Dairy also contains hormones that can lead to mood swings. Dairy milk promotes excess estrogen in the body due to it containing estrogen from female cows. At the same time, milk naturally contains androgenic properties , so it raises testosterone in the body and can cause bulking quickly. Think about it this way: the dairy you consume contains hormones from the female cow and the male cow that were used during impregnation.

Dairy milk accounts for about 80 percent of estrogen consumed through the human diet, along with the fact that milk from pregnant cows which is how all milk products are produced contains about 33 times as much estrogen as milk from non-pregnant cows. How about some tastier, much healthier mood foods instead, all hormone-free?

The jury is in: milk causes cancer in any form, organic or not. Check this out: Harvard Health studies show that dairy milk and cheese products led to testicular cancer in men ages and has been found to affect breast, colon, and prostate cancer heavily as well. Even without hormones or even lactose, casein is a detrimental protein to our health and should be avoided however possible. Residue studies have shown that the dilution is so great that it may be assumed that there is no potential risk for the consumer.

Abstract Protein hormones especially prolactin and steroid hormones gestagens, estrogens, corticoids, and androgens can be detected by bioassay and radioimmunoassay in milk in a variety of species. Publication types Review.