A popular breakfast staple 'increases' the risk of developing 'three deadly cancers', a new study claims.
The research found that the consumption of dairy products, including milk, yoghurt and cheese, can be linked to liver and breast cancer as well as lymphoma.
Conducted in China, the study looked at the eating habits 500,000 peoples, with 70 percent never eating dairy and a fifth having dairy products once a week, Birmingham Live reports.
Of those involved, 30,000 participants went on to develop cancer - with researchers discovering that for each 50g per day intake of dairy, the risk increased by 12 for liver cancer and 17 percent for breast cancer.
Dr Maria Kakkoura, Nutritional Epidemiologist at Oxford Population Health, and the first author of the study, said: “This was the first major study to investigate the link between dairy products and cancer risk in a Chinese population.
"Further studies are needed to validate these current findings, establish if these associations are causal, and investigate the potential underlying mechanisms involved.”
Dr Duane Mellor, Aston University, said: "Although the paper suggests a 12 per cent increased relative risk for female breast cancer, this does not equate to 12 more cases per 100 individuals.
"This would be more like 1 or 2 cases per thousand people. In my view this study alone does not provide strong evidence that reducing dairy intake would reduce cancer risk."
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