Milk May Lower Colon Cancer Risk by 17%, New Study Says

If you grew up with gallons in the fridge and a glass of milk on the table every morning, you probably already know that dairy milk has lots of nutrients that can support your bone health. Each glass of milk packs a big punch of protein, calcium, phosphorus, potassium and vitamin B12, all of which can help support strong, healthy bones. Plus, if you’re buying your milk at the grocery store, you’ll also get some vitamin D in every sip.

But healthy bones aren’t the only benefit of drinking dairy milk. There is also evidence that drinking one cup of milk per day is associated with a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, obesity, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and colorectal cancer.

This may be surprising to some, as we have often heard that milk is inflammatory—partly due to its saturated fat content, since we know that too much saturated fat can be inflammatory. And while research is mixed, there is plenty of evidence leaning toward the other way, suggesting that the type of saturated fat in dairy is not as harmful as other types of saturated fat. 

Of course, if you’re allergic to milk, then it is inflammatory for you. That allergy has more to do with the proteins in milk than the type of fat, though. It’s a similar situation with milk sensitivities, although it’s not necessarily the milk causing the inflammation. Some experts feel that some people become sensitive to milk and other dairy products when there is underlying low-grade inflammation in the body. And it’s this inflammation that makes people more sensitive to certain foods, including dairy. 

Chronic inflammation is a culprit behind most chronic illnesses, including heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and cancer. This connection was especially evident in a study we previously reported on, in which scientists looked directly into colorectal cancer tumors and found that the tumors were in a chronically inflamed state. 

Excluding skin cancers, colorectal cancer is the third most common type of cancer diagnosed in men and women in the U.S. So it’s important to find effective treatments for it, and also ways to prevent it—which brings us back around to milk. If milk is potentially anti-inflammatory, could people who drink milk regularly decrease their risk of colorectal cancer?

There has already been some evidence linking milk intake to reduced risk of colorectal cancer, so researchers in the U.S., U.K. and Australia teamed up to take a closer look to see if they could replicate what has already been suggested. They published their findings in the January 2025 edition of Nature Communications. Here’s what they found.

How Was This Study Conducted?

Researchers drew data from a large prospective study in the UK called the Million Women Study. Over 1.3 million UK women with an average age of 56 were recruited into the study between 1996 and 2001 and have been followed ever since, including completing updated questionnaires every 3 to 5 years. 

Though more than a million women participated in the Million Women Study, these researchers selected just 542,778 of the participants to see if there was any connection between their dietary habits and the risk of colorectal cancer. These women filled out food frequency questionnaires about three years into the study and filled out a web-based 24-hour dietary questionnaire about 10 years later. They were also followed with electronic medical records that included information the National Health Service routinely collects about cancer and deaths. Specifically, researchers were looking for medically coded classifications of colorectal cancer diagnoses, as well as death from these diagnoses. 

From the food questionnaires and medical diagnoses, researchers investigated nearly 100 dietary factors to see if any link between each food and colorectal cancer existed. 

What Did This Study Find?

Researchers ran several statistical analyses, including a Mendelian randomization, which takes genetic differences into account. Here are a few of their findings. 

First, like previous studies, they found that alcohol and red and processed meats had the strongest associations with colorectal cancer. Specifically, for every 30 grams (about 1 ounce) of red and processed meat eaten per day, there was an 8% increased risk of colorectal cancer. Considering a typical serving size is about 100 grams, that equals about a 29% increased risk if you’re eating red or processed meat every day. It’s important to note that they found a stronger association for processed meat than for red meat. 

Regarding alcohol intake, they found a 15% higher risk of colorectal cancer for every 20 grams of alcohol consumed per day. In the United States, one standard drink contains about 14 grams, or about 0.6 fluid ounces, of pure alcohol. That is the amount of alcohol in:

• A 12-ounce can of regular beer at 5% alcohol by volume
• A 5-ounce glass of wine at 12% alcohol by volume
• A 1.5-ounce shot glass of distilled spirits at 40% alcohol by volume

They also found inverse relations to other foods and colorectal cancer, including foods high in fiber, like fruit and whole grains, and foods high in vitamin C and folate. By including these types of foods in your eating pattern, your risk for colorectal cancer may go down. 

Significantly, the researchers also found that all dairy-related foods—except cheese and ice cream—were inversely associated with colorectal cancer. Specifically, they found a 17% lower risk of colorectal cancer for every 300mg of calcium consumed per day. This means that if you drink about a cup of milk per day—which contains around 300mg of calcium—you may lower your risk of colorectal cancer by about 17%.

Researchers hypothesize that milk and dairy’s protective role may be due to its calcium content—and that calcium may protect against colorectal cancer due to its ability to bind to bile acids and free fatty acids in the colon, reducing their potential carcinogenic effects. They also state that if calcium isn’t the reason for the reduction, it could be due to other components in dairy, including conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), butyric acid and sphingomyelin, all of which have been shown to inhibit the growth of chemically-induced cancer cells in the colon in animal studies. 

How Does This Apply to Real Life?

In a nutshell—if you want to lower your colorectal cancer risk, drink milk and skip the booze. It’s also important to monitor your intake of processed meats. This includes deli meat, sausage, bacon, pepperoni, hot dogs, chicken nuggets and ham. Processed meats don’t only raise your risk of colorectal cancer. They’ve also been implicated in raising the risk of diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Some researchers have even linked processed meat consumption to an increased dementia risk.

The study authors note that they were unable to investigate the association between calcium supplements and colorectal cancer—and previous studies are mixed. If possible, get your calcium through food. If you don’t like or aren’t able to tolerate milk, there are plenty of other foods that offer calcium. Those include firm tofu, yogurt, kefir, almond milk, almonds, calcium-fortified orange juice, soymilk, canned sardines or salmon and oat milk.

Taking a big picture view, another new study found that adopting a healthy eating pattern, maintaining a healthy weight, staying physically active and embracing health-conscious habits, including avoiding tobacco and moderating alcohol intake, are collectively associated with a lower CRC risk. This emphasizes a whole-health approach, versus focusing on just one aspect to reduce disease risk.

The Bottom Line

This study found that by drinking a cup of milk per day, women may lower their risk of colorectal cancer by about 17%. On the other hand, frequently consuming alcohol and processed meats is likely to raise your risk of colorectal cancer and other diseases. It’s also important to include plenty of fiber in your diet, which has also been linked to a reduced risk of colorectal cancer. 

And since being well-hydrated helps fiber do its job, make sure you’re drinking plenty of water, too. Physical activity also helps keep things moving through your intestines and has been linked to a lower risk of colorectal cancer, as well.