CLA May Reduce Colorectal Cancer Risk

STOCKHOLM, Sweden--Dairy foods that are high in fat and natural conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) may reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (82, 4:894-900, 2005). Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet examined the associations of long-term high-fat dairy food and CLA intake in 60,708 women aged 40 to 76 participating in the Swedish Mammography Cohort. During a 14.8 year follow-up, 798 incident cases of colorectal cancer were diagnosed. After adjustment for potential confounders, the researchers found women who consumed four or more servings of high-fat dairy foods per day had half the risk of developing colorectal cancer compared to women who consumed less than one serving per day. CLA specifically was associated with an almost 30 percent reduction in colorectal cancer risk.