YOGURT RESEARCH : CANCER? BREAST CURATIVE

CAN yogurt protect against breast cancer?

Eating natural yogurt daily may lesson breast cancer risk owing lactose fermenting bacteria which reduces inflammation triggered by harmful bacteria, says researchers.

Yogurt contains beneficial lactose fermenting bacteria commonly found in milk, similar to the bacteria - or microflora found in the breasts of mothers who have breastfed, reported Mena FN.

Scientists from Lancaster University said that their idea - as yet unproven - is supported by available evidence which is that bacteria-induced inflammation is linked to cancer.

''There is a simple, inexpensive potential preventive remedy' which is for women to consume natural yogurt on a daily basis,'' the authors wrote in the journal Medical Hypotheses.
''We know know that breast milk is not sterile and that lactation alters the microflora of the breast,'' said Dr. Rachael Rigby from Lancaster University's Faculty of Health and Medicine.

''Lactose fermenting bacteria are commonly found in milk and are likely to occupy the breast ducts of women during lactation and for an unknown period after lactation.''

The researchers suggest that lactose-fermenting bacteria in the breast is protective because each year  breast-feeding reduces the risk of breast cancer by 4.3%.

Several studies have shown that the consumption of yogurt is associated with a reduction in the risk of breast cancer, which the researchers suggest may be due to the displacement of harmful bacteria by beneficial bacteria.

There are approximately 10 billion bacteria cells in the human body and while most are harmless,  some bacteria create toxins that trigger inflammation in the body.

Chronic inflammation destroys the harmful harmful germs but it also damages the body. One of the most common inflammatory conditions is gum disease or periodontitis which has already been linked to oral, esophageal, colonic, pancreatic, prostatic and breast cancer.

''The stem cells which divide to replenish the lining of the breast ducts are influenced by the microflora, and certain components of the microflora have been shown in other organs, such as the colon and stomach, to increase the risk of cancer development,'' said the researchers.

''Therefore, a similar scenario is likely to be occurring in the breast, whereby resident microflora impact on stem cell division and influence cancer-risk.''

The World Students Society thanks News Desk Express Tribune.