Cramer D W, Harlow B L, Willett W C, Welch W R, Bell D A, Scully R E, Ng W G, Knapp R C
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Obstetrics and Gynecology Epidemiology Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.
Lancet. 1989 Jul 8;2(8654):66-71. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(89)90313-9.
In a case-control study, consumption of dairy foods by 235 white women with epithelial ovarian cancer and by 239 control women, and activity of red blood cell galactose-1-phosphate uridyl transferase (transferase) in a subset of 145 cases and 127 controls were determined. Yogurt was consumed at least monthly by 49% of cases and 36% of controls. The mean transferase activity of cases was significantly lower than that of controls. When a ratio of lactose consumption to transferase (L/T) was calculated, cases had a mean L/T of 1.17 compared with 0.98 for controls; there was a highly significant trend for increasing ovarian cancer risk with increasing L/T ratio. Lactose consumption may be a dietary risk factor and transferase a genetic risk factor for ovarian cancer.
