Eating yogurt two or more times per week may lower risk of colon cancer, according to a new study led by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Mass General Brigham. They found that regular yogurt consumption may cause changes to the gut microbiome that are protective against a certain type of aggressive tumor.
The study was published Feb. 12 in Gut Microbes.
The researchers analyzed data from more than 150,000 people who were followed for at least three decades. They found that people who eat yogurt on a regular basis tended to have lower rates of proximal colorectal cancer positive for Bifidobacterium, a bacterial species found in yogurt. Patients with proximal colon cancer (which occurs on the right side of the colon) typically have worse survival outcomes than patients with distal colon cancer (which occurs on the left side).
Tomotaka Ugai, a co-senior author of the study, said in a Feb. 14 NPR article that yogurt appears to promote a healthy balance of bacteria, which helps the gut stay strong and healthy and which can, in turn, help reduce colon cancer risk. Ugai is an associate in the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard Chan School and an instructor in pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
“My message is, if you like yogurt, go for it,” he said.
Read the NPR article: Eating yogurt regularly may reduce the risk of colon cancer, a study finds
Read Mass General Brigham press release: Long-Term Yogurt Consumption Tied to Decreased Incidence of Certain Types of Colorectal Cancer
