To commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has requested the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to put a warning label on cheese products.
Doctors requested a label that would read, “Dairy cheese contains reproductive hormones that may increase breast cancer mortality risk.”
The committee, which has been quite outspoken about preventative medicine, submitted the request on October 3, 2019. If the FDA accepts the request, cheese manufacturers will have to put the warning label of breast cancer risk on all dairy cheese products.
Several studies have found a link between dairy products and breast cancer. They found that dairy products from cows contain estrogen that can increase the risk of breast cancer.
One study has found that for women with a history of breast cancer, consuming high-fat dairy products increased their mortality rate by 49 percent. Another study also found a similar association between dairy diets and breast cancer.
In the United States, breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death in women. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 41,000 American women died of breast cancer in 2016.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and many companies come up with donations to raise awareness and support the cause by putting pink ribbons on their products, which also is one of the aspects to the demand made by the committee.
According to the president of the committee, Dr. Neal Barnard, “Instead of cheese manufacturers like Kraft slapping a pink ribbon on products like Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Macaroni & Cheese, as they have done during previous Breast Cancer Awareness Months, they should be adding warning labels.”
“We want women to be aware that dairy cheese could put them at risk of dying from breast cancer,” added Dr. Barnard, who wrote the book called “The Cheese Trap.” Apart from breast cancer, dairy products have been associated with other health issues, including a common problem like acne.
