I heard on the radio yesterday morning that there is a new study out that shows that women who get 4 servings of dairy products a day have 42% less chance of getting colon cancer than women who only get one serving a day.
Like a lot of studies they're putting out these days, there are loose ends dangling all over the place. Is it the dairy that causes this cancer reduction or the calcium? Calcium (rather than dairy) has been show to reduce inflammation (I don't know if it helps Crohn's or UC inflammation, but it is supposed to help superficial inflammation from allergic reactions, bacterial irritations, etc.) in the colon, so perhaps it is the calcium rather than the dairy that is keeping the intestinal tract in better condition. Until they do another study to determine the exact beneficial agent in the dairy, we can't be sure that our daily calcium dosage is lowering our colon cancer risk, but it may very well be doing so.