Should Your Cheese Come With a Breast Cancer Warning Label?

   By SheSpeaksTeam  Oct 16, 2019
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Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month often comes with the benefit of new tips, research and studies to help women detect and prevent breast cancer early. A well-known and easy prevention route is to maintain a healthy lifestyle and eat foods that are rich in anti-oxidants. One of the foods that experts are now recognizing as high-risk is something beloved by many...cheese. (Cue sad face emojis everywhere).

Consumer Affairs reports about a new push from scientists to have breast cancer risk warning labels placed on cheese products as a way to let women know that the food has been linked to higher breast cancer mortality rates. A group of about 12,000 medical professionals, known as The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), has petitioned the FDA to provide the warning labels on cheese that would read something like this: “Dairy cheese contains reproductive hormones that may increase breast cancer mortality risk.”

What is becoming more clear within the breast cancer research community is that those who have been diagnosed with breast cancer in the past have a much higher mortality rate if they eat a lot of cheese. A study titled Life After Cancer Epidemiology that looked at women recently diagnosed with breast cancer, found a 49% higher risk of death from the disease when a woman ate one or more servings of high fat dairy products per day (like cheese, ice cream and whole milk). 

PCRM president Neal Barnard, MD explains that many women are unaware of these risks and would benefit from having the information displayed directly on the product. Barnard says, “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.” He adds, “We want women to be aware that dairy cheese could put them at risk of dying from breast cancer.”

What do you think of the new push from experts to have breast cancer warning labels placed on cheese products?

Do you think this new information can help reduce the rate of women dying from breast cancer?

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kc2345 by kc2345 | SEABROOK, NH
Nov 07, 2019

I don't think this new information will help reduce the rate of women dying from breast cancer, but it might help educate those who don't know much about it and make them more aware of their choices so that they are better able to prevent it in the future.

jehousel by jehousel | GALENA, OH
Oct 31, 2019

Interesting, haven't heard this before

rolliepollie by rolliepollie | NEWPORT, TN
Oct 29, 2019

I have never heard this before. I do eat a lot of cheese. I would need to research this further. Everything we eat or drink increases the risk of cancer because of all the preservatives and hormones and crap that is in our foods. Guess all you can do is pray and look to God to take care of you.

AbigailSara by AbigailSara | WALLKILL, NY
Oct 22, 2019

I honestly don't think a warning label will stop women and men, because men get breast cancer too, from eating cheese.

Rahne92 by Rahne92 | SAVANNAH, GA
Oct 18, 2019

Everything is related to some kind of illness in some kind of way. As science evolves, we'll discover more and more. Even alternatives will have their drawbacks. Unless it's as immediate or urgent as a lethal nut allergy or something that could be potentially allergy reactive for infants (such as certain brands of formula that infant can be allergic to), I don't think we need to continue going so far with all of our food warnings as we have been in recent years