Abstract

Objective: To measure the oestrogen concentrations in various supply of milk and milk products in Pune.

Background: Indian women consume milk every day. Breast and ovarian cancer are on rise in India. Oestrogen has been reported to be strongly associated with increased risk for breast cancer. The daily intake of milk could be a risk factor because of various attempts of hormone injections to cow/buffalo for increasing the milk production.

Methods: Milk and milk products being consumed in Pune were measured for oestrogen concentration using Brown’s method for extraction and CLIA for measurement.

Results: The median oestrogen concentration in any milk /milk product was 180 pg/gm which is far below the oncogenecity level of 320 pg/mL.

Conclusion: The daily consumption of dairy products is advocated to be not harmful because of its non-significant levels of oestrogen, on the contrary, a beneficial factor from health point of view in vegetarian Indian women as a supply of micronutrients scores out as safer.