Milkfat components and anticancer activity in lab and animal studies
What it found
Certain fats and membrane lipids in milkfat, such as butyric acid, CLA and sphingolipids, have shown anticancer effects in lab tests and animal studies.
Human evidence is limited and inconsistent.
What they found
Studies in people
CLA in human studies
Some human studies link higher milk or dairy intake to lower breast or colorectal cancer risk, but these looked at whole foods, not CLA specifically. Other studies in women with breast conditions found no link between CLA and cancer.
Animal and lab studies
TVA and breast cancer
In rats with induced mammary tumours, higher dietary TVA led to more CLA accumulation in the mammary fat pad and fewer tumours. In cell studies, TVA reduced proliferation of breast cancer cells.
Short-chain fatty acids
Mixtures of butyric, caproic, caprylic and capric acids down-regulated genes involved in cell division in human colon, skin and mammary cancer cell lines. In rats, a butyric acid prodrug reduced markers of colon and liver carcinogenesis.
Milk phospholipids and sphingolipids
In rats, a diet with milk fat globule membrane reduced colon cancer incidence. In mice, dairy sphingomyelin reduced aberrant crypt foci and turned malignant tumours into benign ones. Lab studies showed growth inhibition of colon, ovary, kidney and leukaemia cancer cells.
Studies in people and animals
CLA in animals and cells
In mice, a CLA isomer reduced arthritis severity similarly to a drug, by lowering inflammatory markers. In a clinical trial in women with breast cancer, CLA intake reduced expression of a proliferation marker in tumours, but only in those with a certain metabolic status.
Other findings
Human evidence gaps
The authors note that human studies on milkfat components and cancer are limited and inconsistent. Most evidence comes from lab and animal experiments.
What the authors conclude
- They conclude that milkfat provides beneficial compounds and shows interesting activity against different kinds of cancer.
- They state that current bibliography highlights dairy fatty acids and phospho- and sphingolipids as promising anticancer molecules.
- They advise that more research is still needed involving human clinical trials to better understand the anticancer biochemistry of milkfat compounds.
How it was done
The authors say milkfat has long been undervalued because of its link to heart disease, obesity and related conditions. They wanted to review the scientific evidence on milkfat components and their reported anticancer properties, given rising cancer rates.
They reviewed published studies on milkfat components and cancer. These included lab tests on cancer cells, animal experiments, and some human studies such as cohort studies and clinical trials.
What it can’t tell you
- Most of the evidence comes from lab tests on cells and from animal studies. These cannot show what happens in people.
- The human studies that exist often looked at whole dairy foods, not specific milkfat components, so they cannot prove that a particular component caused the effect.
- The authors say the results from lab and animal studies are inconclusive and have no clear pharmaceutical application yet.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- The authors declare that there are no competing interests associated with the manuscript.
- Authors work at
- Bernardo O'Higgins University, Chile; Campus of Autónoma University of Madrid, Spain
The paper
- Title
- Milk fat components with potential anticancer activity-a review
- Type
- ReviewThe authors read earlier studies and describe what they found. It isn’t a new study.
- Evidence
- Studies in people · animals · lab
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Rodríguez-Alcalá LM, Castro-Gómez MP, Pimentel LL, Fontecha J (2017). Milk fat components with potential anticancer activity-a review. Bioscience reports. doi:10.1042/BSR20170705Free full textPubMed 29026007DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error