Popular breakfast could slash risk of bowel cancer if eaten twice or more a week

EATING yoghurt for breakfast could lower your risk of bowel cancer, new research suggests.

Scientists found two or more servings a week was linked to lower rates of some types of the disease in adults.

It's likely due to how it affects the balance of bacteria in the gut, also known as the gut microbiome, they said.

Dr Shuji Ogino, from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, added: "Our study provides unique evidence about the potential benefit of yoghurt.

"My lab’s approach is to try to link long-term diets and other exposures to a possible key difference in tissue, such as the presence or absence of a particular species of bacteria.

"This kind of detective work can increase the strength of evidence connecting diet to health outcomes."

Researchers used data from two studies that followed more than 100,000 female registered nurses and 51,000 male healthcare professionals aged 30 to 75 since 1976.

Each answered questions about their lifestyles, diets and medical conditions over several decades.

This included how much plain or flavoured yoghurt they ate, as well as other dairy products like milk, cheese and ice cream.

Scientists also assessed tissue samples for all participants diagnosed with bowel cancer, measuring the amount of Bifidobacterium - a type of beneficial bacteria.

There were 3,079 confirmed cases of bowel cancer, and information on Bifidobacterium content was available in 1,121 of them.

Among those, 346 (31 per cent) were Bifidobacterium-positive, and 775 (69 per cent) were negative.

The researchers did not find a significant association between long-term yoghurt intake and overall bowel cancer rates.

But they did see a link with Bifidobacterium-positive tumours, with a 20 per cent lower rate in those who ate two or more portions of yoghurt a week.

This was driven by lower incidence of Bifidobacterium-positive proximal bowel cancer, which occurs in the upper right side of the bowel, the team, whose work was published in Gut Microbes, said.

Dr Tomotaka Ugai, from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said: "It has long been believed that yoghurt and other fermented milk products are beneficial for gastrointestinal health.

"Our new findings suggest that this protective effect may be specific for Bifidobacterium-positive tumours."

The authors think that eating yoghurt long-term could reduce a person's risk of proximal bowel cancer by changing the gut microbiome, including Bifidobacterium, but say more research is needed.

"This paper adds to the growing evidence that illustrates the connection between diet, the gut microbiome, and risk of bowel cancer," Dr Andrew T Chan, from Massachusetts General Hospital, said.

"It provides an additional avenue for us to investigate the specific role of these factors in the risk of bowel cancer among young people."

Bowel cancer is one of the most common types in the UK.

Around 44,000 people are diagnosed each year, and about 17,000 people lose their lives to the disease.

Cancer Research UK says half of cases could be prevented by healthier living.

The earliest symptoms include: changes in your normal bowel habits, blood in your poo, weight loss and a pain or lump in your stomach.