We examined consumption of animal foods, protein and calcium in relation to risk of prostate cancer among 142 251 men in the
European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Associations were examined using Cox regression, stratified by
recruitment centre and adjusted for height, weight, education, marital status and energy intake. After an average of 8.7 years of
follow-up, there were 2727 incident cases of prostate cancer, of which 1131 were known to be localised and 541 advanced-stage
disease. A high intake of dairy protein was associated with an increased risk, with a hazard ratio for the top versus the bottom fifth of
intake of 1.22 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07–1.41, Ptrend ¼ 0.02). After calibration to allow for measurement error, we
estimated that a 35-g day1 increase in consumption of dairy protein was associated with an increase in the risk of prostate cancer of
32% (95% CI: 1–72%, Ptrend ¼ 0.04). Calcium from dairy products was also positively associated with risk, but not calcium from other
foods. The results support the hypothesis that a high intake of protein or calcium from dairy products may increase the risk for
prostate cancer.