Consumption of dairy products and basal cell carcinoma: Is there a relationship?

Two main types of non-melanoma skin cancer are basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma; despite low mortality from BCC, it has a considerable morbidity. There are some studies claiming the association of dairy consumption with BCC risks in the general population. In this study, we examined getting the fatty acid C14: 0, C15: 0, C17:0 associated with the amount of the fatty acids in the red blood cell membrane to assess the relationship between them and the risk of BCC.
Methods and material: This case-control study (40 cases and 40 controls) was conducted with newly diagnosed BCC adults who were recruited from Razi hospital. To measure fatty acids of red blood cell membrane, fatty acids were extracted and injected to Gas Chromatography. Case and control groups were matched based on sex, age, and body mass index (BMI). All subjects also completed two 24-hour dietary recalls by nutritionist help, which included two randomly selected days. Both groups had no significant differences between weight, height, age, sex, and BMI and also macro-and micronutrients intakes. Pentadecanoic acid concentration of red blood cell membrane was higher in BCC patients than in the control group (P=0.04). There was no significant difference in myristic and heptadecanoic acids concentration in the red blood cell membrane between two groups. Considering that pentadecanoic acid indicates consumption of dairy products, it is likely that consumed greater high fat dairy products in BCC patients seem to be associated with basal cell carcinoma.