Experts have discovered that too much consumption of milk can raise the chance of developing prostate cancer.

The study was conducted by Canadian researchers.

The study, published in The Prostate journal, discovered that males who consumed four 200 ml milk glasses had double the chance of prostate cancer.

Milk has cow hormones, comprising insulin-like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1).

These hormones encourage growth and may help to feed prostate cancer and perhaps, to a lesser extent, ovarian cancer.

Boffins from University College London suggested that a few thousand years back people avoided milk as it caused gastric pain and stomachs problems. This is because Europeans lacked the gene to fabricate the enzyme lactase that collapses the milk sugar lactose.

But, Professor Walter Willett, chairman of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, said that there's little proof to justify such recommendations, claiming such measures are "likely to cause harm to some people".

Willett said, "Many studies have shown a relation between high milk intake and risk of fatal or metastatic prostate cancer, explained by the fact that a high intake increases blood levels of the IGF-1 growth-promoting hormone." (With Inputs from Agencies)