OGDEN — At the start of Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, a national nonprofit organization promoting preventative medicine is placing a billboard in Ogden urging Utahns to go dairy free.

On Monday, a billboard reading “Dairy Increases Prostate Cancer Risk” will go up Interstate 15 north of Ogden-Hinckley Airport facing south.

The initiative is organized by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which includes more than 60 Utah physicians.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from 2019, the latest data available, Utah ranks third in the nation for prostate cancer mortality.

An estimated 2,130 new cases of prostate cancer are expected in Utah in 2022 along with 360 prostate cancer deaths, according to the American Cancer Society.

In a letter to Gov. Spencer Cox, Salt Lake City physician Niki Davis and Anna Herby, a registered dietitian with the committee, asked him to warn residents of the increased risk of prostate cancer linked to dairy products in addition to recommending a plant-based diet, which is reportedly proactive against the cancer.

Attempts to reach Cox’s office were not immediately successful.

A meta-analysis looking at 32 studies found high intakes of dairy products, including whole and low-fat milk and cheese, increase risk.

Not all physicians are supportive of the message, though. Dr. Skyler Johnson with the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Utah Huntsman Cancer Institute said that while the research does suggest an association with high amounts of dairy intake and prostate cancer risk, the data are somewhat weak and do not represent causality.

“It’s complicated,” Johnson said. “I have concerns about blanket statements based on data that is not necessarily compelling.”

While Johnson recognizes public health messages oftentimes need shortcuts in presenting information, he said a more accurate billboard would include all the nuances and caveats surrounding prostate cancer.

It’s a misrepresentation of the conclusion of the data as well as an overstatement of the strength of the data, Johnson said.

As a cancer physician, Johnson said he has done quite a bit of research showing people have taken such examples to the extreme, having seen or heard a claim in which there is a misapplication of the data.

According to Johnson, there are situations when patients misinterpret claims like these and opt for an extreme diet to cure cancer, such as going vegan, instead of radiation and chemotherapy, and ultimately have an increased risk of death.

“We need to approach these blanket statements with some caution,” he said.

Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer among men, said Johnson, who said he believes it is lifestyle behaviors of Utahns that contribute to its top-three ranking for prostate cancer mortality.

“The No. 1 cause for developing prostate cancer is age. We know, based on certain lifestyle behaviors in Utah, that a significant portion of the population lives longer,” Johnson said.

With smoking and attributed diseases being less common than in some other states, people tend to live longer and have great access to cancer screenings, increasing likelihood for the diagnosis of certain cancers.

Dr. Neal Barnard, president of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and a professor at the George Washington University School of Medicine, said the insulin-like growth factor found in milk, called IGF1, needed to facilitate growth in babies contributes to cancer cell growth in fully grown men and women.

“Dairy products clearly contribute in a major way to prostate cancer risk,” Barnard said, citing two Harvard University studies.

According to a 2016 meta-analysis, men who consumed milk regularly had a 43% higher risk of cancer.

The real point of the billboard, Barnard stressed, is to inform the public about making good choices to stay healthy. “The choice is yours,” he said.

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