Diets that are high in dairy products may boost colon cancer survival, according to a recent study HealthDay reported.

Researchers found that people who ate the most dairy lived slightly longer and had a 28 percent lower risk of dying from any cause, HealthDay reported.

"If you are a colorectal cancer patient, calcium and milk consumption may improve your survival. But do not change your diet just yet before more research is conducted," said lead researcher Peter Campbell, who's with the American Cancer Society's epidemiology research program. "If our findings are replicated in future studies, we may see changes in dietary guidelines for cancer survivors: patients might be encouraged to increase calcium and milk intake."

For the study, the research team collected data on nearly 2,300 people diagnosed between 1992 and 2009 with colon cancer that had not spread beyond the colon.

Among those in the study, 949 patients had died by 2010 -- 408 from their cancer. The researchers discovered that those who ate the most dairy and therefore got the highest amount of dietary calcium lived slightly longer.

Researchers said they believe the survival benefit may be from the calcium in dairy, not the vitamin D. They also suggested that calcium may hinder cancer-cell growth and its ability to settle in sites far away from the original cancer.

The findings suggest that what cancer patients eat does make a difference.

However, Dr. Donald Abrams, an integrative oncologist at the University of California, San Francisco, has significant doubts about the study.

"It's silly to look at milk in isolation, because [according to the study] the people who drank the most milk also were the leanest, did the most physical exercise, ate less red meat, and ate more fruits and vegetables," he told HealthDay. "The message is it's the whole diet, not a single component."

Abrams also said he believe dairy should be avoided by all people.

"They should eat a healthy diet and try to avoid the standard American diet," he said.

Researchers said their findings showed only an association between dairy and survival -- it could not prove that dairy consumption was the direct cause of increased longevity.