Low-fat, vegetarian diet slows prostate problems

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Low-fat, vegetarian diet slows PSA doubling time

 

Thu Jan 29, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50T01020090130

 

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A diet low in saturated fat, high in

vegetable protein and low in animal protein, including dairy products,

is associated with a " substantial " increase in prostate-specific antigen

(PSA) doubling time and an increase in quality of life, according to

results of a pilot study.

 

PSA is used as a biological marker for prostate cancer; the higher this

number gets, the greater is the man's risk of prostate cancer or

prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate). The PSA " doubling time " is

the time it takes for PSA levels to increase by 100 percent.

 

The study subjects included 36 men with biopsy-confirmed prostate cancer

who had received primary treatment for more than 6 months previously and

who had increasing PSA levels.

 

Dr. James Carmody and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts

Medical School in Worcester randomly assigned the subjects and their

partners to attend 11 dietary and cooking classes and mindfulness

practice to support the change in diet or to a control group.

 

Assessments of dietary compliance, quality of life and PSA levels were

made at the beginning of the study, after the 11-week intervention, and

again 3 months after the intervention was assessed. The findings are

published in the journal Urology.

 

The intervention group consumed significantly less saturated fat, more

vegetable protein and less animal protein, including dairy products,

than did the controls. They also reported more indicators of increased

quality of life compared with the controls.

 

" Although no significant change was found in the rate of PSA increase

between the two groups, the mean PSA doubling time for the intervention

group was substantially longer at the 3-month follow-up visit than that

of the controls, " Dr. Carmody and colleagues report.

 

" Future clinical trials should examine the effect of a similar diet on

clinical disease markers of disease progression with a larger sample of

men followed for a substantially longer period. "

 

SOURCE: Urology, December 2008.