Diet has long been a suspected culprit of prostate cancer. No question, age and genetics are key risk factors that predispose men to prostate maladies. But what we put in our mouths over time may be the trigger that sets prostate diseases, and cancer, in motion. The World Health Organization believes that one-third of all cancers might be avoided by dietary changes alone.
Low Incidence in Asia
One of the more compelling arguments targeting diet's role in prostate health is the prevalence of prostate cancer in Western versus Asian countries. In Western countries, there is a striking 30 to 50 times greater incidence of prostate cancer than in Asia, according to the National Health Institute. Yet when Asian men migrate to Western countries and adopt a Western lifestyle and diet, their prostate cancer incidence rises to match Western men within a generation.
Likewise, African American men have the highest prostate cancer risk in the world, yet prostate cancer incidence is very low in Africa.
High-fat Western Diet
The Western diet — high in saturated fat, sugar and red meat, and low in fiber, fruits and vegetables — has been proven to lead directly to chronic low-level inflammation. This has been repeatedly linked to the development of prostate cancer. Hence, many experts suspect the Western diet — perhaps in conjunction with heredity factors — factors into pro-inflammatory conditions that lead to prostate cancer.
Worst Culprit: Sugar
Americans have been eating a high-fat, high-carbohydrate diet for decades. One of worst culprits is sugar. When you raise your blood sugar level, you cause an insulin response in the body that, in turn, produces inflammation on the cellular level. The more insulin you trigger with sugar, the greater the levels of inflammation throughout the body, including the prostate.
At the Duke Prostate Center, researchers have shown that insulin contributes to the growth and proliferation of prostate cancer, as reported in an article by Science News. In the bodies of mice, they also report a diet devoid of carbohydrates actually lowers serum insulin levels, resulting in the slowing of tumor growth.
Increasingly, scientists see a low-fat, low-carbohydrate, high-fiber diet, like the Mediterranean diet, as a way to reduce inflammation in the body and, therefore, lower one's risk for prostate cancer and prostate disease.
Despite mounting research, the inflammation-cancer connection is still not a common topic of discussion between prostate patients and the mainstream physicians who are treating them.
Yet many leading scientists digging into the causes of prostate disease and cancer have been publishing plenty of research over the last decade on how diet, inflammation and cancer are linked. Even the American Cancer Society now lists both inflammation and diet among the key risk factors for prostate cancer.
So it's important that men to do their own homework on how to remedy an unhealthy prostate, and perhaps even prevent the worst case scenario of prostate cancer by adopting an anti-inflammatory diet as they have in Asian countries.
Macrobiotic Diet Case Study
Anthony J. Sattilaro, M.D., did his homework. He was president of Methodist Hospital in Philadelphia when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. In his best-selling book, Recalled by Life, he describes how he began following a "macrobiotic" diet, rich in traditional Asian foods, including plenty of rice and vegetables.
Far outliving his initial grave prognosis, the anti-inflammation diet made him one of the more famous advocates for the use of diet, herbs and vitamins to fight cancer.
Sources
- Patrick Walsh, Dr. Patrick Walsh’s Guide to Surviving Prostate Cancer, Wellness Center, 2007.
- Jack Challem, The Inflammation Syndrome, Wiley, 2003.
- Johns Hopkins Health Alerts, Prostate Disorders-The Inflammation and Prostate Cancer Connection, Jan. 11, 2007.
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