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Sensible
diet steps may help prevent prostate cancer
March 20, 2008
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
Can
the food you eat prevent or help treat prostate cancer?
Researchers have yet to make a definite link between diet
and prostate cancer, but some sensible steps may lower men’s
risk and help protect against other diseases and health conditions
at the same time.
About one in five American men develop prostate cancer. Prostate
cancer is slow-growing, and a relatively small proportion
of men who develop it actually die from it. Even so, prostate
cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in men,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Right now, there’s no clear-cut way to prevent it.
Older men, African Americans and men with a genetic predisposition
to prostate cancer are at higher risk. Of course, those are
risk factors individuals can do little to control.
But researchers also believe diet and lifestyle may be able
to help prevent prostate cancer. If it’s true, it’s
good news, because what you eat and whether or not you exercise
are within your control.
Research points to some reasonable starting points:
* Eat a diet rich in plant matter. Eat heaping helpings of
fresh fruits, vegetables, beans and peas and plenty of whole
grain breads, cereals, seeds and nuts. Limit sweets, refined
flour, added sugar, salt, trans fat, animal fats and meat.
People who eat this way have lower rates of several cancers,
coronary artery disease, obesity, high blood pressure and
diabetes.
* Moderate your calorie intake. Add more low-calorie foods
to your diet – especially fruits and vegetables –
and eat fewer high-calorie desserts and snacks. No direct
link between obesity and prostate cancer risk has been determined,
but weight may affect cancer risk by influencing hormone levels.
* Be very physically active. Strive for vigorous physical
activity most days of the week. You’ll lower your risk
for several chronic diseases and more easily maintain an ideal
weight.
What else can you do?
Several theories involve individual nutrients and foods touted
by some as providing special protection against prostate cancer.
A few show promise, but none are proven effective:
* Vitamin E and selenium supplements. Scientists have studied
their antioxidant effects and other actions, but results have
been mixed. Save your money and get your nutrition from whole
foods containing nutrients packaged as intended by Mother
Nature. If you do take supplements, let your health care provider
know. Supplements can have unintended side effects and may
interfere with medications.
* Omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D. They’re found in
oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring and sardines.
Omega-three fatty acids have been found in some studies to
reduce the risk of some forms of cancer, and low blood levels
of vitamin D have been linked with higher rates of prostate
cancer. There isn’t enough evidence in either case,
though, to warrant taking supplements to prevent prostate
cancer. Fish eaters should eat no more than two average servings
or 12 ounces of fish per week to balance the nutritional benefits
with risks from contamination, according to the Food and Drug
Administration and Environmental Protection Agency.
* Lycopene. One study linked high intakes of tomatoes, which
are rich in the antioxidant lycopene, with lower risk of prostate
cancer. The link is weak, though, according to a recent review
of the research. Eat all the tomatoes you want, but don’t
bother with lycopene supplements.
Pomegranate juice and acai, a fruit from a type of palm tree,
are in vogue now, too, as cure-alls that help protect against
various forms of cancer. While they won’t hurt you,
they hold no advantages that you can’t get from many
other colorful fruits.
It seems for now, what’s best for men is what’s
best for all of us.
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