New Study Shows The Impact of Diet on Prostate Cancer | Mark Scholz, MD | PCRI

Summary

In a recent study published in the European Journal of Urology, a 20-year follow-up of 12,000 men revealed that a healthy lifestyle had no impact on the incidence of prostate cancer but significantly reduced mortality rates, especially in those with a genetic predisposition. The study emphasized the importance of avoiding smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising, and consuming more fish and tomato-based products while limiting processed meats. Dr. Scholes suggests that a rigorous vegetarian diet may have the most substantial impact on reducing prostate cancer mortality, with Mediterranean diets offering moderate benefits.

Takeaways

• 📚 A recent study published in the European Journal of Urology in May 2022 followed 12,000 men over 20 years to examine the impact of lifestyle factors on prostate cancer incidence and mortality.
• 🔍 The study evaluated six lifestyle factors: smoking, exercise, weight, consumption of processed meats, fish, and tomato-based products, assigning a 'lifestyle score' based on these behaviors.
• 🏥 Despite a healthy lifestyle, the incidence of prostate cancer was not affected, with the same number of men developing the disease regardless of their lifestyle habits.
• ⚠️ Mortality rates from prostate cancer were significantly higher for those with poor lifestyle habits, with healthier individuals having much lower death rates from the disease.
• 🧬 The study showed that even with a genetic predisposition to aggressive prostate cancer, a good lifestyle could drastically reduce the risk of death from the disease.
• 🥦 Protective factors identified in the study included a diet rich in fish and tomato-based products, which may have a positive impact on prostate health.
• 🚫 Unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking, lack of exercise, being overweight, and consuming processed meats, were linked to a higher risk of dying from prostate cancer.
• 🍳 The script suggests that even moderate consumption of animal proteins, like eggs, could be part of a balanced diet, as long as it's not the primary focus.
• 📉 Some anecdotal evidence from the script indicates that a switch to a vegetarian diet can lead to changes or stabilization in PSA levels in men with recurring prostate cancer.
• 🥗 For patients with aggressive or metastatic prostate cancer, a more rigorous commitment to a vegetarian or macrobiotic diet may have a significant impact on reducing mortality rates.
• 💪 The importance of maintaining muscle mass and strength through resistance training was highlighted, as it can help prevent the frailty associated with aging and has additional health benefits.

Q & A

What was the main focus of the study published in the European Journal of Urology in May 2022?

The study focused on the long-term impact of lifestyle factors on the incidence and mortality rates of prostate cancer among 12,000 participants over a period of 20 to 25 years.

What were the six lifestyle factors assessed in the study?

The six factors assessed were smoking, exercise habits, body weight, consumption of processed meat, intake of fish products, and tomato-based products.

Did the study find a correlation between lifestyle and the incidence of prostate cancer?

The study found no impact of lifestyle on the incidence of prostate cancer; the same number of men with both poor and healthy lifestyles developed the disease.

How did a healthy lifestyle impact mortality rates in the study?

A healthy lifestyle had a significant impact on mortality rates, with those following a poor lifestyle having two to four times higher mortality rates from prostate cancer.

What is the significance of the study's findings regarding genetic predisposition and lifestyle?

The study showed that individuals with a genetic predisposition to aggressive prostate cancer could significantly reduce their risk of dying from the disease by adopting a healthy lifestyle.

What dietary factors were identified as protective against prostate cancer in the study?

Dietary factors that were protective included a higher intake of fish and tomato-based products, which are more plant-based and vegetable-rich.

Why might processed meats and animal proteins be harmful in the context of prostate cancer?

While not specifically addressed in the article, the theory is that prostate cancer cells may grow more vigorously with the intake of animal fats and proteins, suggesting a different metabolic process compared to other cancers.

Can a vegetarian diet potentially influence PSA levels in men with prostate cancer?

Anecdotal evidence from the script suggests that implementing a rigorous vegetarian diet can lead to changes in the rate of rise or stabilization of PSA levels, especially in men with recurring cancer after surgery.

What dietary recommendations does Dr. Scholes suggest for patients with aggressive prostate cancer?

Dr. Scholes suggests a more rigorous commitment to a vegetarian or macrobiotic diet for the most significant impact, although a Mediterranean diet may also be beneficial.

How does resistance training benefit prostate cancer patients, especially those on hormone therapy?

Resistance training helps maintain muscle mass and strength, which can counteract age-related muscle loss, improve metabolic rate, boost well-being, and potentially enhance cognitive functions such as memory.

Can weight loss drugs like Wegovy (Ozempic) be effective for prostate cancer patients on hormone therapy?

While specific studies on this combination are not mentioned, there is no reason to believe that Wegovy would not be effective for weight loss in patients on hormone therapy, as it works by reducing appetite.

Outlines

00:00

📊 Lifestyle and Prostate Cancer Study Insights

This paragraph discusses a significant study published in the European Journal of Urology, which involved 12,000 participants and spanned over 20 years. The study aimed to understand the impact of lifestyle factors on prostate cancer incidence and mortality. It focused on behaviors such as smoking, exercise, weight, and diet, including the consumption of tomato-based products, fish, and processed meats. The results indicated that while lifestyle had no effect on the incidence of prostate cancer, it significantly influenced mortality rates, with a healthy lifestyle reducing the risk of death from prostate cancer, especially among those with a genetic predisposition. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of long-term commitment to healthy behaviors.

05:01

🥚 Diet and Prostate Cancer: Eggs and Animal Proteins

In this section, the script explores the role of diet in prostate cancer, specifically addressing the consumption of eggs and animal proteins. It suggests that while a plant-based diet with occasional animal products may not be harmful, a diet primarily consisting of animal protein could be more problematic. The script also touches on the impact of diet on PSA levels, with anecdotal evidence suggesting that a vegetarian diet can slow or stabilize the rise of PSA levels in men post-surgery. The discussion highlights the potential benefits of a vegetarian or Mediterranean diet for prostate cancer patients, especially those with aggressive forms of the disease.

10:02

🏋️‍♂️ Exercise and Weight Management for Prostate Cancer Patients

The final paragraph emphasizes the importance of exercise, particularly resistance training, for prostate cancer patients. It discusses the benefits of maintaining muscle mass and strength to counteract age-related muscle loss, which can lead to falls and instability. The paragraph also mentions the positive effects of exercise on metabolism, fat retention, well-being, and memory. Additionally, it addresses the use of the weight loss drug Wagovi (Ozempic) for patients on hormone therapy, suggesting that it could be beneficial for weight management regardless of their treatment status.

Keywords

💡Lifestyle

Lifestyle refers to the interests, opinions, and behavioral patterns that give shape and order to the life of an individual. In the context of the video, it is related to the behaviors and habits that individuals can adopt to potentially influence their health outcomes, particularly concerning prostate cancer. The script discusses how a healthy lifestyle can have a significant impact on reducing mortality rates from prostate cancer.

💡Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is a type of cancer that occurs in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. The video script focuses on a study that examines the relationship between lifestyle factors and the development and mortality rates of prostate cancer. It is the central theme around which the discussion of diet, exercise, and other lifestyle choices revolves.

💡Diet

Diet is the sum of food and drink usually consumed by an individual or a group. The script mentions diet as one of the key lifestyle factors studied in relation to prostate cancer, highlighting the impact of consuming certain foods like tomato-based products, fish, and processed meats on the health outcomes of individuals.

💡Exercise

Exercise is a physical activity that is planned, structured, and repetitive with the aim of improving or maintaining physical fitness. The video script emphasizes the importance of regular exercise as a component of a healthy lifestyle that can contribute to reducing the risk of prostate cancer-related mortality.

💡Smoking

Smoking is the practice of inhaling and exhaling the smoke of burning plant material, typically tobacco. In the script, smoking is identified as an unhealthy behavior that negatively affects the lifestyle score and is associated with higher mortality rates in prostate cancer patients.

💡Overweight

Being overweight refers to having a body mass index (BMI) that is higher than what is considered healthy for a person's height. The video script includes being overweight as one of the factors that can worsen a person's lifestyle score and potentially increase the risk of dying from prostate cancer.

💡Processed Meats

Processed meats are meat products that have been altered from their natural state through processes such as smoking, curing, or adding preservatives. The script suggests that consuming processed meats may be linked to a higher risk of prostate cancer, indicating that dietary choices can have health implications.

💡Tomato-Based Products

Tomato-based products include any food items that are made using tomatoes as a primary ingredient. The script points out that consuming tomato-based products was found to be protective against prostate cancer, suggesting that certain dietary elements can have a positive impact on health.

💡Fish Products

Fish products refer to food items derived from fish, which can include fresh, frozen, or processed forms. In the context of the video, fish intake is mentioned as a beneficial component of a healthy lifestyle that may contribute to a reduced risk of prostate cancer.

💡Mortality Rates

Mortality rates are the proportion of deaths in a given population over a specified period of time. The video script discusses how a healthy lifestyle can dramatically reduce mortality rates in prostate cancer patients, emphasizing the importance of lifestyle choices in managing the disease.

💡Genetic Predisposition

Genetic predisposition refers to the increased likelihood of developing a certain condition due to an individual's genetic makeup. The script explains that even patients with a genetic predisposition to aggressive prostate cancer can significantly reduce their risk of dying from the disease by following a healthy lifestyle.

💡Hormone Therapy

Hormone therapy, also known as endocrine therapy, is a treatment that removes or blocks certain hormones that cancer cells need to grow. The video script mentions hormone therapy in the context of advanced prostate cancer treatment and discusses its potential interaction with weight loss and exercise, indicating the multifaceted approach to managing the disease.

Highlights

A study in May 2022 analyzed the lifestyle and diet of 12,000 people over 20 years and its impact on prostate cancer.

The study found no impact of lifestyle on the incidence of catching prostate cancer.

A healthy lifestyle significantly reduced mortality rates in prostate cancer patients.

The study identified six key lifestyle factors: smoking, exercise, weight, tomato-based products, fish, and processed meats.

A poor lifestyle increased mortality rates two to four times in prostate cancer patients.

Genetic predisposition to aggressive prostate cancer can be mitigated by a good lifestyle.

Lifestyle changes validated as a powerful tool to reduce mortality from prostate cancer.

Diets low in animal proteins and fats may slow the growth of prostate cancer cells.

Occasional consumption of eggs or meat in a plant-based diet is not considered harmful.

A rigorous vegetarian diet may have a more significant impact on slowing prostate cancer than a Mediterranean diet.

PSA levels can decline or stabilize with a strict vegetarian diet, suggesting cancer growth may be slowed.

Weight loss through the drug Wagovi (Ozempic) may still be effective for patients on hormone therapy.

Resistance training is recommended for prostate cancer patients to maintain muscle mass and strength.

Lifestyle changes not only reduce prostate cancer mortality but also have a positive impact on other health conditions.

The study emphasizes the importance of a good diet, regular exercise, and maintaining a healthy weight for overall health.

PCRI provides educational resources and videos on prostate cancer for further information.

Transcripts

so today dr scholes we're picking up

questions from uh our youtube comment

section on lifestyle now there are many

questions we get on lifestyle diet

exercise that come to pcri but i

understand that there's a recent study

that came out this year in may of 2022

that 12 000 people took place in the

study and that there's a 12 20 year

follow-up actually of how these people

did covering all of lifestyle within

prostate cancer so what are the results

of this study so it is really difficult

to

ferret out what to believe and not to

believe in terms of

diet and whatnot because people follow a

diet for a while and then they fall off

the wagon and we know that it's the

long-term commitment when we talk about

lifestyle we're talking about the

behaviors that people

implement and then sustain year after

year after year eating smoking exercise

these sorts of things everyone kind of

has this

conviction that these things matter but

how much do they matter and it's hard to

measure these things well

in the article you're referring to that

was published in the european journal of

urology in may of 2022

they had a

large long-term study that went on for

more than 20 years of

men who were filling out questionnaires

about their behaviors i think it was

like every six months or something like

that they would send in questionnaires

and what they were watching for in this

particular article was how many

men caught prostate cancer in the

ensuing 20 years

because they were screened out if they

already had prostate cancer and they

also looked at

how many people died of prostate cancer

during that 20-year period 20 plus year

in some cases they'd fall up to 20 25

years they tested six things

whether you smoked extras how much

exercise you know whether you're

overweight

and

whether you

ate

tomato based products

fish products and processed meats the

more those things you did that were

unhealthy your score

your healthy your lifestyle score got

worse

and

the the better you behaved in those six

departments the

um the better your score was

and uh what they found in the study was

that

the incidence of catching prostate

cancer

based on lifestyle

had no impact at all the same number of

men that behaved badly caught prostate

cancers as the same number of men who

followed a healthy lifestyle caught the

same amount of prostate cancer

but in terms of

dying of prostate cancer the impact of a

healthy lifestyle was rather dramatic i

mean it was like the the mortality rates

were

two to three to four times higher in

people that followed a poor lifestyle

and this kind of follows what we already

know we know that there's an innocuous

form of prostate cancer that's very

prevalent and it doesn't

metastasize and doesn't hurt people

and

that

particular type of cancer doesn't occur

more or less commonly depending on

lifestyle according to the study which

is interesting people that have

not only people who

followed poor lifestyles had higher

mortality rates they interestingly

showed that in people that had a genetic

predisposition towards bad prostate

cancers in other words a family history

and all this sort of thing

that they could

radically reduce their chance of dying

of prostate cancer by following a good

lifestyle so good lifestyle could

reduce the risk of dying of prostate

cancer and good lifestyle could also

reduce the risk of dying of prostate

cancer when you have a genetic

predisposition towards bad prostate

cancers so a lifestyle was

validated resoundingly as a very

important and uh powerful way

to reduce mortality from prostate cancer

so what were the six things uh as we

already enumerated but to just repeat so

smoking

lack of exercise being overweight uh

eating a lot of processed meat products

and

and the things that were protective were

more fish intake and uh tomato based

which i think is more like a vegetable

type diet those things were protective

what is it about processed meats or

animal proteins that tend to be bad for

people when they have prostate cancer so

that isn't addressed in this article but

the theory is based on

other lines of evidence that

unlike

some other cancers which they say don't

eat sugar lung cancers lymphomas

pancreas cancers

respond

to

excess sugar intake prostate cancers

tend to grow more vigorously when

they're given animal fats and proteins

it's just a different metabolic process

so

the theory is is that by depriving the

prostate cancer cells of these rich

nutrients animal

uh proteins and fats that they just

don't grow as well when it comes to eggs

you know we get a lot of questions about

that because people consider it kind of

in the animal family so does that also

count i think it does in

of course all of this is quote in

moderation you know if you have uh

people that are generally eating a uh

plant-based diet and they have some

occasional eggs or some meat or

something like this i don't think that's

particularly deleterious it's where

one's diet is built around these things

and all you're eating is animal protein

you know one of the questions we also

get is does you know diet affect psa so

have you ever seen like a psa decline

because of diet i know this wasn't

addressed in a study but in your own

personal experience have you seen this

happen we certainly have uh the the sort

of a pure form of psa testing in men

that have had previous surgery i'm not a

big fan of surgery as many people know

but it's still popular and there's a lot

of surgery going on

so if cancer comes back after surgery

and the psa is rising uh all of the psa

is coming from the cancer and there's no

background noise from the gland the

prostate gland because it's been

surgically removed on many occasions

i've seen people who

have

had a rising psa at a very

predetermined specific rate

who implement a rigorous uh

vegetarian diet and we see an inflection

point and a change in the rate of rise

or sometimes stabilization of psa so it

is it validates

other lines of evidence that you know

prostate cancer feeds off of animal

protein you know when you're suggesting

diets to your patients do you prefer

like vegetarian versus mediterranean

they're kind of similar but i find that

oftentimes patients particularly like a

structure to follow sometimes maybe we

don't know as much about diet and we

need something to just follow step by

step is there a certain diet that you

prefer well i think

first of all in the men that have the

harmless variance of prostate cancer i

think it's unfair to tell them that

they've got to make a whole lifestyle

change

because

it's it's not an honest representation

of the risk

but for men that have relapse cancers or

metastatic cancers

it appears to me that the more rigorous

the commitment to a vegetarian lifestyle

some people call these radical

vegetarian diets macrobiotic diets those

seem to have the biggest impact

mediterranean diets which i think are

sort of a half measure probably are

beneficial as well but maybe not

won't have the same horsepower that a

full-on vegetarian diet would have so it

sounds like the summary of the study is

that people who kind of have maybe

gleason 6 you know maybe not as

dangerous of cancers this doesn't as

apply to as much but it sounds like the

people who have genetic risks or any

sort of predispositions and then have

those more aggressive cancers it

definitely applies is that correct

definitely the

things that people can do for themselves

when they have the metastatic types of

prostate cancer

when they have relapse cancers are very

substantial we're talking about

mortality rates that were

80 percent lower in the people that

pursued all these lifestyle measures

compared to the ones that uh you know

pursued none of them and even going

halfway you got half of the benefit so

mortality rates reduced by 50 percent in

the people that did half of the

lifestyle measures so

all of this

is telling us the decision to follow

you know good diets

not be overweight exercise regularly it

pays off in reduced mortality rates from

prostate cancer and i think we can

extrapolate this beyond this it's not

like we haven't known this for

cardiovascular disease and other things

so yes we are cutting down the chance of

dying of prostate cancer quite

substantially with good lifestyle but

then there's a spillover effect and for

other cancers and for other illnesses

and and for cardiovascular disease it

makes the impact of these lifestyle

changes even greater you had mentioned

that one of the six factors was being

overweight and so at the conference we

had talked about new weight loss a new

weight loss drug called wagovi that has

come out

and dr

marty miner and dr moya had covered that

at length but one of the questions that

we received you know we have a lot of

patients who have you know some more

advanced prostate cancers and they're on

hormone therapy and so they're kind of

wondering if they want to reduce their

weight would regove still work if

they're on hormone therapy i'm not aware

of any studies specifically addressing

that but there's really no reason to

believe that it wouldn't

the

wagovia otherwise

known as ozempic is another name for the

same thing

seems to have a

very specific

capacity to reduce appetite and allow

people to relatively painlessly lose

weight and so that um is going to be

useful

for people that are on lupron or who are

on hormone therapy or who aren't on

hormone therapy across the board this is

a beneficial thing for anyone that's

overweight and another factor from the

study was talking about you know

lifestyle when it comes to exercise so i

know with hormone therapy patients we

often talk about lifting weights in

order to maintain their strength and

there's all sorts of benefits from that

would you say that weightlifting applies

as an exercise that all prostate cancer

patients should be doing yes because

prostate cancer occurs in the aging and

as we get older as we men get older

we tend to lose muscle with age and we

can compensate for that with resistance

training in other words doing exercises

that make a statement to your muscle

that you're inadequate you should get

bigger

and that helps forestall the the uh the

weakness that comes with aging and

weakness is what uh is part of what we

think of as old people uh people become

more prone to falls and and get more

unsteady on their feet because their

muscles aren't as strong so

uh there's all kinds of benefits to

keeping muscular strength and muscular

mass up

uh it accelerates the metabolic rate

it's easier to keep fat off your body

there's

of course a sense of well-being there's

been

studies showing that it improves memory

which is the

the the bane of people aging uh losing

you know short-term memory loss so all

kinds of marvelous things happen through

fitness and

through resistance training

thanks so much for watching if you would

like more information about prostate

cancer and all sorts of education you

can visit our website pcri.org

and subscribe to our youtube channel we

come out with new prostate cancer

education videos every week

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