Western Diet is Harmful for Prostate Cancer Patients

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According to a new study published in Cancer Prevention Research (June 8th, 2015), prostate cancer survivors who consume a typical Western diet consisting of red meat, refined grains, processed foods and high-fat dairy products may be at an increased risk of death from recurrent prostate cancer as well as other causes.  Researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health studied 926 men aged 40 to 84 who were diagnosed with prostate cancer that had not spread.  Subjects answered questions about their diets five years after receiving a prostate cancer diagnosis and were monitored for approximately 10 years.  The men diagnosed with non-metastatic prostate cancer who ate a diet that was more Westernized were 2.5 times more likely to die of prostate cancer than those who ate the healthiest diet and 1.5 times more likely to die of any cause.  The healthiest diet was a Mediterranean-style diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and fiber with fewer dairy products and less red meat.  The researchers concluded that their “results suggest that the same dietary recommendations that are made to the general population primarily for the prevention of cardiovascular disease may also decrease the risk of dying from prostate cancer among men initially diagnosed with non-metastatic disease.”