Prostate Cancer and Lifestyle Changes

Study suggests lifestyle changes may alter genes in men with early stage prostate cancer.

Reuters (6/17, Dunham) reports, "Comprehensive lifestyle changes, including a better diet and more exercise can lead,...to swift and dramatic changes at the genetic level," according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers followed "30 men with low-risk prostate cancer who decided against conventional medical treatment such as surgery and radiation, or hormone therapy." The patients had "three months of major lifestyle changes, including eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and soy products, moderate exercise such as walking for half an hour a day, and an hour of daily stress management methods such as meditation."

        According to U.S. News & World Report (6/16, Healy), "Associated changes in gene behavior after three months of the intervention program were based on analyzing normal prostate tissue from the before-treatment and after-treatment biopsies for levels of RNA, the molecules that translate the DNA blueprints into action." The researchers found that "[e]xpression was beneficially changed in over 500 different genes."

        The U.K.'s Telegraph (6/17, Highfield) notes that overall, about "50 disease preventing genes were upregulated, or turned on, and certain disease-promoting genes, including genes involved in prostate cancer and breast cancer, were downregulated, or turned off." This research was conducted by "Dr. Dean Ornish, founder and president of the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute and clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco." He was "[i]nspired by studies that show prostate cancer is rarer in parts of the world where people eat a predominantly low-fat plant-based diet, [and] he devised a vegan diet for patients, along with exercise." Results of this study "complement earlier work that showed that, after a year, PSA levels (a protein linked with prostate cancer) decreased in men in the group who made comprehensive lifestyle changes but increased in the comparison group."

        WebMD (6/16, DeNoon) quoted Dr. Ornish as saying, "People say, 'Oh, it is all in my genes, what can I do?' That's what I call genetic nihilism." He added that the diet followed in this study "may be an antidote to that," and "[g]enes may be our predisposition, but they are not our fate."

The problem with diet is nobody can directly tie it to a reversal or cure of a diesease.  There is a lot of good evidence that diet plays a big part in healing illness.  Even cancer.  I have a friend that was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer.  She was 30 at the time, given 6 months.  The cancer had already mets to her liver.  She went on a strick organic diet.  She is now 35.  She did do chemo and had the cancer removed.  The mets to her liver are now gone and the Dr. can't figure out why her cancer is gone.  She believes it is her diet. 

You are what you eat.....

I've always said, "do your research, talk to people, then you decide what treatment is right for you".

For some, the treatment could be waiting, hormones, radiation, surgery, or diet.

In my case, the urologist & surgeon both felt confident that it was contained within the capsule. Given this information, I wanted the cancer OUT! I couldn't feel at ease knowing that it was inside me - with the potential of it spreading.  

For anyone deciding on diet change as your treatment, I say, "Good luck and I really hope it works for you". 

Nancy is a fit woman not yet 60. She has always, I mean always, done all the right things to keep her mind body and spirit healthy. I don't recall her eating so much as a McDonalds fry, ever! It isn't nearly about lifestyle as it is about exposure and genetics. We can eat our way to perfect health and excersise till we have a body fat of 10% and it still won't do much except make us healthier for the fight. Well, low body fat won't help  .  Genetics most influenced my husband's cancers and probably Nancy's as well. Again, if we're all looking for that miracle, the tools have always been there. Not to sound all Sunday or anything but, our life is in his capable hands. How, when and why, we choose to use all of the tools he provides is a choice we're given. All we can do is our best. The rest is out of our hands.

Swim