Sonarman said...
Soon following diagnosis I adopted a strict macrobiotic diet and undertook a vigorous practice of Yoga, shedding 50 lbs to a BMI of 19 over 6 months. PSA dropped considerably. I lasted that way on a well followed watchful waiting protocol for more than 7 years...finally driven to surgery by my latest biopsy just 3 was ago. No matter what else one does, I strongly recommend getting into the best shape possible by diet and excercise, even if that is not your custom. There is plenty of support for diet and lifestyle as part of the answer to cancer, while I question if if it ultimately curative. I continue to maintain that lifestyle, which by now is completely natural to me.
You definitely might be on to something there!
One thing that can confuse the issue(for me) about
healthy diets is blood insulin levels, which are seldom checked, but normally associated both with obesity and eating lots of carbohydrates: pasta, bread, potatoes and especially sweets. I read an article a year or so back- can't find it at the moment- that looked at a bunch of things that increased either % diagnosed or % recurring(can't remember) and the highest item by far in that study was blood insulin levels, with the highest levels having
eight times the rate of Dx or recurrence whatever it was. Of course, that was just one study of many, so FWIW, YMMV etc. Still, I have read many places over many years that insulin is a growth factor for cancer cells, so it might be a factor worth considering.
Here is just some random article I just found that is somewhat related to that subject, again FWIW, and showing that obese men had 2.27 increased risk of recurrence during the 30 months of follow up. We might also consider the Metformin(sp?) angle :
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25771797 Somebody said...
CONCLUSIONS:This study found a greater than twofold association between obesity/BMI and PrCa recurrence in non-diabetics. We anticipated these results because the relationship between BMI/obesity and the biologic factors that may underlie the PrCa recurrence-BMI/obesity association, such as insulin, may be altered by the use of anti-diabetes medication or diminished beta-cell insulin production in advanced diabetes. Studies to further assess the molecular factors that explain the BMI/obesity-PrCa recurrence relationship are warranted.
Again, no doubt proving nothing, just food for thought. But here is the main reason this thread had me thinking along these lines:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3132069/Somebody said...
Background: Processed meat and fish have been shown to be associated with the risk of advanced prostate cancer, but few studies have examined diet after prostate cancer diagnosis and risk of its progression..............
Intakes of processed and unprocessed red meat, fish, total poultry, and skinless poultry were not associated with prostate cancer recurrence or progression. Greater consumption of eggs and poultry with skin was associated with 2-fold increases in risk in a comparison of extreme quantiles: eggs [hazard ratio (HR): 2.02; 95% CI: 1.10, 3.72; P for trend = 0.05] and poultry with skin (HR: 2.26; 95% CI: 1.36, 3.76; P for trend = 0.003). An interaction was observed between prognostic risk at diagnosis and poultry. Men with high prognostic risk and a high poultry intake had a 4-fold increased risk of recurrence or progression compared with men with low/intermediate prognostic risk and a low poultry intake
NOTICE: this study only related to recurrence, not original Dx!
So it seems to me they went into the study with the usual expectation for the usual suspects. However, shockingly not even the highest quantiles for red meat or even processed red meat or fish or skinless poultry showed any effect on the prostate cancer recurrence rates.(Unfortunately they did not mention dairy, I sure wish they had looked at that) But once again, just one more study right?
Now, here is a problem for me. Let's say I decided that keeping blood insulin at a low level with a low carbohydrate diet was a good idea.(It has certainly worked spectacularly for me in the past for reducing body fat, And presumably blood insulin but who knows). A mainstay of such a diet is eggs and poultry. But eggs and poultry with skin where are the two biggest offenders in this study. So that really makes going on such a diet all the more difficult. I could go with skinless poultry, but they found an association for the highest risk groups with any poultry:
Somebody said...
We observed an interaction between prognostic risk, total poultry, and risk of prostate cancer progression. Greater poultry intake was associated with increased risk of progression among men with high prognostic risk, but there was no association among men with low/intermediate prognostic risk (P for interaction = 0.003) (Figure 1). Men with high prognostic risk disease and in the highest quartile of poultry had a 4-fold increased risk of progression compared with men with low/intermediate prognostic risk disease and low poultry intake (HR: 4.01; 95% CI: 1.82, 8.85). There was no evidence of a significant interaction between prognostic risk and consumption of any other meat group or eggs.
Of course, who knows if such a thing(a diet promoting low blood insulin levels) might actually be good for you or bad for you when it comes to prostate cancer? That is something I keep meaning to research in greater detail. For example, I need to run down that study that supposedly showed that high blood insulin levels increased risk by a factor of eight. Because if that turns out to be actually true, that would make that risk kind of off the charts compared to anything else wouldn't it? And it could be treated with diet! But if it(a low insulin diet) actually is good for you, how would that work out with the premise of the study linked to in the OP?
Remember, when looking at what makes up the"Western diet", there is a lot more to it than just meat, red meat or even processed red meat. It also contains many things that promote high blood insulin and insulin resistance and finally type II diabetes. That is, lots of pasta, potatoes/ French fries, sweet drinks, bread, desserts and junk food in general. Not to mention for so many of us, a rather spectacularly high overall calorie intake. So there are a lot of different angles to be considered when trying to decide how one should approach diet. Not unlike all the different angles that must be considered when deciding what kind of primary treatment is appropriate.
Jane, may everything go perfectly for your husband's upcoming RT!