Washington: If you have been diagnosed with prostate cancer, it’s better to lay off Western diet, which includes red and processed meat, high-fat dairy foods, and refined grains. According to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the consuming Western diet can significantly increase risk of both prostate cancer-related mortality and overall mortality compared with eating a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, fish, whole grains, and healthy oils.
Assistant Professor Jorge Chavarro, at the Harvard Chan School and senior author of the study said that their results suggest that a heart-healthy diet may benefit these men by specifically reducing their chances of dying of prostate cancer. Researchers examined health and diet data from 926 men participating in the Physicians’ Health Study I and II who were diagnosed with prostate cancer.
They found that men who ate mostly a Western diet had two-and-a-half times higher risk of prostate cancer-related death–and a 67 percent increased risk of death from any cause–than those in the lowest quartile. Men who ate mostly a “prudent” diet had a 36 percent lower risk of death from all causes. Lead author Meng Yang, research fellow at Harvard, said that the results were encouraging and added to the scant literature on this area, but it was important to keep in mind that all study participants are physicians and most are white. The study is published online in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.
