Reduce the Risk of Prostate Cancer

Today's important subject is prostate cancer. The discussion will refer to  recommended dietary intake to diminish the risk and foods to avoid to stop its progression. Prostate cancer truly affects everyone, the patient and his friends and loved ones. The same statistic applies annually to this and breast cancer, that is, 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer , and breast cancer (BC) will be diagnosed in 1 in 8 women; though more rarely, BC can be manifest in males as well.  Although we are not yet finished with 2022, just less than 268,000 prostate cancers have been newly diagnosed. There are several stages, reflected in the Gleason scale, that help one understand what treatment(s) would be recommended and what the patient believes he could best handle.  

Today, we are going to appreciate the low grade type of PC that has been traditionally, over many years, observed by the doctor and his team safely as it is very slowly growing and is not causing any ancillary problems, ie. urinary retention, outlet obstruction leading to hydronephrosis (swollen kidney due to urine building up within), fistulas to the GI tract, and others usually caused by the aggressive type of PC.  The good news is the fact that generally most cancers, PC included, that are diagnosed later in life are usually very slowly growing. 

It is the age bracket of men 35 to 60 years old, when diagnosed, that prostate cancer is usually aggressive.  The two supplements that are most important in these aggressive types are 1) fish oil at 4-5 grams/day and 2) *Indolplex with BR (DIM) only when the lab reveals high amounts of 4 OHestrone (4OHest) and 16 alpha OHestrone (16aOHest), regardless of the radical life changing choices that will be recommended, (one such recommendation; castration medical or surgical.)    

The foods that are eaten by the older men in the slowly growing Prostate Cancer category can determine whether the cancer will not be encouraged to grow and will shrink in tumor size and in the levels of the following markers (PSA, IGF1 (Insulin Like Growth Factor1) , the 4OHest, and 16aOHest),. 

I want to list the foods known to lower the risk of rapid growth of PC cells.  There have been general diets recommended but the easiest of all to follow is the Mediterranean Diet;  tomatoes (better when cooked), flaxseed,  walnuts, coffee (4-6 cups/day), cruciferous vegetables (which are also recommended for the  BC patients) specifically give an overall reduced risk of prostate cancer and 40% decreased risk of invasive PC (an aggressive type), Green tea whether a supplement or as tea, grapeseed extract which has been found to decrease the risk 62% of PC if taken over many years and Pomegranate fruit extract (8 oz of juice/day) lowers the risk for PC both before medicine, surgery, and radiation AND after these 3 radical treatment types.

Lastly, there are several ‘supplements’ to which Prostate Cancer cells respond. These are  resveratrol, curcumin, boron, and vit D.

Resveratrol can most easily and safely be taken by pill at least 300mg/day, (meaning that red wine is a very poor source of resveratrol). Curcumin, due to its antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties, in a dose dependent manner is amazingly effective at fighting PC cells.  Boron (a liquid supplement) having been studied in animals and men had the same principle as Vitamin D trials, which is: the higher the dose taken regularly over a longer period of time resulted in reduction of PC risk ~ 50%.  Vit. D high dose (5000 to 8000 IUs) could also lower the risk for lethal PC. The liquid Boron has both preventative function (decrease PSA levels 89%) AND therapeutic benefits (shrinkage of the tumor size 25-38%).

I would like to explain why the diet, other foods,and minerals/vitamins are recommended regardless of BMI (which can be very misleading), and comorbidities, (though not to the extent that one is on his deathbed!).

The Mediterranean Diet is whole grains, nuts, fruits, avocados, legumes, vegetables, and fish.  Its high fiber is most connected to decreasing the aggressiveness of the PC, besides being low glycemic.

Tomatoes’ lycopene is what makes red tomatoes red.  It is a nightshade plant, and, though very tasty, is not able to be eaten by certain blood group people (A) without it causing inflammatory-based pain, especially where joints in hands, feet, and back had been traumatized no matter how distant the incident(s).  However, lycopene is best made available when the tomato is cooked thus, better able to decrease inflammation in the PC tissue and where oxidative stress is decreased, making the prostate environment unfavorable to cancer cells. Some animal studies reveal that lycopene may lower the metabolism of androgens that many, though not all, scientists believe is important to PC growth and increase.  As with many foods and supplements, there appears to be a dose-dependent reaction to prostate cancer: the more consumption of cooked tomatoes (sauces, homemade dressings) the better the decrease of risk of death - 59%!- in the lethal prostate cancer group.

Flaxseed, in order to be absorbed, must be adequately ground up (an old coffee bean grinder will do.  It will be next to impossible to clean up the oils produced-so just dedicate that grinder to flaxseed.)  Lignans from the ground flaxseed are changed into enterolactones in the liver.  The men with the highest levels of enterolactones are unlikely to develop prostate cancer compared to men not consuming flaxseed whether ground or not.  

Walnuts have been studied in animals and clinically in men.  There seems to be at least 4 ways that PC is inhibited: 1) decreasing the size of the PC tumor, 2) lowering the PSA (prostate specific antigen),  3) decreasing prostate cancer cell growth,  and 4) decreasing Insulin like Growth Factor 1(IGF1) which rises as PSA and tumor size increases.  Men who regularly eat a handful of walnuts, showed improvement in blood markers for both prostate and vascular health.

Coffee intake in higher than that usually recommended ie. 2 cups/day for the benefits of chlorogenic acid, has been correlated with decreasing the risk of the aggressive prostate cancer type, even the lethal prostate cancer.  Solely 6 cups/day in men in the Health Professionals Follow up Study,1 published in 2011, revealed decreased PC risk of 18% and decreased risk of lethal PC by 60%.

Cruciferous vegetables are known as anti-cancer for many different cancers, and the active ingredient is the sulforaphanes that are especially working against both prostate cancer and breast cancer.  Two major supplements developed from two of the 4 types of sulforaphanes are DIM ( 3,3’ -diindolymethane) and I3C (Indole 3-carbinol).  The other two anticancer compounds are PEITC (phenylethyl isothiocyanate) and glucosinolates.  For two years, my PA and I competed to see which product would be the best against both PC and BC. I used only DIM and she only used I3C. Both were good and we could see no difference in the efficaciousness of one over the other, both protectively and therapeutically.  

Green tea has two great anticancer compounds: Catechins and Polyphenols.  It was demonstrated in a clinical trial of 60 men with premalignant areas in the prostate between the ages of 45-75 years.  50% of these men were given 200 mg of catechins 3Xd for a year.  The other 30 men were given placebo. Both groups had biopsy of the prostate both at 6 months and 12 months.  1 man was diagnosed with prostate cancer from the green tea group while 9 of the 30 men in the control group developed prostate cancer.  The study’s conclusion was 90% chemoprevention with green tea intake on a regular basis.  The green tea polyphenol was used as an adjunct to preop chemotherapy treatment (docetaxel and prednisone) in patients with increasing PSA post castration therapy.  1300 mg of polyphenols, mostly EGCG, was given resulting in the remarkable decrease in PSA blood levels and that of VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) which is related to forming the blood vessels needed by the cancer to grow.

Grapeseed extract in mouse studies showed increased apoptosis (cell death) in prostate cancer cells while also decreasing prostate cancer growth and progression.  There was a 41% decreased risk of prostate cancer with this supplement in men, and with over ten years of regular use, this grapeseed extract was found to decrease the risk of prostate cancer 62%!

Pomegranate fruit extract taken for 365 days showed decreased both DNA damage and prostate cancer by blood studies. The compounds that researchers have correlated with harm to prostate cancer are luteolin, ellagic acid, and punicic acid in the pomegranate fruit extract. The 3 compounds have been found to lower cell division, and prostate cancer tumor cell proliferation, to lower invasiveness which lowers metastasis as well, and to lower angiogenesis (lowering the blood vessel supply to prostate cancer.)

Resveratrol, in 1997 (25 years ago),was shown to prevent cancer.2   Science.1997 Jan 10:275 (5297):218-20.  It is well absorbed but is quickly metabolized in the liver and the kidneys, leaving little left in the bloodstream for use as free resveratrol.   Life Extension researchers added galactomannan fibers to the resveratrol as a hydrogel to obtain a bioavailability 10 X greater.  530 mg resveratrol hydrogel will provide 80 mg of transresveratrol for use as needed.  As it is a huge antioxidant and antiinflammatory, it makes the prostate tissue a disfavorable environment for cancer cells.

Curcumin promotes prostate cell death.  Because it is also antiinflammatory, it reduces prostate cancer cell spread and growth.  It was used as an adjunct (while PSA was increasing) in docetaxel and Prednisone treated postop castration patients of which 59% gained better numbers of the PSA, all due to curcumin.  Life Extension researchers3 have found that combining fenugreek to curcumin makes it many times more bioavailable, (similar to fisetin’s improved bioavailability).

Boron and Vit D were given more data in the above listing of agents showing their worth to improve risk of Prostate Cancer, thus no need to repeat here again.

Finally, the foods that must be avoided are red meat, especially if overcooked (HCAs are heterocyclic amines that are cancerogenic in overdone, grill marks or burnt meat), processed meats like luncheon meats, pepperoni, and other meats seasoned with nitrates, sugary carbohydrates, milk, especially in men older than 54, and eggs.  If any other foods cause an inflammatory response anywhere in your body (throat, sinuses, gut,etc.), these provocative foods need to be removed from your diet- these will provoke your immune system to cover that hypersensitivity when it needs to be focused on lowering your cancer risk. 

 

Thank you for tuning in to this episode.  I realize there is an ample amount of information packed into this chapter, as I did spend the longest time yet on this episode! Feel free to listen repeatedly to this podcast to get the right foods and eliminate the wrong ones so that there would be less risk for developing this very common cancer in men.  If you would like any questions answered, please connect with us at helenwattmd.com 

 

1 Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2011 June 8: 103 (11):876-84.

2  Science.1997 Jan 10:275 (5297):218-20.

“Foods and Nutrients that Help Prevent Prostate Cancer” Life Extension Magazine.2022 September/October: 54-61.