Prostate cancer’s
biggest dietary land mine is simply too much food, says Colleen Doyle, MS, RD,
director of nutrition and physical activity for the American Cancer
Society. “Aggressive prostate cancer appears to be associated with being
overweight, so watching your calories is important from a prostate cancer
perspective,” says Doyle.
According to the
American Cancer Society, obese men (those with a BMI above 30) may be at greater risk for having more
advanced prostate cancer and of dying from prostate cancer. A man with a BMI of
27.5 to 30 has a 17 percent greater chance of advanced prostate cancer than
a man with a BMI of less than 25. The finding is adjusted for a man’s age at
the time of diagnosis and comes from analyzing the experiences of almost 70,000
men.
Prostate Cancer Risk
and Diet: Foods That May Lower Risk
Particular foods can
affect a man’s risk of prostate cancer. “The thing you always hear about with
prostate cancer are tomatoes, tomato-based products, and lycopene,” says Doyle.
Lycopene, a chemical that imparts a pinkish-red hue to tomatoes, watermelon, and
pink grapefruit, is credited with lowering the risk not only for prostate
cancer, but also a host of other cancers. Although the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration has not found any evidence of prostate-cancer-fighting ability
in lycopene itself, it did acknowledge that tomatoes might reduce prostate
cancer risk.
“Yes, the jury is out
whether the benefit is due to lycopene,” Doyle says, “but whether it’s lycopene
or not, tomatoes and tomato-based products are packed with antioxidants and
phytochemicals that are probably protective against cancer risk.”
To extract the maximum
cancer-fighting benefit from tomatoes, cook them before eating, advises Shayna
Komar, RD, LD, a dietitian with Cancer Wellness at Piedmont in Atlanta, Ga.
Heating or crushing the fruit releases the lycopene inside the cells of the
tomato.
And what about taking
vitamin E or selenium supplements? Despite a large study, there is no proof
that men who take vitamin E, selenium (or both) daily have a lower risk of
prostate cancer, says Doyle.
Prostate Cancer Risk
and Diet: Foods That May Increase Risk
Some foods are dietary
villains in the fight against prostate cancer. Processed and red meat — beef,
lamb, and pork, for instances — moderately boost prostate cancer risk. “We
don’t have a specific amount of red or processed meat per week not to exceed. For now, our recommendation
is to cut back,” Doyle says.
Calcium has many
healthy qualities, but it has been implicated in prostate cancer risk. “It
looks like really high levels of calcium, especially if guys are taking calcium
supplements, seem to be associated with increased risk of prostate cancer,”
Doyle says. “Our recommendation is, ‘Get your calcium through food.’ That’s
probably the safest bet — whatever your age is, follow that recommendation for
your calcium intake.”
To further reduce
one’s risk of prostate cancer, it’s always a good idea to turn to general
cancer prevention guidelines: at least five fruits or vegetables daily, no more
than two glasses of alcohol per day, and at least 30 to 60 minutes of physical
activity five days a week.