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A couple of notes on diet and cancer
We all want to do everything we can to keep our cancer under control. But when we're looking at studies that an elevated level of X correlates with an elevated risk of cancer, there's an important distinction that often gets lost in the hype.
Some parts of your body are directly exposed to potential carcinogens: examples include UV on your skin, smoke into your lungs, or alcohol filtered through your liver. There's pretty-much a 1:1 relationship between how much you consume and the level of possible carcinogens those organs are exposed to.
But cancers like prostate cancer aren't exposed directly to what you eat or breathe or sunbathe in. Instead, they indirectly see the regulated levels in your bloodstream: for example, your pancreas will control your blood sugar level, so that eating more sugar doesn't mean that prostate cancer cells have more glucose to feed on (and vice-versa). And your liver will help regulate your choline level, even synthesising some if it thinks you're not getting enough from your diet.
So while these early correlation studies are useful for showing scientists where it might be worth looking next, they're often not very useful for making practical decisions about what to eat as a prostate-cancer patient.
Not only are many/most of them unreproduceable (they next time someone does a study, they don't find the same correlation), but there's often a missing link: for example, does eating more eggs actually raise the choline level much in your bloodstream, or does your body compensate to keep it roughly the same? Will cutting out eggs completely lower your choline level, or will your liver just synthesise more? Because these levels are indirect, it's very tricky making medical recommendations based on them, which is why we have so few official recommendations for diet related to prostate cancer, and (AFAIK) none that's entirely conclusive yet (though avoiding high consumption of processed meats is getting close).
p.s. Before making any decisions, bring this info to your oncologist. Listen to them, not me.
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I was diagnosed 2 years ago at age 70 with Gleason 4+3=7 Intermediate unfavorable grade 3, my PSA had gone from 4.24 and as high as 7.19 just after diagnosis. I had favorable decipher .38 a normal size 50 cc prostate. .42cc tumor, PSMA PET scan showed contained to prostate, I met with Mayo surgeon, radiologist, and my urologist to talk about alternative treatments like HiFu Tulsa Pro etc. After all that and reading about the Protect T study, and considering all the potential side effects for any treatment, and reading all the comments on this group, my choice, and it's strictly my individual choice, was to do No Treatment of any kind, Instead I chose to to change my diet. I cut out All Sugar 100% which feeds cancer cells, and exercise which takes cate of Glutamine. My PSA has consistently gone down and is now back below 4 at 3.59. I feel great, and only positive effects from cutting out sugar and exercising. I entered all my info on Grok and got a great detailed prognosis. So I am on Active Surveillance, but at 72 no matter what my PSA does I will let nature take her course. I will probably make it another 5+ years which is fine with me. Quality of life is much more important to me than seeing how long I can live
To all of you being treated I wish you all the best.
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1 Reaction@ranger44 So you are not going to re- biopsy at any point to see if your pathology has changed??
Don’t know your medical health situation but men in their early 70’s these days who are in reasonably good health can easily live well into their high 80’s or longer.
Giving yourself only 5 yrs isn’t nearly enough.
Phil
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1 Reaction@ranger44 Congratulations on your progress! I'm 74 and at one year of treatment with ADT and including radiation. I'm hoping for 5-10 years but not setting any family longevity records. 4 + 3, lesions in prostate and beyond into adjacent lymph nodes. I've got to get back on dietary track, because I've gained 20 pounds (of what I lost during Covid) since beginning treatment. A medical oncologist this week echoed what I've been reading: vegan, vegetarian, or Mediterranean diets avoid beef and processed meats. All the best for your journey.
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1 ReactionI do not look only into studies but into observations of the whole populations of people that adhere to certain dietary choices and lifestyles and over and over it is shown that certain groups of people have much less incidence of all types of cancer as well as other diseases like diabetes and coronary disease. We all know who they are ... ( As a side note -there are much newer studies about eggs and BCR BTW, easy to Google for those who are interested).
Now, I really do not get "quality of life" argument connected with removal of certain kinds of food from one's diet - for us life does not revolve around food nor is it exclusive source of "life joy" (???). I do not understand ... I have the same "joy" eating good pork shoulder as eating great vegetable lasagna; Pizza with prosciutto , tomatoes, olives and mushrooms gives me the same "joy" as is pizza with mushrooms, tomatoes, roasted pepper and olives etc etc - I do not get it ? What is missing ???? Coconut milk ice cream was my favorite for decades. I hate beef BTW, stringy, smelly , fatty mess. Yuck. Veal - yes but non existent in this country. But would it be my first choice in a restaurant - heck no lol . Lamb I adore - but I could not it eat every day if one would beg me. We spent just 5 days on Tahoe for Thanksgiving and were "forced " to eat what was available - all 3 of us could not wait to get back home and eat salads and veggies and detox from pastries and heavy mountain restaurant cuisines *ughhhh We are divulging salads and fish for 5 days now LMAO and enjoying every moment of it 100% ! We eliminated milk products - no sorrow here LMAO , believe me ! Nor are we deprived and depressed because we do not have egg omelets XP ! I have no idea why people feel like it is a big deal 0_O and why IS IT a big deal for them ? How is pork belly or milk essential for happiness ??? Please somebody explain that to me ? LMAO
ANYHOW - UCSF is now recruiting patients for post treatment dietary and exercise study. We got an invite and my husband applied. : ))) His surgeon already told him that the ONE best thing anybody can do for BCR prevention is to stay away from animal products. Easy peasy for us !
It might make no difference for my husband but it is healthy diet and absolutely does not effect "quality of life" nor effects "joy" of eating in any shape or form in our case. So, we are happy to follow our doctor's advice, studies and healthy populations of people in this world - are they all wrong ???