Monday
March 8, 2010
9:16 pm
Eggs and poultry with skin worsen prostate cancer progression
There is a lot of data on the benefits of a diet low in animal fats and high in soy proteins in preventing the development of prostate cancer in men. There is much less data on whether, once diagnosed with prostate cancer, a man can improve his prognosis with a change in his diet.
A paper in 2006 reported that cancer was less likely to progress if patients increased their consumption of fish and lycopene after diagnosis. It was assumed that an increase in red meat would have the opposite effect.
In fact a new paper has suggested that red meat consumption makes little difference but an increase in the amount of eggs and poultry with skin eaten by a man after his diagnosis with prostate cancer had an adverse effect on prognosis. In those patients with the largest consumption of these two foodstuffs the risk of cancer progression was more than doubled.
The best current advice for men diagnosed with the disease is to reduce animal fat, eggs and poultry eaten with the skin and increase fish vegetable and lycopene consumption.
Richman et al. Intakes of meat fish poultry and eggs and risk of prostate cancer progression. Am J Clin Nutr 10.3945/ajcn.2009.28474