Vegan diet, exercise shown to help slow prostate cancer

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Vegan diet, exercise shown to help slow prostate cancer

- Rob Stein, Washington Post

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Washington -- Eating better, exercising regularly and cutting stress

apparently can slow the progression of early prostate cancer,

concludes the first study to provide direct evidence that lifestyle

changes can fight the common malignancy.

The study of 93 prostate cancer patients found that at the end of a

year those who adopted lifestyle changes that included a primarily

vegan diet, regular moderate exercise and yoga and other relaxation

techniques scored better on a standard blood test used to monitor

prostate cancer growth. They were also less likely to require

additional treatment, and their blood showed signs of being able to

inhibit prostate cancer cells in lab tests.

Although many studies have suggested that adopting healthy lifestyles

can have a host of health benefits, including reducing the risk for

various cancers, the new research is the latest of several recent

studies that have found that factors such as diet, exercise and stress

reduction may have a powerful effect on cancer patients' prognoses.

" Diet and other lifestyle changes play an important role in the

development of many health problems, " said Dean Ornish of UCSF, who

led the new study, which is being published in next month's issue of

the Journal of Urology. " Now we have evidence it can slow the

progression of prostate cancer. "

Other researchers said more studies will be needed to explore which

components of the lifestyle changes may be important, and to

demonstrate whether the effects translate into a reduced risk of dying

from the disease.

More research needed

" There's a building body of evidence that lifestyle may affect cancer

progression, " said Greenwald of the National Cancer Institute.

" This is a very important area, and this is one more important lead

that indicates a crucial direction for more research. "

But given that a healthful diet and regular exercise can have other

benefits, several researchers said there was no reason patients should

not consider adopting them in addition to their standard care.

Prostate cancer strikes 232,000 American men each year and kills about

30, 000, making it the leading cause of cancer among men and the

second-leading male cancer killer after lung cancer.

Ornish and his colleagues studied 93 men who had been diagnosed with

early prostate cancer. The men had opted not to seek treatment

immediately but, instead, to closely monitor their tumors.

Half the men adopted a regimen that included a vegan diet -- primarily

fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes but no meat, eggs or

dairy products -- supplemented with soy, vitamins and minerals.

That same group of men also started moderate aerobic exercise, such as

walking 30 minutes six days a week; participated in a one-hour support

group meeting once a week; and began using stress-management

techniques, such as yoga, breathing exercises, and meditation for an

hour a day.

When the study began and then a year later, the researchers gave both

groups of men the prostate-specific antigen blood test, which is

widely used to monitor the progression of the cancer. Those on the

diet and exercise regimen saw their PSA levels drop by an average of 4

percent, while those in the other group saw theirs rise an average of

6 percent, the researchers found.

In addition, blood from the men in the diet and exercise group

appeared to inhibit prostate cancer cells in laboratory tests,

indicating that something in their diet or their bodies' response to

the regimen was inhibiting their cancer, Ornish said.

Moreover, none of those who made the lifestyle changes needed any

cancer treatment during the study period, whereas six of those in the

other group did.

Diet and exercise

" This is the first randomized trial showing that the progression of

prostate cancer can be stopped or perhaps even reversed by changing

diet and lifestyle alone, " said Ornish, who stressed that the changes

should be considered only as an addition to standard treatment and not

a substitute.

Two recent studies found that breast cancer patients who ate low-fat

diets and exercised regularly were less likely to suffer recurrences,

Ornish noted.

Other researchers were cautious, saying the study had not yet

demonstrated that the lifestyle changes help people live longer, and

it was difficult to pinpoint which aspects of the regimen might be

beneficial.

" So many variables were changed in the experimental group that it is

not possible to sort out which of the many lifestyle factors ... or

combination thereof, was responsible for the observed effects, "

Parnes of the National Cancer Institute wrote in an e-mail.