Protect Yourself from Prostate Cancer

September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. It is important to bring attention to this type of cancer, the second most common among men behind skin cancer. The American Cancer Society projects that prostate cancer will be diagnosed in 268,490 men in 2022 and 34,500 will die from this very preventable disease.

A review of 31 international and U.S. studies by researchers was presented at the American Urological Association Annual Meeting earlier this year, and published in the Journal of Urology. Here is more about dietary impact on prostate cancer.

The study gathered data from men who were at genetic risk for developing prostate cancer, and from men already diagnosed with prostate cancer. The researchers found that for those men who were eating a dominantly plant-based diet, they were less likely to develop prostate cancer than the meat eaters. For those men with prostate cancer, eating a plant-based diet resulted in improvements in their health and outcomes from prostate cancer.

There are many plant protein options to partially or completely replace red meats:

• Nuts, seeds and nut/seed butters
• Legumes or dried beans and peas
• Soy products including tofu, tempeh, edamame and soy veggie burgers
• Veggie burgers made from beans, chick peas and quinoa

A reminder, the long term outcome after an early diagnosis of prostate cancer is very very good. However a diagnosis will not happen unless you are able to keep up with your yearly health care appointments with your doctor. You will not feel prostate cancer in its earliest stages so blood work must be completely regularly.

This research assessment of previously conducted prostate cancer studies suggests health benefits of a plant-based or vegetarian diet for either prevention or if a man already has prostate cancer, improvement of health outcomes. Don’t let the thought of a vegetarian diet worry you. Any move you make in that direction is positive. Some men will go vegetarian overnight but more typically most move a few meals in that direction over time, especially if there is a genetic risk for developing prostate cancer. For example, spaghetti sauce that usually uses one pound of ground beef can be altered:

• Reduce to one-half pound beef with double the vegetables.
• Switch to ground turkey breast which has 0 grams saturated fat.
• Eliminate all meat and include extra vegetables.
• Replace all of the ground beef with frozen ground beef crumbles.