New Research Indicates Healthy Diet Reduces Risk of Cancer Progression in Men Undergoing Active Surveillance

Telling a patient with prostate cancer that the best option is no treatment can be a hard pill for some men to swallow even though new research published earlier this year in JAMA clearly confirms the efficacy of this protocol. Many men are worried about cancer progression even when their prostate cancer is slow moving and caught early. Helping these men get comfortable with the protocol is key. A great place to start is with diet.

New Study from Johns Hopkins

In a study recently published, researchers evaluated data from 886 men with an average age of 66 with grade group 1 prostate cancer, which is a slow-moving cancer with a low risk of metastasis. The Block 1998 Food Frequency Questionnaire was used to create a Healthy Eating Index (HEI) score that ranges from 0 to 100. The higher the number, the healthier the diet.

At the 6.5-year follow-up after diagnosis, 21 percent of the men had been reclassified to group 2 or greater with six percent of those having an extreme grade reclassification to group 2 or higher. Researchers found that for every 12.5-point increase in the HEI score there was about a 15 percent reduction in reclassification to group 2 or higher and a 30 percent reduction in reclassification to grade 3 or higher. The researchers concluded that a healthy diet could help reduce risk of cancer progression in this patient population.

The HEI measures adherence to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans which encourages consumption of nutrient dense foods such as vegetables, fruits, and whole grains while reducing consumption of added sugar, saturated fat, and sodium.

Research also indicates that the Mediterranean diet is associated with a lower risk of grade group progression in men undergoing active surveillance. A 2023 study also found that adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with less severe prostate cancer. The Mediterranean diet can not only help reduce the risk of cancer progression, it has also been shown to protect again prostate cancer development.

An Integrative Approach

This latest research confirms that counseling men undergoing active surveillance about diet may help improve outcomes and reduce risk of cancer progression. This is a foundational aspect of an integrative approach to support the active surveillance protocol. The integrative approach may also help men feel more empowered, less anxious, and more comfortable with the recommended active surveillance treatment strategy.