foodconsumer.org: Low fat diet slows prostate cancer growth

Low fat diet slows prostate cancer growth
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admin on 12/10/2009 12:29:00
 
By David Liu
A new study published in Nov 2009 issue of Journal of Urology suggests that a
low fat diet may slow growth of prostate cancer.
Early studies proved that a high fat Western diet and sedentary lifestyle may
raise risk of prostate cancer through changes in serum hormones and growth
factors.
Aronson W. J.  of University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles and
colleagues examined the effect of a low fat diet on some biochemical factors
associated with prostate cancer growth.
The researchers enlisted 18 men with prostate cancer, who did not receive prior
therapy, and gave them a diet with low fat (15% kcal), high fiber, soy protein
supplemented or a Western diet with 40 percent kcal fat for a period of four
weeks.
They tested fasting serum collected before and after the intervention to measure
a series of factors including prostate cancer antigen, sex hormones, insulin,
insulin-like growth factor I and II, insulin-like growth factor binding
proteins, lipids and fatty acid profile.
They also cultured LNCaP cells (ATCC(R)) in medium with human serum collected
before and after intervention to examine the effect of the diet on prostate
cancer cell growth.
The researchers found the blood from men on the low fat diet significantly
decreased the growth of LNCaP cells compared to the blood from those on Western
diet even though there were no significant differences in serum prostate
specific antigen, sex hormones, insulin, insulin-like growth factor I and II,
and insulin-like growth factor binding proteins.
The slowed growth of LNCap cells was associated with increased omega-3 fatty
acid and decreased omega-6 fatty acids, Aronson and colleagues found.