Plenty of fish helps cut prostate cancer mortality

October 12, 2010 in Cancer Prevention, Nutrition Topics in the News

Plenty of fish helps cut prostate cancer mortality
Eating plenty of fish may not protect men from developing prostate cancer, but it could reduce their risk of dying from the disease, a new review of the medical literature suggests.

To investigate, researchers analyzed 31 studies including hundreds of thousands of patients, reporting their findings in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Seventeen of the studies were case-control, meaning they compared eating patterns among people with prostate cancer and matched controls without the disease.

The remaining 14 studies were cohort studies, which followed men over time and compared diets of those who developed prostate cancer to the diets of the men who remained free from the disease.

Overall, researchers found no link between eating lots of fish and men's risk of developing prostate cancer.

However, they did find that men who ate more fish were 44 percent less likely to develop metastatic prostate cancer, meaning disease that had spread beyond the prostate gland.

Higher fish consumption also was associated with a 63 percent lower risk of dying from prostate cancer.

Given that the studies included in their analysis used a number of different measurements of fish intake, it's impossible to say how much fish one would need to eat in order to get a protective effect. 

However most healthy eating recommendations, including those from Health Canada, suggest Canadians eat fish at least twice per week.

According to Prostate Cancer Canada, prostate cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian men, affecting one in six Canadian males.

For more information on the disease, click here.

All research on this web site is the property of Leslie Beck Nutrition Consulting Inc. and is protected by copyright. Keep in mind that research on these matters continues daily and is subject to change. The information presented is not intended as a substitute for medical treatment. It is intended to provide ongoing support of your healthy lifestyle practices.