A new Spanish study determined that men who followed a Mediterranean diet, rich in fish, boiled potatoes, whole fruits, vegetables, legumes, and olive oil had lower risk of aggressive prostate cancer than those who followed other dietary patterns like Prudent or Western diets.
The results suggest that a diet oriented towards the prevention of aggressive prostate cancer should probably include important elements of the Mediterranean diet such as fish, legumes, and olive oil, and suggest that a high intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains might not be enough.
The authors explored the relationship between the risk of having prostate cancer and diet as part of a study involving 733 patients with confirmed cancer and 1,229 healthy men, average age 66, living in Spain.
Adherence to the three dietary patterns of Western, Prudent and Mediterranean, which reflect the dietary habits of the Spanish population, was evaluated. The Western pattern includes consumption of large amounts of fatty dairy products, refined grains, processed meat, caloric beverages, sweets, fast food, and sauces.
The Prudent pattern involves consumption of low-fat dairy products, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and juices.
Finally, the Mediterranean pattern consists of high consumption of fish, boiled potatoes, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and olive oil, and low consumption of juices.
The diets were graded according to the degree of adherence to each pattern and assigned to four quartiles from lower to higher adherence within each pattern.
Only a high adherence to Mediterranean dietary pattern appeared to be associated with a lower risk of aggressive prostate cancer.
Dietary recommendations should consider whole diet patterns instead of focusing on individual foods, the researchers noted.
Source: The Journal of Urology, February 2018.
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