As you are preparing to be with family and enjoy delicious meals, the advice to avoid overeating foods high in fat is especially important.
Some nutritional studies are finding that a high-fat diet may fuel spread of prostate cancer. The impact of a man’s diet is another important clinical step in our understanding the causes of prostate cancer. A significant study published in Nature Genetic found, “an aberrant SREBP-dependent lipogenic program promotes metastatic prostate cancer.” This study suggests that dietary fat may feed prostate tumors and help them spread.
While we know that obesity has been linked to prostate cancer in some studies over the years, the exact reason has not been clear. We may be closer to an answer from the researchers Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. The study found that “when prostate cancers lose a particular gene, they become tiny fat factories.” The study, done on mice, found that without this gene, prostate cancer spread and metastasized when fed a high fat diet.
This preliminary finding suggested that dietary fat can fuel prostate cancer growth. The investigators also used an obesity drug that blocks fat production resulting in a regression of metastatic prostate cancer in mice.
While the many of the specific causes of developing prostate cancer are unknown and being researched, the categories of risk factors include:
- Genetics
- Heredity
- Hormonal influences
- Dietary issues
- Environmental factors
It is important to note that I and most experts agree – limiting your intake of sugar rich drinks and processed carbohydrates, and eating more fruits, vegetables, legumes, fiber-rich whole grains and “good” unsaturated fats is a good health decision.
