Plant Based Food Reduce Risk of Aggressive Prostate Cancer

A latest study highlights the importance and need for including fruits, vegetables, herbs and tea to our diet. Plant based diet is so much better for one's health. Leaning more toward plant-based foods often means the diet is lower in saturated fat and cholesterol.

A study conducted by Susan Steck of Arnold Public Health finds that a high intake of flavonoids may lower the risk for highly aggressive prostate. Flavonoids are a group of compounds that are found in plants and they posse some powerful antioxidant properties which means they reduce inflammation, promote healthy arteries and help fight aging by preventing and repairing cellular damage. They also protect against dementia, Alzheimer's disease and some cancers.

"Incorporating more plant-based foods and beverages, such as fruits, vegetables, herbs and tea, into the diet may offer some protection against aggressive prostate cancer," said Steck, an associate professor at the Arnold School and an affiliated scholar with the Center for Research in Health Disparities.

"Filling your plate with flavonoid-rich foods is one behavior that can be changed to have a beneficial impact on health," she said.

 Prior to this the preclinical studies revealed the beneficial effects falvonoids have against prostate cancer. But a few studies have looked at the effect of flavonoids on prostate cancer in humans.

Prostate cancer is the most common cause of death from cancer in men over age 75. Prostate cancer is rarely found in men younger than 40. It starts in the prostate gland. Prostate cancer is less common in people who do not eat meat. The latest American Cancer Society estimates for 2012 prostate cancer in the United States suggests that about 241,740 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed and about 28,170 men will die of prostate cancer.  In fact, more than 2.5 million men in the United States who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point are still alive today.

For the study Steck and her colleagues worked on the data from 920 African American men and 977 white men in the North Carolina-Louisiana Prostrate Cancer Project. These were newly diagnosed with prostate cancer. These participants were asked to complete a self -reported dietary history questionnaire in order to assess flavonoid intake. This was measured using the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2011 Database for the Flavonoid Content of Selected Foods.

They noticed that men with highest total intake of flavonoids had a 25 percent lower risk for aggressive prostate cancer compared with those men with the lowest flavonoid intake.

"We found that higher total flavonoid intake was associated with reduced odds for aggressive prostate cancer in both African-American and European-American men, but no individual subclass of flavonoids appeared to be protective independently, suggesting that it is important to consume a variety of plant-based foods in the diet, rather than to focus on one specific type of flavonoid or flavonoid-rich food," Steck said.

Along with this the risk for aggressive prostate cancer was even lower in those men younger than 65 and in current smokers with the highest levels of flavonoid intake.

Focusing on the dietary questionnaire they noticed that citrus fruits and juices, such as oranges and grapefruits, tea, grapes, strawberries, onions and cooked greens were the top contributors to total flavonoid intake among the participants.

"The results support public health recommendations and guidelines from organizations such as the American Institute for Cancer Research to consume a more plant-based diet," Steck said. "In particular, consuming more flavonoid-rich foods may be beneficial for those people who are at increased risk for cancer, such as smokers."

Steck presented her findings at the International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.