|
Diet and prostate cancer. |
After a diagnosis of prostate cancer it would be very wise to generally improve the diet. Along with other lifestyle issues such exercise and giving up smoking, scientific evidence has showed that a healthy diet is likely to help to:
In addition a healthy diet could help to improve the quality of life and reduce side effects during active cancer treatments by helping with specific symptoms such as weight gain, weight loss, nausea & poor appetite, diarrhoea, constipation, breathless, altered taste, and indigestion. Apart from these examples, however, for practical reasons, this section addresses people who do not have any or few restrictions on their diet after their diagnosis of cancer. Likewise it doesn’t address any pre-existing long standing dietary requirements. In general, therefore, it is probably not appropriate for patients with advanced cancer or those who’s tumours or treatments have affected their ability to eat or digest food. In these situation, patients should seek formal advice from qualified dieticians preferably those attached to a mainstream cancer unit.
In generally a healthy diet means:-
| What to less more of: | What to more less of: |
The individual elements in the headings above will provide specific details on why these measures which may help prostate cancer and how to change the diet accordingly. The following table provided a general overview which may act as an aid memoir.
|
FOOD |
ADVICE |
| Increase fibre | Cereals, linseeds, fresh or dried fruit, vegetables, all types of nuts and berries. |
|
Reduce saturated fats |
Avoid processed fatty foods, cream, fried
foods. Check serum cholesterol and discuss taking a statin if elevated. |
|
Reduce meat intake |
Use meat for its taste preferably not >once a day. Excess fat should be removed and be gently grilled rather than fried to further reduce the fat content and avoid burning. If extra oil needs to be used in cooking, use olive oil rather than animal fat. |
|
Increase healthy fats and all fish intake |
All fresh fish and omega 3 containing fruit such as avocado. The oily varieties of fish such as mackerel and sardines are good but may increase mercury toxin if taken for than 2 per week. Olive oils (and others rapeseed, soya, sunflower). Nuts – walnuts, almonds, brazil, peanut, pine, cashews, hazel and macadamia nuts. Seeds – dried pumpkin, sunflower and linseeds. Leafy green vegetables and hemp |
|
Reduce exposure to potential carcinogens |
Try to avoid heavily processed foods, which often contain high concentrations of fat, salt sugar and food additives. Avoid excessive processed salt and sugar; Apple juice or honey may be an alternative to processed sugar, avoid adding salt when cooking vegetables. Reducing the amount of time that vegetables are cooked should maintain the flavour. Wash salads and vegetables thoroughly to avoid pesticides and airborne chemicals which may have settled on them. Organic foods reduce the pesticide exposure further. Avoid excessive amounts of foods containing high levels of aromatic hydrocarbons and acrylamides such as smoked food or those associated with high temperature cooking processes such as deep fried foods, crisps, chips barbecued and heavily fried meats. |
|
Increase dietary selenium |
Brazil nuts, Sardines, Prawns. 60-75mcg/day. No more than 200mcg/day |
|
Avoid excessive calcium and Zinc |
Unless prescribed for other reasons avoid supplements which give more than 1500mg of calcium and 11mg zinc per day. |
|
Increase dietary vitamins |
Fresh fruit, raw and calciferous vegetables, grains, oily fish, nuts and salads. Unless you have diarrhoea try to increase the amount of ripe fruit you eat each day, ideally by eating the whole fruit. Freshly squeezed fruit juices are recommended. |
|
Polyphenols |
Onions, leeks, broccoli, blueberries, red wine, tea, apricots, chocolate. coffee, blueberries, kiwis, plums, cherries, ripe fruits. pomegranates, goji berries parsley, celery, tomatoes, mint, citrus fruit. |
|
Phytoestrogens |
Soybeans, other legumes, including peas, lentils, pinto (baked beans) and beans, nuts. |
|
Non-oestrogenic polyphenols |
Skin of colourful foods cherries, strawberries, tannins (red wine) blackcurrant, blackberries. Dates, cranberries, red grapes, white button mushrooms |
|
Lignans & Stilbens |
Flaxseed, linseeds, nuts, grains |
|
Increase carotenoids (lycopene) |
Tomatoes, tomato source, chilli, carrots, green vegetables, gratefruit and dark green salads. |
Further general information Your doctors and specialist nurses are in an ideal position to give you relevant information on your disease and treatment as they know your individual circumstances. Cancerbackup has a help line (0808 800 1234) and a prize winning video available in English, Italian, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati & Hindi explaining Radiotherapy & Chemotherapy. Cancernet.co.uk has over 500 pages describing cancer, its management, practical tips and tool which patients, their carers and their doctors have found helpful during the cancer journey.