If someone you know is at risk for developing prostate cancer, or already has the disease here’s some dietary recommendations from research on both sides of the Atlantic that will be of interest to you.
Drinking 8 ounces pf pomegranate juice has been shown to delay the progression of localized prostate cancers in a U.S. study.
What’s more, UK researchers found that a once daily dose of vitamin D may be an effective treatment for prostate caners in some patients.
The study conducted by U.S. researchers, including Stanford University urologist Allan Pantuck MD, was just presented at the American Urological Association’s 104th annual scientific meeting in Chicago.
In this work 48 men whose prostate cancer had been treated with either surgery or radiation therapy were asked to drink an 8 ounce glass of pomegranate juice each day.
Even after treatment for their cancer, like many men, these subjects continued to have detectable PSA levels.
When the study started in 2003, the subjects’ PSA, prostate specific antigen, a marker used to monitor this type of cancer, was doubling every 15 months. As the men drank the pomegranate juice each day, the time it took for PSA levels to double got longer.
When the study ended in 2006, the team continued to follow the patients every three months; by this time it was taking PSA scores four times as long to double as they had at the beginning of the study.
Important to know that the research was funded by the owners of POM Wonderful Co, the company that makes the pomegranate juice the men drank as part of the research. Five out of the six researchers involved in the study also disclose ties to the juice maker.
Medicine now recognizes that cancer-fighting substances are naturally a part of many foods, one of these being pomegranate juice.
The active chemicals, known as ellagitannins, are also found in fruits like strawberries, raspberries and muscadine grapes. The thinking is that when the juice is ingested the ellagitannins are released, turned into chemicals called urolithins that are able to fight prostate cancer and maybe other cancers too.
A 2007 study using specially made pomegranate extract which they fed to mice who’d had human tumors implanted in their little bodies, found that the juice caused the tumors to grow more slowly.
There’s also been a lot of interest in vitamin D and prostate cancer; this after some 2005 research suggested sun exposure may reduce prostate cancer risk.
UK researchers conducted a small-scale study that included 26 men with recurrent prostate cancer, each who took a daily dose of vitamin D.
Of the subjects in the research, five responded to the treatment… in two men PSA fell by more than half, in two others it dropped by 25-50% and in one man it went down by less than 25%. One subject was able to sustain the drop in PSA level for three years.
Researchers suspect that vitamin D, once inside the body, might interfere with the effect of the androgen receptor that’s stimulated by hormones (testosterone) and has been suspected as having a link to prostate cancer.
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Not One, But Two New Studies Suggest Ways To Lower Prostate Cancer PSA Levels continued…
Experts believe that the prostate gland uses vitamin D to help in the normal growth of prostate cells, and perhaps stop the invasion or spread of cancer cells all through the body.
Of course more work is needed, and men with prostate cancer are urged to talk with their doctor – before making any change to your diet or taking any type of supplement.
Adding a serving of fresh pomegranate juice to your menu once in a while certainly can’t hurt, and there are lots of natural ways, such as eating vitamin D rich foods and getting the right amount of sun exposure, that you can use to keep a good level of this essential vitamin in your body.
To your good health,
Kirsten Whittaker
Daily Health Bulletin Editor
