Men on cholesterol drugs have lower risk of prostate cancer

URO TODAY: Statin use is associated with a decreased risk of prostate cancer diagnosis, a survey of nearly 2500 men found. READ MORE>

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Get your cholesterol down if you want to avoid high-risk prostate cancer, another study finds

URO TODAY: Cholesterol levels and prostate cancer definitely seem to be connected, a new study at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore has revealed. READ MORE>

Our study supports two prior ones suggesting that cholesterol influences risk of high-grade prostate cancer, and indirectly supports the hypothesis that cholesterol-lowering is a mechanism by which statins are protective.

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To people unlikely to be reading this – 20-year-olds – get exercise and you may avoid prostate cancer

NEW PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK: If today’s 20-year-olds maintain a regular pattern of exercise throughout their lives, they will reduce their risks for all sorts of problems that are common in society today — prostate cancer included. READ MORE>

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Don’t wash sun-sourced Vitamin D off in the shower, says prostate cancer scientist

JULY 28: PROSTABLOG NZ: When you go out into the sun and get all that beneficial Vitamin D on your skin – don’t go home and wash it off in the shower, says top NZ immunology scientist Dr Richard Forster.

Dr Forster – who is working with eminent colleague Dr Jim Watson on treatment for advanced prostate cancer that harnesses the body’s immune system – says lack of Vitamin D (from the sun) is linked to prostate cancer.

Men have more chance of contracting the disease the further away they live from the Equator.

We must get some sun exposure every day, if we can manage it, and ensure we don’t wash it off before the Vitamin D is absorbed, he told the Prostate Cancer Foundation of NZ annual conference in Napier last weekend. Absorption takes time.

Watch this website for a full report soon of what the two scientists say about avoiding and treating prostate cancer.

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Soy in research news again as possible protection against prostate cancer

JULY 26: URO TODAY:  High intake of secondary vegetable substances found in soy, called isoflavones, may protect against prostate cancer, according to findings in a study of multi-ethnic populations in California and Hawaii. READ MORE>

Phytoestrogens (or dietary estrogens) are of special interest in prostate cancer research, say the researchers at the University of Hawaii.

That’s because populations in Asia with a high consumption of phytoestrogens have a lower incidence of the disease than comparable populations in Western countries.

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PROSTATE RISK: Columnist may be right in linking prostate cancer with folic acid

JUNE 29: PROSTABLOG NZ: Is NZ Herald columnist Deborah Coddington right when she warns of a prostate cancer risk from the mandatory addition of folic acid to bread?

In her column today, titled Spoonful of meddling helps the medicine go down, she writes:

The New Zealand Food Safety Authority warns we won’t know the effect of this for at least another generation, but studies are looking at links between excess folic acid and colon and prostate cancer.

A read of the authority’s website shows the risk appears to be insignificant, if a 274-page Food Standards Australia New Zealand report called FINAL ASSESSMENT REPORT, PROPOSAL P295, Consideration of Mandatory Fortification with Folic Acid, dated October, 2006, is anything to go by. It says, in part:

One trial and three cohort studies found no significant association between serum folate levels and incidence of prostate cancer.  A large Swedish study, however, did observe a significant association between higher serum folate levels and increased risk of prostate cancer but only among study participants with a particular genetic make-up.  In this study, ‘higher’ folate levels were below the pre-voluntary fortification mean in a Perth cohort.

Based on these findings, and the lack of intake studies, the evidence base is not sufficient to draw a conclusion about the relationship of folic acid and increased risk of prostate cancer.

…

The results of more recent studies on the incidence of all cancers and cancer of the prostate, breast and colorectum do not alter the conclusion reached in earlier reviews (SACN, 2004; SACN, 2005; Sanjoaquin et al., 2005e) that there is no apparent increase in risk associated with higher folic acid intakes for the population as a whole.  Many of the studies suggest that some reduction in cancer risk might occur, however, most of these are observational and so might be affected by uncontrolled confounding factors.

…

[Following analysis of a number of studies]…In summary, the only study with intakes that are relevant for consideration to mandatory fortification reported a non-significant 11% increase in risk; the serum studies all report a non-significant associations ranging from a 15% decrease to a 20% increase in risk with higher levels.  Given this, and lack of intake studies, the evidence base is not sufficient to allow a conclusion to be drawn regarding the relationship of folic acid to the incidence of prostate cancer.

But, the March 10, 2009, issue of the US Journal of the National Cancer Institute was widely reported for this publication:

Data regarding the association between folate status and risk of prostate cancer are sparse and conflicting.

We studied prostate cancer occurrence in the Aspirin/Folate Polyp Prevention Study, a placebo-controlled randomized trial of aspirin and folic acid supplementation for the chemoprevention of colorectal adenomas conducted between July 6, 1994, and December 31, 2006. Participants were followed for up to 10.8 (median = 7.0, interquartile range = 6.0–7.8) years and asked periodically to report all illnesses and hospitalizations.

Aspirin alone had no statistically significant effect on prostate cancer incidence, but there were marked differences according to folic acid treatment. Among the 643 men who were randomly assigned to placebo or supplementation with folic acid, the estimated probability of being diagnosed with prostate cancer over a 10-year period was 9.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 6.5% to 14.5%) in the folic acid group and 3.3% (95% CI = 1.7% to 6.4%) in the placebo group (age-adjusted hazard ratio = 2.63, 95% CI = 1.23 to 5.65, Wald test P = .01).

In contrast, baseline dietary folate intake and plasma folate in non-multivitamin users were inversely associated with risk of prostate cancer, although these associations did not attain statistical significance in adjusted analyses.

These findings highlight the potential complex role of folate in prostate cancer and the possibly different effects of folic acid–containing supplements vs natural sources of folate.

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PROSTATE CLAIM: Much more evidence needed to prove green tea prevents cancer

JUNE 23: NEW PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK: A lot more evidence is needed – specifically including randomised, double-blind, controlled trials – to prove a substance found in green tea, Polyphenon E, prevents prostate cancer. READ MORE>

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PROSTATE PREVENTION: Study shows plant proteins have anti-cancer role

JUNE 10: URO TODAY: Research results suggest that Type I ribosome-inactivating proteins derived from plants are histone deacetylase-1 inhibitors that can be utilised in the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer. READ MORE>

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PROSTATE DIET: Cut out red meat and fat to avoid, treat cancer

JUNE 5: UPI.COM: A diet low in fat and red meat and high in produce may be beneficial in preventing and treating prostate cancer, say researchers in Australia. READ MORE>

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PROSTATE RISK: Exercise in youth wards off prostate cancer in black men

JUNE 3: MEDSCAPE TODAY: Moderate to vigorous physical activity during young adulthood may help offset the increased risk for prostate cancer in black men, according to a study presented here at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine. READ MORE>

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