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In patients with low-grade prostate cancer, adhering to the recommended dietary guidelines may slow the risk of prostate cancer progression.
Following American dietary guideline recommendations may be linked with a lower risk of grade reclassification for patients with grade group (GG) 1 or greater prostate cancer undergoing active surveillance.
According to a study published in JAMA Oncology, 886 patients with prostate cancer who were in active surveillance were given a survey to identify their typical dietary patterns. At a median follow-up of 6.5 years, 187 patients had a grade reclassification of GG2 or greater, the study showed. Specifically, there were 132 patients with a grade reclassification of GG2 and 55 patients with an extreme grade reclassification of GG3 or greater.
Of note, patients with a higher baseline healthy eating index (HEI) and energy-adjusted HEI were associated with a significantly lower risk of extreme grade reclassification. However, researchers established that dietary inflammatory index (DII) and energy-adjusted DII were not associated with grade reclassification.
“In a prospective cohort study of men with GG1 prostate cancer undergoing active surveillance, we identified an inverse association between adherence to recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans,” wrote the researchers.
Grade group: a description of how likely the cancer will grow (progress), spread or respond to treatment. Patients with grade group 1 scores tend to have slower-growing cancer, whereas patients with group 5 scores have the fastest-growing cancer.
Active surveillance: monitoring the prostate cancer to ensure no growth. No cancer treatments are given during this time.
READ MORE: Treatment Side Effects, Quality of Life Factors in Prostate Cancer
Based on responses to the survey, the study researchers analyzed how patients’ dietary patterns adhered to the American dietary guideline recommendations. Types of food in line with the recommendations included nutrient-dense foods among basic food groups, such as grains, fruits and vegetables, milk and meat. The recommendations also emphasized limited intake of total and saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol, the study noted.
“The HEI is a validated measure of overall diet quality, quantifying how well an individual’s dietary pattern adheres to the recommendations of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans,” study lead author Dr. Zhuo Tony Su, said in a news release. “We looked at each patient’s HEI score — as calculated from their dietary information recorded at enrollment in our active surveillance program — and assessed whether men with a higher quality diet were less likely to experience grade reclassification in the years afterward.”
Su is a fifth-year resident at the Brady Urological Institute and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Researchers from the study also noted that their findings could be helpful for counseling patients who will undergo active surveillance following a desire to modify their behaviors.
“Many men diagnosed with low-grade prostate cancer are interested in changes they can make to reduce the risk of their tumor becoming more aggressive, and the role of diet and nutrition is one of the most commonly asked questions,” study co-senior author Bruce Trock said in a news release. “These men are motivated to make changes that may improve their prognosis, which is why we began collecting data on their diets, lifestyles and exposures 20 years ago. Hopefully, these latest findings will enable us to develop some concrete steps they can take to reduce the risk of cancer progression.”
Trock is a professor of urology, epidemiology and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and director of the Brady Urological Institute’s epidemiology division.
Reference:
“Diet Quality, Dietary Inflammatory Potential, and Risk of Prostate Cancer Grade Reclassification” by Dr. Zhuo Tony Su, et al., JAMA Oncology.
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