Post-diagnostic diet and the risk of prostate cancer recurrence and mortality: Health Professionals Follow-up Study JM Chan, MF Leitzman, MJ Stampfer, EB Rimm, WC Willett, E Giovannucci. Departments of Epidemiology/Biostatistics and Urology, University of California San Francisco; Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health; National Cancer Institute. Background: In the U.S., there are 1.5 million men living with prostate cancer who are at risk for recurrence and prostate cancer death. To date, observational epidemiologic studies have identified several nutritional risk factors for incident prostate cancer, yet there is limited data on the effects of post-diagnostic diet and the risk of prostate cancer recurrence and mortality. Aims: We examined changes between pre- and post-diagnostic diet and their effects on risk of prostate cancer recurrence and mortality among incident prostate cancer cases in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Methods: The Health Professionals Follow-up Study is an ongoing cohort of 51,529 men who were enrolled in 1986 and who complete periodic diet/lifestyle surveys. For this investigation, we collected post-diagnostic disease follow-up on incident prostate cancer cases, diagnosed between 1986 and 1996 in this cohort. Disease follow-up consisted of participant self-reports, questionnaires completed by the participants' treating physicians, medical chart review, and queries to the National Death Index. The participants completed a baseline dietary survey in 1986 and at least one additional dietary survey after their date of diagnosis. With this prospective data, we examined associations between dietary changes and risk of prostate cancer recurrence and mortality using Cox Proportional Hazard regression models. Multivariate models were adjusted for overall food consumption, diagnostic age, tumor stage, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, and Gleason score; recurrence analyses were also adjusted for treatment. We examined changes in intake of meat, fish, milk, grains, fruits, and vegetables (including a specific group for tomato-derived foods). Results: Among 1,547 incident prostate cancer cases diagnosed between 1986 and 1996, 121 prostate cancer deaths occurred through August 2000. Among 691 men with incident prostate cancer who were alive in 2000 and returned disease follow-up data, 178 men experienced a recurrence between 1986 and 2000. The average follow-up time was 51.6 months among men who experienced recurrence, and 89.8 months among men who did not. Change in pre- vs. post-diagnostic intake of different food groups was not statistically significantly associated with the risk of prostate cancer recurrence, but was associated with risk of prostate cancer mortality. Increasing post-diagnostic intake of fish (by 1 or more servings/week), grains (by half or more servings/day), and vegetables (by half or more servings/day) was associated with statistically significant reductions in risk of prostate cancer mortality, compared to no change or decreasing consumption (RR=0.49, p-value=0.03 for fish; RR=0.57, p-value=0.008 for grains; RR=0.63, p-value=0.04 for vegetables). There was no association for increasing or decreasing intake of meat, milk, or fruits after diagnosis relative to before. Conclusions: These prospective data suggest that changing one's diet after a diagnosis of prostate cancer may have beneficial effects, independent of baseline clinical parameters. In particular, consuming more fish, vegetables, and grains after diagnosis was associated with reduced risk of prostate cancer mortality. This finding warrants further detailed study in a larger sample of men. AACR Abstract Number: LB-244, 2003 Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.