Mens Health
Low Cholesterol May Reduce Risk For High-grade Prostate Cancer
Men with lower cholesterol are less likely than those with higher levels to develop high-grade prostate cancer, an aggressive form of the disease with a poorer prognosis, according to results of an important Johns Hopkins collaborative study.
In a prospective study of more than 5,000 U.S. men, epidemiologists say they now have evidence that having lower levels of heart-clogging fat may cut a man's risk of this form of cancer by nearly 60 percent.
"For many reasons, we know that it's good to have a cholesterol level within the normal range. Now, we have more evidence that among the benefits of low cholesterol may be a lower risk for potentially deadly prostate cancers." reported the researchers.
As a reference, the normal range is defined as less than 200 mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter of blood) of total cholesterol.
The researchers found similar results in a study first published in 2008, and in 2006, they linked use of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs to lower risk of advanced prostate cancer.
For the current study, researchers from the Southwest Oncology Group and other collaborators analyzed data from 5,586 men aged 55 and older enrolled in the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial from 1993 to 1996. Some 1,251 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer during the study period.
Men with cholesterol levels lower than 200 mg/dL had a 59 percent lower risk of developing high-grade prostate cancers, which tend to grow and spread rapidly. High-grade cancers are identified by a pathological ranking called the Gleason score. Scores at the highest end of the scale, between eight and 10, indicate cancers considered the most worrisome to pathologists who examine samples of the diseased prostate under the microscope.
In this new study, cholesterol levels had no significant effect on the entire spectrum of prostate cancer incidence, only those that were high-grade.
While the team took into account factors that could bias the results, such as smoking history, weight, family history of prostate cancer, and dietary cholesterol, other things could have affected their results. One example is whether men in the study were taking cholesterol-lowering drugs at the time of the blood collections, a data point the researchers expect to analyze soon.
Results of the current study are expected to be published online this month in the Journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. Also in the journal is an accompanying paper from the National Cancer Institute showing that lower cholesterol in men conferred a 15 percent decrease in overall cancer cases.
"Cholesterol may affect cancer cells at a level where it influences key signaling pathways controlling cell survival. Cancer cells use these survival pathways to evade the normal cycle of cell life and death." explained the researchers.
Targeting cholesterol metabolism may be one route to treating and preventing the disease, but this remains to be tested.
Funding for the study was provided by the National Cancer Institute.
Regular Coffee Consumption Associated With Reduced Risk of Advanced Prostate Cancer
While it is too early for physicians to start advising their male patients to take up the habit of regular coffee drinking, data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference revealed a strong inverse association between coffee consumption and the risk of lethal and advanced prostate cancers.
Coffee has effects on insulin and glucose metabolism as well as sex hormone levels. Each play a role in prostate cancer leading researchers to investigate if there may be an association between coffee and prostate cancer.
In a prospective study conducted at Channing Laboratory, Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, a team of researchers found that men who drank the most coffee had a 60 percent lower risk of aggressive prostate cancer than men who did not drink any coffee. The team specifically looked at different types of prostate cancer, such as advanced vs. localized cancers or high-grade vs. low-grade cancers.
Caffeine is actually not the key factor in this association, according to the researchers. They are unsure which components of the beverage are most important; Coffee contains many biologically-active compounds including antioxidants and minerals.
Using the Health Professionals' Follow-Up Study, the researchers documented the regular and decaffeinated coffee intake of nearly 50,000 men every four years from 1986 to 2006; 4,975 of these men developed prostate cancer over that time. They also examined the cross-sectional association between coffee consumption and levels of circulating hormones in blood samples collected from a subset of men in the cohort.
"Very few lifestyle factors have been consistently associated with prostate cancer risk, especially with risk of aggressive disease, so it would be very important if this association is confirmed in other studies. Our results do suggest there is no reason to stop drinking coffee out of any concern about prostate cancer." concluded the researchers.
This association might also help understand the biology of prostate cancer and possible chemo-prevention measures.
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Green Tea May Slow Prostate Cancer Progression
According to results of a study published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, men with prostate cancer who consumed the active compounds in green tea demonstrated a significant reduction in serum markers predictive of prostate cancer progression.
Green tea is the second most popular drink in the world, and some epidemiological studies have shown health benefits with green tea, including a reduced incidence of prostate cancer; However, some human trials have found contradictory results. The few trials conducted to date have evaluated the clinical efficacy of green tea consumption and few studies have evaluated the change in biomarkers, which might predict disease progression.
Researchers at Feist-Weiller Cancer Center, LSU Health Sciences Center-Shreveport, conducted this clinical trial to determine the effects of short-term supplementation with green tea's active compounds on serum biomarkers in patients with prostate cancer. The biomarkers include hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and prostate specific antigen (PSA). HGF and VEGF are good prognostic indicators of metastatic disease.
The study included 26 men, aged 41 to 72 years, diagnosed with prostate cancer and scheduled for radical prostatectomy. Patients consumed four capsules of a high-concentrate Green Tea supplement until the day before surgery; four capsules are equivalent to about 12 cups of normally brewed concentrated green tea, according to the researchers. The time of study for 25 of the 26 patients ranged from 12 days to 73 days, with a median time of 34.5 days.
Findings showed a significant reduction in serum levels of HGF, VEGF and PSA after treatment, with some patients demonstrating reductions in levels of greater than 30 percent, according to the researchers.
Results of a recent year-long clinical trial conduced by researchers in Italy demonstrated that consumption of green tea polyphenols reduced the risk of developing prostate cancer in men with high-grade prostate intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN).
These studies are just the beginning and a lot of work remains to be done, however, the use of tea polyphenols alone or in combination with other compounds currently used for cancer therapy should be explored as an approach to prevent cancer progression and recurrence. Other scientists believe the reduced serum biomarkers of prostate cancer may be attributable to some sort of benefit relating to green tea components.
In collaboration with Columbia University in New York City, the researchers are currently conducting a comparable trial among patients with breast cancer. They also plan to conduct further studies to identify the factors that could explain why some patients responded more dramatically to Polyphenon E than others. Additional controlled clinical trials are being planned to see if combinations of different plant polyphenols were more effective than Polyphenon E alone.
According the leading researchers, there is reasonably good evidence that many cancers are preventable, and our studies using plant-derived substances support the idea that plant compounds found in a healthy diet can play a role in preventing cancer development and progression.
Magnesium Benefits Male Heart Health
One of The Key Minerals Recommended For Maintaining Cardiovascular Health, Increased Intakes of Magnesium May Reduce the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) In Men, But the Evidence Is Lacking for Women, Says a New Review.
The essential mineral Magnesium is readily recognized in more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body, and toxicity issues being rare "oral magnesium supplementation is recommended", conclude researchers from Brigham Young University in this month's issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.
"At this time, research is inadequate to prove that oral magnesium intake decreases the future risk of CHD development; but, in the meantime, maintaining a high normal serum magnesium level has been shown to have very few side-effects and is clearly beneficial after the diagnosis of CHD to prevent further complications of heart disease,"
Dietary sources of Magnesium include green, leafy vegetables, meats, starches, grains and nuts, and milk. Earlier dietary surveys show that a large portion of adults does not meet the RDA for Magnesium (320 mg minimum per day for women and 420 mg minimum per day for men).
Magnesium has been highlighted as an important to watch for 2010, especially the key cardiovascular benefits of the mineral.
The new report, World Nutraceutical Ingredients, included Magnesium as one of the minerals with fastest growth, along with calcium. Other fact growing ingredients included soy proteins and isoflavones, psyllium and resistant maltodextrin fibres, omega-3 fatty acids, probiotics, and carotenoids.
Review details
The Utah-based scientists searched the literature and found six randomized control clinical trials (RCT) and prospective studies that met their specific criteria. Magnesium doses used in the studies ranged from 130 to 800 milligrams of magnesium per day.
None of the studies reported any adverse effects from magnesium supplementation.
Beyond the heart health benefits
Looking objectively, the researchers also noted that "magnesium may be helpful for other disease states", including a reduction in the risk of stroke, improved skeletal growth and development, and a reduced risk of pre-eclampsia in women.
"Because magnesium is relatively safe, affordable, and vital for many functions in the body, oral magnesium supplementation is recommended," they wrote. "Overall, studies suggest that additional research is needed to better explain the association between blood magnesium levels, dietary magnesium intake, and the risk of CHD development," they concluded.
Source: Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners December 2009, "Oral magnesium supplementation in adults with coronary heart disease or coronary heart disease risk"
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Fats of Any Kind May Boost Prostate Cancer Risk According to New Study
Increased intakes of fats, from saturated to polyunsaturated fats, may increase the risk of prostate cancer, reports a new study.
The role of diet in prostate cancer development is not fully understood with some studies reporting a link between dairy and an increased risk of prostate cancer. The new study, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, indicates that fat intake, of any kind, may also be a major risk factor for the development of prostate tumors.
According to the European School of Oncology, over half a million news cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed every year world wide, and the cancer is the direct cause of over 200,000 deaths. More worryingly, the incidence of the disease is increasing with a rise of 1.7 per cent over 15 years.
The new study from University of Nottingham Medical School and based in the England, looked at dietary intakes of 512 men with prostate cancer, and 838 healthy controls.
Diets were measured using a food frequency questionnaire, and data showed that the highest average intakes of total fat was associated with 153 per cent increase in prostate cancer, versus the lowest average intakes. Similar trends were observed for saturated fat, monounsaturated fats, and polyunsaturated fats.
"There was a positive statistically significant association between prostate cancer risk and energy-adjusted intake of total fat and fat subtypes," wrote the researchers.
"These results potentially identify a modifiable risk factor for early-onset prostate cancer," they added.
Last year, a study from Harvard reported that increased intakes of trans-fatty acids may increase the risk of non-aggressive prostate tumors by about 100 per cent.
Writing in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, the Boston-based researchers found that the highest blood levels of trans oleic acid and linoleic acids were associated with a 116 and 97 per cent increase in the risk of non-aggressive prostate tumors, respectively, compared to the lowest levels. The study followed almost 15,000 men over 13 years.
Source: British Journal of Nutrition Published online "Dietary fat and early-onset prostate cancer risk"
