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Originally Posted by alibabba
opped his PSA back to non-detectable levels for several years now! I know diet is very important and I am trying to abide. I have cut back a lot on my sugars and meat.... He told me that I had recurred it would be treated like a chronic disease and with any luck for many, many years....
David
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Hi David,
It looks like you are getting into the diet thing, and that should help, hopefully enough to spare you further treatment, but only time will tell. Your mention of Milken takes me back a few years. My urologist had take-home copies of a summary of Michael Milken's diet recommendations in his waiting back in early 2000 shortly after I had been diagnosed, and that was the first time I became aware of the likely serious link between diet and prostate cancer. He and his CapCure, now the Prostate Cancer Foundation, have done so much for fighting the disease, and he continues to play a very active role, giving the keynote address at a major conference of researchers just last fall!
Thanks for passing on the story of your doctor's patient's success with diet to counter his recurrence. That's encouraging!
The most recent book on diet and prostate cancer I know of - it's excellent - is the one by Dr. Charles Myers: "Beating Prostate Cancer - Hormonal Therapy & Diet." Dr. Myers has a gift for communicating in language and in a style and logic that is easy to understand, and that makes it a lot easier to apply the recommendations.
About meat per Dr. Myers: there's some fairly strong evidence that cutting out red meat (including pork) entirely is a good idea, due to its arachidonic acid, saturated fat, etc. However, cattle farmers would rightly claim that we haven't found the smoking gun yet. That noted, it's been a long time since I've enjoyed beef or pork, and I feel like we've seen the smoke and the gun but just haven't linked them up yet with enough research. On the other hand, poultry seems to be okay as the downside appears to be outweighed by benefit. I eat my share of chicken and turkey.
About sugar: a lot of sugar may not be good for general health due to calories, dental problems, etc., but it does not seem to stimulate prostate cancer. There are many alternative medicine fans who take it as an article of faith that it affects all cancers, but the evidence, at least for prostate cancer, is thin to non-existent. Dr. Myers calls the sugar - prostate cancer connection a myth. I just touched base by checking the Government website [url]www.pubmed.gov[/url] for "sucrose AND prostate cancer"; I was struck by how little research there was and how old it was, a sign that this is seen as an unproductive area by researchers. Along the same line, last fall the second (every ten years) edition of "Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective," was published by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research. Sugary drinks and foods containing sugars were two of the 61 foods tabulated against 18 different cancers, including prostate cancer. There was no notable evidence that sugary drinks affected any cancer, and there was only a "limited, suggestive increased risk" for "foods containing sugar" and colorectal cancer. That's a really weak record of activity compared to many other food items in the table. In contrast, there is fairly strong evidence that fruits, which of course contain fructose, have a favorable impact on a number of cancers and no negative impacts. As for beverages, there is also evidence that red wine is beneficial for prostate cancer (Concord grape juice too). It seems to me that patients who steer clear of fruit and wine because of sugar are not doing themselves a favor.
Speaking of low-key counters to a recurrence, have you talked to your doctor about taking either of the drugs finasteride or
Avodart? There is evidence that they alone can help some recurring patients, and I'm thinking that effect would be magnified by other nutritional tactics. It has now been persuasively established that the negative side effects of finasteride are mild or unnoticeable for the vast majority of us, and both drugs help some of us regrow hair in male-pattern-baldness areas.
I like that line about turning a recurring case into a chronic disease. That's what I'm shooting for!
Take care and good luck,
Jim
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