A healthy diet can prevent prostate cancer from becoming more deadly, a groundbreaking study has proven for the first time.
The results of the 12-year study of nearly 1,000 people with the disease open the door to a precise diet plan to combat the disease.
The breakthrough comes after Olympic legend Sir Chris Hoy revealed last week that his prostate cancer was terminal.
Dr. Christian Pavlovich, professor of urology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, said: ‘We believe ours is the first to provide statistically significant evidence that a healthy diet is associated with a reduction in the risk of prostate cancer developing into a higher level. group.’
Prostate cancer patients are given a number between one and five, with one indicating ‘indolent’ cells that do not spread to other parts of the body, while ‘five’ is the most serious.
Olympic legend Sir Chris Hoy revealed last week that his prostate cancer was terminal
Sir Chris Hoy celebrates on the podium after winning a gold medal at London 2012
A healthy diet can stop prostate cancer from becoming more deadly, a groundbreaking study has proven for the first time (stock photo)
Biopsies are performed regularly to determine if the cancer has progressed to a higher grade.
The peer-reviewed study led by Johns Hopkins Medicine, published in the JAMA Oncology journal, examined the diets of 886 patients with grade one prostate cancer between January 2005 and February 2017.
The team examined patients’ diets and scored them on the Healthy Eating Index (HEI).
Six and a half years later, they found that 187 men, or 21 percent of the study, had been reclassified into group two, while six percent were in group three or higher.
Researchers found that those with a better diet had significantly reduced risk of a more severe form of low-grade prostate cancer, and each 12.5-point increase in their HOI score was associated with a 15 percent reduction in reclassification to grade two , and a 30 percent reduction to grade three or higher.
Study co-author Bruce Trock, professor of urology, epidemiology and oncology at Johns Hopkins, said: ‘Hopefully these latest findings will allow us to develop some concrete steps they can take to reduce the risk of cancer progression.’
