Purpose: A high fat diet and sedentary lifestyle may predispose men to pros
tate cancer through effects on serum factors such as hormones. We evaluated
the effects of a low fat, high fiber diet and exercise intervention on ser
um stimulated growth of established prostate cancer cell lines.
Materials and Methods: Fasting serum was obtained from 13 overweight men be
fore and after undergoing an 11-day low fat, high fiber diet and exercise i
ntervention. Serum was also obtained from 8 men who had complied with the r
egimen for a mean of 14.2 years. Hormone dependent LNCaP and independent PC
-3 prostate cancer cell lines were grown in culture medium containing 10% o
f subject pre-intervention or post-intervention serum and viable cells were
counted after 48 hours. Anthropometry, serum free testosterone, lipids and
glucose were measured in all subjects.
Results: Post-intervention serum from each of the 11-day intervention subje
cts reduced LNCaP cell growth by a mean of 30% compared with pre-interventi
on serum from each (p < 0.01). LNCaP cell growth in serum from long-term su
bjects was 15% below that of post-intervention serum (p < 0.01). There was
no difference in the growth of PC-3 cells when cultured with serum from eit
her intervention group. Serum free testosterone, body weight, glucose and l
ipids were significantly reduced in 11-day subjects.
Conclusions: A low fat, high fiber diet and exercise intervention resulted
in serum changes that significantly reduced the growth of androgen responsi
ve LNCaP prostate cancer cells in vitro.