Can diet in conjunction with stress reduction affect the rate of increase in prostate specific antigen after biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer?

Purpose: Epidemiological and laboratory evidence indicates that a Western d iet is associated with an increased incidence of prostate cancer. Specific components of the diet, such as high saturated fat, low fiber and high meat content, may have greatest clinical significance in the later stages of tu mor promotion and progression. However, departure from the conventional die t is difficult to initiate and maintain. Therefore, we combined the well-kn own Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program with a low saturated fat, high-fiber, plant-based diet to determine the effect on the rate of ch ange in prostate specific antigen (PSA) in patients with biochemical recurr ence after prostatectomy. Materials and Methods: We enrolled 10 men and their partners in a 4-month g roup-based diet and MBSR intervention. A pre-study post-study design in whi ch each subject served as his own control was used to compare the rate of i ncrease in and doubling time of PSA before and after intervention. Results: The rate of PSA increase decreased in 8 of 10 men, while 3 had a d ecrease in absolute PSA. Results of the signed rank test indicated a signif icant decrease in the rate of increase in the intervention period (p = 0.01 ). Estimated median doubling time increased from 6.5 months (95% confidence interval 3.7 to 10.1) before to 17.7 months (95% confidence interval 7.8 t o infinity) after the intervention. Conclusions: Our small study provides evidence that a plant-based diet deli vered in the context of MBSR decreases the rate of PSA increase and may slo w the rate of tumor progression in cases of biochemically recurrent prostat e cancer. Larger-scale randomized studies are warranted to explore further the preventive and therapeutic potential of diet and lifestyle modification in men with prostate cancer.