While you’re undergoing prostate cancer treatment, there are foods you can eat — and others you should avoid — that can boost your health. Although there is no magic diet cure for prostate cancer, your eating habits can make a difference in your outlook.
“In all types of cancer, especially prostate cancer, a heart-healthy, reasonable, and low-sugar diet is extremely beneficial for cancer care,” says Mark Pomerantz, MD. He is a medical oncologist in the Genitourinary Oncology Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Prostate cancer treatments can affect metabolism (how food is converted into energy), strength and stamina, he says. When you eat foods that support your heart and improve your overall health, your body can handle these remedies better.
“Alongside exercise, a diet that helps you maintain a body as slim as possible is of great value and aids in our ability to treat advanced prostate cancer the way we want it to,” says Pomerantz.
Eat fruits and vegetables
A plate full of colorful fruits and vegetables raises your fiber and antioxidant levels. Both benefit cancer care.
The high fiber content in fruits and vegetables may help lower testosterone levels. This may be helpful because testosterone helps stimulate tumor growth. Fiber may also bind to carcinogens and remove them from your body.
Antioxidants help rid the body of free radicals – molecules that destroy your cells. It can affect the growth of cancer. A diet full of fruits and vegetables rich in antioxidants helps prevent free radicals.
Pomerantz says researchers are checking to see if certain antioxidants in supplement form, such as vitamin E and selenium, can actually increase the chances of prostate cancer in some people.
“There are hints that there is a subset of people with prostate cancer who benefit most from antioxidants, and there are others with a rare specific genetic variant who don’t,” says Pomerantz. “There are studies going on to see if we can tell exactly who fits in each category.”
Always consult your doctor before taking supplements.
Choose heart-healthy fats
The most common form of treatment for advanced prostate cancer is hormone therapy. It reduces the amount of testosterone in your body, which directly affects the amount of fat you gain and retain in your body.
“Testosterone is what gives men a favorable muscle-to-fat ratio,” says Pomerantz. “And when we get rid of this hormone, we put men at risk of losing muscle mass and gaining fat tissue, especially around the abdomen. This fatty tissue is linked to heart disease and diabetes.”
That’s why it’s especially important to stay away from high-fat options like red meat and dairy and get protein from heart-healthy sources like fish full of omega-3 fatty acids and plants.
Options include:
- fish like salmon
- Lean poultry
- nuts
- Bean
Avoid processed lunch meats with nitrates and charred meats, which have been linked to cancer.
Watch your sugar
Sugar may not cause or worsen cancer, but there is an indirect link between the two. So, while you don’t need to completely skip sugar, it’s still a good idea to keep your sugar levels low.
“When you change the sugar levels in the Petri dish, it definitely affects the cancer cells,” says Pomerantz. “What I’m not sure of is whether you can recreate these conditions in the same way within your body and influence the course of cancer.”
Foods that are high in sugar, such as cakes, cookies, and soft drinks, raise your calorie intake without much nutritional benefit. Eating a lot of sugar is a fast way to gain weight and excess body fat, which increases your risk of health problems and the chance of the cancer coming back.
Avoid alcohol
Alcohol is full of carbohydrates. When you drink a lot of it, you add sugar to your system. You may gain weight, which puts stress on your heart and can increase the chances of the cancer coming back.
Heavy drinking can also limit your doctor’s treatment options for you.
“Alcohol affects the liver,” says Pomerantz. “And many of the cancer drugs that we use are metabolized by the liver. When you put undue pressure on the liver, it can affect our ability to deliver certain drugs.”
Alcohol can also prevent your body from processing and absorbing some essential vitamins and nutrients.
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