THE "NEW" PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK

A new analysis of the available data suggests that while a diet high in fish may be able to limit risk of dying of prostate cancer, it has no evident effect on the risk of being diagnosed with this disease.

Szymanski et al. identified a total of 31 case control studies and care series involving hundreds of thousands of patients. They then conducted a meta-analysis of the relevant data from these studies, focusing on the incidence of prostate cancer, prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM) rates, race, fish type in the diet, method of fish preparation, and high-grade and high-stage cancer.

The results of this meta-analysis showed that:

• Fish consumption was not associated with a significant reduction in incidence of prostate cancer.
• It was not possible to perform a meta-analysis for high-grade, locally advanced, or metastatic disease.
• Men who ate more fish were 44 percent less likely to develop metastatic prostate cancer
• Fish consumption was associated with a 63 percent reduction in PCSM.

Additional commentary on this study appears in a Reuters report today. In that report, Szymanski is quoted as follows: “All we can say is eating more fish can have some benefit. How many servings of fish or how many grams needed a day, unfortunately we cannot say.”

Filed under: Diagnosis, Living with Prostate Cancer, Management, Prevention | Tagged: Diagnosis, diet, fish, metastasis, mortality, risk |