Q&A with UCSF professor June M. Chan, ScD, on Diet and Lifestyle

In your research, what compelling diet or lifestyle connections have you observed?

Our research indicates that several of the same behavior practices that protect against heart disease and diabetes may also ward off aggressive prostate cancer.  Eating more fish and certain vegetables, and less saturated fat or processed meat may offer benefit. Also, exercising vigorously for 3 hours or more per week was associated with about a 60% lower risk of prostate cancer death.  We observed a similar reduction in risk of recurrence in a different population for walking briskly 3 hrs/week.  These findings have spurred further research into the benefits of exercise among men with prostate cancer.  We now have 3 clinical trials open at UCSF investigating different aspects of exercise among men with different stages of prostate cancer.

Many of the diet and lifestyle recommendations - exercising, eating more vegetables and less processed meat - seem to apply to overall health. How is prostate health specifically connected?

We think that diet and exercise have both systemic and local effects on prostate cancer to influence risk of disease progression.  Eating healthy, maintaining a normal weight, and exercising regularly offer benefit to many body systems that play a role in multiple chronic diseases.  Diet and exercise exert influence on immune function, insulin sensitivity, inflammation, and antioxidant defense systems, all of which may affect heart disease as well as cancer risk.

The link between processed meat and cancer has been in the news recently. What are the prostate-cancer-specific effects of processed meat?

Recently, the World Health Organization classified processed meat as cancer-causing, or as “carcinogenic to humans”.  This was primarily based on the strong and consistent evidence linking processed meat to risk of colorectal cancer.  Cooking meat at high temperature may generate compounds that contribute to cancer risk, but this relationship is is not yet fully understood. In the same report, red meat was deemed to be “probably carcinogenic to humans” and was again based primarily on the data for colorectal cancer, although red meat was also mentioned to be linked to both prostate and pancreatic cancers, though there are less data on these relationships. 

How do you see your research affecting prostate cancer treatment and management in the future?

The goals of our research include:  Rigorously evaluating if change in behavioral practices improves prostate cancer outcomes; developing, testing, and disseminating evidence-based lifestyle recommendations and tools to optimize cancer survivorship; and identifying modifiable risk factors for cancer progression and biological mechanisms underlying such associations.

We strive to create a solid evidence base on the potential benefits of lifestyle practices to complement standard therapies to reduce the risk of clinically important prostate cancer or prostate cancer death.  One of our recent studies indicated that 47% of lethal prostate cancer could be prevented in the US if men over 60 practiced 5 or 6 specific healthy habits related to diet, exercise, and weight maintenance.

Prostate 8 is one of the first studies to rigorously evaluate if a contemporary novel web-based interactive educational platform will help men make lifestyle changes that could improve their risk of cancer progression.

What are some diet or lifestyle modifications that someone could begin today?

Take a brisk walk or jog, eat some broccoli roasted in olive oil, enjoy a nice piece of roasted salmon. Please see the Prostate 8 recipes for more of our favorites.