Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 18, 1995 TAG: 9510180077
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Switching to a low-fat diet can slow or reverse the growth of prostate cancer in animals, according to a new study of laboratory mice that harbored human cancers.
The study, by Dr. Yu Wang and colleagues at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, showed that tumor growth could be stymied by halving the animals' fat intake - to 21 percent or less of calories from fat, from about 40 percent.
The average American now consumes about 36 percent of daily calories from fat, but because calorie intake has increased, Americans now eat more fat than when 40 percent of their calories came from fat.
The animal findings, along with previous studies of prostate cancer and diet in various countries, suggest that men, including those who have already had prostate cancer, may be able to significantly reduce their chances of dying of this disease simply by modifying their diets.
The dietary changes suggested by this and previous research are also likely to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in American men.
Of greatest potential benefit, the various studies suggest, would be a major cutback in the consumption of red meat and other sources of saturated animal fats.
Another step believed to be beneficial would be regular consumption of soy protein, a staple in diets of the Far East, where the incidence of prostate cancer and heart disease is only a tiny fraction of what it is in the United States.
Prostate cancer, the most common cancer in the United States and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in American men, will be diagnosed in 244,000 men and will claim the lives of 40,400 men in this country this year, the American Cancer Society estimates. Death rates from prostate cancer, adjusted for age, have been rising steadily since 1930, and are especially high among American blacks.
In the United States the incidence of prostate cancer is 70 times as high among American blacks and 37 times as high among American whites as it is in China; and in Japan, the death rate from prostate cancer is less than a quarter of the U.S. rate.
While it is tempting to conclude that genetic factors may account for such differences, the fate of Japanese immigrants to the United States suggests that environment is more important. Among Japanese men in Japan, prostate cancer is diagnosed in about 8 men per 100,000. But in a study of Japanese men who migrated to Los Angeles, the rate rose to 30 per 100,000 in first-generation immigrants and to 34 per 100,000 in second-generation immigrants. Among white men in Los Angeles, the rate is 66 per 100,000.
by CNB