Plant-based diets are increasingly popular and have many well-established benefits for health and environmental sustainability. Our objective was to perform a systematic review of plant-based diets and prostate cancer.
We performed a systematic database and citation search in February 2022. Studies were included if they reported primary data on plant-based dietary patterns (i.e., vegan, vegetarian, plant-based) and incidence among at-risk men for prostate cancer, or oncologic, general health/nutrition, or quality of life outcomes among patients with prostate cancer or caregivers.
A total of 32 publications were eligible for the qualitative synthesis, representing 5 interventional and 11 observational studies. Interventional studies primarily focused on lifestyle modification including plant-based diets for men on active surveillance for localized prostate cancer or with biochemical recurrence after treatment, showing improvements in short-term oncologic outcomes alongside improvements in general health and nutrition. Observational studies primarily focused on prostate cancer risk, showing either protective or null associations for plant-based dietary patterns. Studies of the vegan diet consistently showed favorable associations with risk and/or outcomes. Gaps in the current literature include impact for long-term disease-specific outcomes.
Interventional studies showed generally favorable results of lifestyle modifications incorporating a plant-based diet with prostate cancer outcomes as well as improvements in nutrition and general health. Observational studies demonstrated either a lower risk of prostate cancer or no significant difference. These results are encouraging in light of the many benefits of plant-based diets for overall health, as well as environmental sustainability and animal welfare.
Prostate cancer and prostatic diseases. 2022 Jul 05 [Epub ahead of print]
Natasha Gupta, Hiten D Patel, Jacob Taylor, James F Borin, Kenneth Jacobsohn, Stacey A Kenfield, Scott E Eggener, Carrie Price, Meena Davuluri, Nataliya Byrne, Trinity J Bivalacqua, Stacy Loeb
Department of Urology, NYU Langone Health and Manhattan Veterans Affairs, New York, NY, USA. ., Department of Urology, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL, USA., Department of Urology, NYU Langone Health and Manhattan Veterans Affairs, New York, NY, USA., Department of Urology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA., Departments of Urology and Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA., Section of Urology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA., Albert S. Cook Library, Towson University, Towson, MD, USA., Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA., Department of Urology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.