Plant-based diets have grown in popularity owing to multiple health and environmental benefits. Some evidence suggests that plant-based diets are associated with benefits for urological health. In genitourinary oncology, most research has focused on prostate cancer. Clinical trial results suggest a favourable influence of healthy lifestyle modifications including plant-based diets before and after prostate cancer treatment. Epidemiological evidence shows that a diet higher in plant-based and lower in animal-based food is associated with a lower risk of aggressive prostate cancer and better quality-of-life scores than a diet with less plant-based and more animal-based food. Studies on bladder and kidney cancer are scarce, but limited data suggest that vegetarian or plant-forward dietary patterns (increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and minimizing meat) are associated with a lower risk of development of these cancers than dietary patterns with fewer fruits and vegetables and more meat. With respect to benign urological conditions, epidemiological studies suggest that plant-based dietary patterns are associated with a lower risk of benign prostatic hyperplasia and urinary tract infections than non-plant-based dietary patterns. Compared with diets high in animal-based foods and low in plant-based foods, a substantial body of epidemiological evidence also suggests that increased consumption of healthy plant-based food is associated with a lower risk of erectile dysfunction. Plant-based dietary patterns that are high in fruits and vegetables with normal calcium intake, while limiting animal protein and salt, are associated with a lower risk of kidney stone development than dietary patterns that do not follow these parameters. Overall, increasing consumption of plant-based foods and reducing intake of animal-based foods has favourable associations with multiple urological conditions.
Nature reviews. Urology. 2024 Oct 07 [Epub ahead of print]
Stacy Loeb, James F Borin, Greeshma Venigalla, Manish Narasimman, Natasha Gupta, Alexander P Cole, Katherine Amin
Departments of Urology and Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA. ., Departments of Urology and Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA., Desai Sethi Urology Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA., Department of Urology and Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.