A new study presented during the Moderated Posted Sessions at the American Urological Association meeting in Chicago showed that lifestyle changes, including regular exercise and a low-fat diet, may slow, stop, or even reverse the progression of prostate cancer. We do not yet know what implications this may have for other cancers.

The study represents the first randomized, controlled clinical trial of the effect of lifestyle changes on the progression of prostate cancer, as measured by prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. Ninety men with biopsy-documented early prostate cancer who chose watchful waiting over conventional treatment for reasons unrelated to the study were randomized into either an intervention group or a control group.

"The patients in the intervention group were able to make comprehensive lifestyle changes for at least one year, and the results were consistent that this intervention may have stopped or perhaps reversed the progression of prostate cancer," said Dean Ornish, M.D., President and Director of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), who presented the study results.

The intervention included exercising (mostly walking) at least three hours

a week for 30 minutes per session; a strict low-fat vegetarian diet emphasizing unprocessed whole foods; and stress-management techniques that consisted of meditation, gentle stretching, breathing techniques, guided imagery, and progressive relaxation.

"After a year, PSA decreased 4 percent in the experimental group and rose 6 percent in the control group," Dr. Ornish said. The top one-third of the most compliant patients had 13% better PSA scores than the lowest third.

Adherence to the lifestyle interventions also correlated with inhibition of Lymph Node Carcinoma of the Prostate (LNCaP) cell growth across both groups by a factor of 7 to 1," he said. LNCaP cell growth was inhibited in 70 percent of patients in the experimental group versus 9 percent in the control group.

The UCSF researchers plan to continue to follow all the patients in their study to determine how many undergo conventional treatment and the rates of metastasis and survival.

1. The PSA is a blood test that indicates the level of activity or danger in prostate cancer. This is called a "marker", an indicator in blood or urine that provides a clue as to the activity inside the body.

As printed in the VHL Family Forum 11:2, June 2003. For permission to reprint, please contact VHL Family Alliance, editor@vhl.org.