Scientists from the ibs.GRANADA find a possible relationship between the dietary pattern and the risk of prostate cancer

The study, published in the prestigious journal Cancers, shows that men with an unhealthy diet may have a higher risk of prostate cancer.

The research has been led by the research group E14-Preventive medicine and public health of the Biosanitary Research Institute of Granada (ibs.GRANADA) in collaboration with members of the group A17-cancer epidemiology and MP18-Uromet and Uro-oncology, also members of ibs.GRANADA. The study carried out evaluates the relationship between different types of dietary patterns including a pattern based on the Mediterranean diet, a western pattern and an unhealthy intermediate pattern with prostate cancer (CAP), concluding that the risk of developing prostate cancer is greater if the subject follows an unhealthy diet.

Prostate cancer is the most common first cancer in men and the fifth leading cause of cancer death among men, its etiology still being largely unknown. The most studied and established risk factors are advanced age, race, a family history of the disease and certain genetic polymorphisms, factors that cannot be modified. Therefore, it is necessary to identify potentially modifiable risk factors.

This group of scientists, members of ibs.GRANADA, and belonging to the University of Granada, the Andalusian Health Service and the Andalusian School of Public Health, have studied the dietary pattern of nearly half a thousand men with prostate cancer recruited at the Hospital Virgen de las Nieves University and the San Cecilio Clinical University Hospital for 4 years. There were three dietary patterns studied in this research carried out within the ibs.GRANADA, thanks to the financing of the project by the Ministry of Health and Consumption of the Junta de Andalucía (PI-0514-2016): i) an unhealthy diet based mainly on the consumption of pre-cooked foods, sauces, sugary products, sweets and other edible fats; ii) a western diet consisting of the majority consumption of red meat, processed meat, prepared food, sauces, alcohol, high-fat dairy products and refined cereals; and finally, iii) a Mediterranean diet pattern characterized by a high consumption of vegetables, roots and other vegetables, as well as fruits, white and blue fish, legumes, potatoes, nuts and eggs.

The results showed that men with high adherence to an unhealthy eating pattern had a higher risk of prostate cancer, especially for those cases of low aggressiveness (ISUP 1-2) in a phase of localized disease.

In conclusion, this study called CAPLIFE from ibs.GRANADA and the University of Granada, states that an unhealthy diet could be associated with a higher risk of developing prostate cancer. The importance of promoting the promotion of recommendations aimed at avoiding unhealthy dietary patterns is clear, for the benefit of the prevention of cancer and other pathologies such as cardiovascular diseases or diabetes, among others.

About the research group

The ibs.GRANADA “Preventive Medicine and Public Health” research group, whose lead researcher is José Juan Jiménez Moleón, focuses its research on learning about the epidemiology of the main current public health problems in the Spanish population, as well as their associated factors for the prevention and promotion of health, such as cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, as well as the epidemiology of traffic injuries.

More information about the group at

https://www.ibsgranada.es/grupos-de-investigacion/e14-medicina-preventiva-y-salud-publica/

Bibliographic reference:

Lozano-Lorca M, Rodríguez-González M, Salcedo-Bellido I, Vázquez-Alonso F, Arrabal M, Martín-Castaño B, Sánchez MJ, Jiménez-Moleón JJ, Olmedo-Requena R. Dietary Patterns and Prostate Cancer: CAPLIFE Study. Cancers (Basel). 2022 Jul 17;14(14):3475. doi: 10.3390/cancers14143475. PMID: 35884536; PMCID: PMC9316982.