A new study out of California has identified some practical steps that men can take to avoid developing prostate cancer, and all of them involve making simple dietary changes. Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) discovered that men who eat more nuts, seeds, avocados, and various other foods rich in healthy fats typically fare better than other men when it comes to prostate health, and are thus much less likely to develop prostate cancer.
Published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, the study looked at roughly 4,600 men who developed non-metastatic prostate cancer between 1986 and 2010. During this same timeframe, 1,064 of the men ended up dying, 31 percent due to cardiovascular disease, 21 percent due to prostate cancer, and another 21 percent due to other cancers. Each man's diet was also evaluated in conjunction with his health status.
After adjusting for outside factors like body mass index (BMI), smoking status, cholesterol buildup, and other health issues, the research team determined that men who ate more healthy fats were less likely to die from all causes. Men who replaced just 10 percent of their overall caloric intake with vegetable fats, it turns out, were nearly 30 percent less likely to develop lethal prostate cancer. These same men were about 26 percent less likely to die early from any cause.
"Consumption of healthy oils and nuts increases plasma antioxidants and reduces insulin and inflammation, which may deter prostate cancer progression," said Erin L. Richman, Sc.D., a post-doctoral scholar in the UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and lead author of the study, about the findings.
Healthy saturated fats necessary to avoid cancer, tooWhere the study gets things wrong, however, is in its exclusion of saturated fats, which it erroneously lumps in with trans fats as being "unhealthy." As more current scientific research shows, healthy saturated fats from pasture-raised, grass-fed animal meat and butter, as well as from coconut oil and other natural sources, is absolutely necessary for maintaining a healthy brain and heart, not to mention for preventing cancer.
A 1978 study published in the journal Federation Proceedings, for instance, reveals that excess consumption of vegetable fats, particularly at the exclusion of animal-based saturated fats, is a leading cause of both heart disease and cancer. Humans actually require more saturated fat from healthy sources than what is currently recommended, as the modern food supply is literally "saturated" with too many unhealthy, unsaturated vegetable oils and fats.
"Animal fats contain many nutrients that protect against cancer and heart disease," explains the traditional food advocacy group Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF). "[E]levated rates of cancer and heart disease are associated with consumption of large amounts of vegetable oils."
So men looking to avoid prostate and other forms of cancer would do best to ditch all the refined, inflammatory vegetable oils like canola and soy, both of which are genetically-modified (GM) in most cases, and stick with avocados, extra virgin olive oil, grass-fed and raw butter, and virgin coconut oil for their healthy fat intake. Though the mainstream authorities might object to this advice, as they still incorrectly pin all saturated fats as unhealthy, it is still the best advice for maintaining a healthy heart, healthy bones, strong immunity, robust cognitive acuity, and a balanced hormonal system.
As explained by WAPF, "nutrient-rich traditional fats (that) have nourished healthy population groups for thousands of years" include butter; tallow and suet from beef and lamb; lard from pigs; chicken, goose and duck fat; and coconut, palm and palm kernel oils. For salads, extra virgin olive oil; expeller-pressed sesame and peanut oils; and expeller-pressed flax oil are all great options. And fish liver oils like those from cod liver and skate are important for obtaining fat-soluble vitamins.
