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 06 July 2008 15:36 BST

Low-fat diets prevent prostate cancer in mice

Thursday, 15 May 2008 05:15
Omega-6 fatty acids are found in high levels in baked and fried goods

Health In Focus 

Reducing intake of the type of fat common in a western diet helps prevent prostate cancer, scientists have found in tests on mice.

The team from University of California, Los Angeles, say the discovery is important as it is the first of its kind in a mouse model that closely mimics human cancer.

They are now carrying out similar trials in men to see if the dietary changes have the same effect in humans.

They focused on fat from corn oil, which is made up primarily of omega-6 fatty acids (polyunsaturated) and is found in high levels in baked and fried goods.

One group of mice was fed a diet with about 40 per cent of calories coming from fat, a percentage the researchers say is typical in men eating a western diet.

The other group was fed 12 per cent of their calories from fat, which is considered to be a very low fat diet.

The findings, published in the journal Cancer Research, revealed more than a quarter (27 per cent) reduction in incidence of prostate cancer in the low-fat diet group.

Cells in the prostate that were pre-cancerous or would soon become cancer were growing much more slowly than those in the high-fat group.

The researchers also found that mice on the low-fat diet had higher levels of a protein in their bloodstreams that binds to insulin like growth factor, which spurs prostate cancer growth.

The study suggests that lowering dietary fat and increasing levels of the binding protein slows prostate cancer development by cutting off the growth factor that allows prostate cancer to thrive.

"We didn't know what to expect in terms of the role of reducing dietary fat in preventing prostate cancer," said study senior author William Aronson.

"We think this is an important finding and we are presently performing further studies in animal models and conducting clinical trials in men."

He added: "A low-fat, high-fibre diet combined with weight loss and exercise is well known to be healthy in terms of heart disease and is known to reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes, so that would be a healthy choice to make.

"Whether or not it will prevent prostate cancer in humans remains to be seen."
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