Are strict vegetarians protected against prostate cancer?
- PMID: 26561618
- PMCID: PMC4691666
- DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.114.106450
Are strict vegetarians protected against prostate cancer?
Abstract
Background: According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer accounts for ∼27% of all incident cancer cases among men and is the second most common (noncutaneous) cancer among men. The relation between diet and prostate cancer is still unclear. Because people do not consume individual foods but rather foods in combination, the assessment of dietary patterns may offer valuable information when determining associations between diet and prostate cancer risk.
Objective: This study aimed to examine the association between dietary patterns (nonvegetarian, lacto-ovo-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian, vegan, and semi-vegetarian) and prostate cancer incidence among 26,346 male participants of the Adventist Health Study-2.
Design: In this prospective cohort study, cancer cases were identified by matching to cancer registries. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed to estimate HRs by using age as the time variable.
Results: In total, 1079 incident prostate cancer cases were identified. Around 8% of the study population reported adherence to the vegan diet. Vegan diets showed a statistically significant protective association with prostate cancer risk (HR: 0.65; 95% CI: 0.49, 0.85). After stratifying by race, the statistically significant association with a vegan diet remained only for the whites (HR: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.46, 0.86), but the multivariate HR for black vegans showed a similar but nonsignificant point estimate (HR: 0.69; 95% CI: 0.41, 1.18).
Conclusion: Vegan diets may confer a lower risk of prostate cancer. This lower estimated risk is seen in both white and black vegan subjects, although in the latter, the CI is wider and includes the null.
Keywords: Adventist; cancer; diet; prostate; vegan.
© 2016 American Society for Nutrition.
Similar articles
-
Vegetarian diets and incidence of diabetes in the Adventist Health Study-2.Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2013 Apr;23(4):292-9. doi: 10.1016/j.numecd.2011.07.004. Epub 2011 Oct 7. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2013. PMID: 21983060 Free PMC article.
-
Vegetarian diets and the incidence of cancer in a low-risk population.Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2013 Feb;22(2):286-94. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-12-1060. Epub 2012 Nov 20. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2013. PMID: 23169929 Free PMC article.
-
Association between vegetarian diets and cardiovascular risk factors in non-Hispanic white participants of the Adventist Health Study-2.J Nutr Sci. 2019 Feb 21;8:e6. doi: 10.1017/jns.2019.1. eCollection 2019. J Nutr Sci. 2019. PMID: 30828449 Free PMC article.
-
Vegetarian, vegan diets and multiple health outcomes: A systematic review with meta-analysis of observational studies.Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2017 Nov 22;57(17):3640-3649. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2016.1138447. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2017. PMID: 26853923 Review.
-
Beyond meatless, the health effects of vegan diets: findings from the Adventist cohorts.Nutrients. 2014 May 27;6(6):2131-47. doi: 10.3390/nu6062131. Nutrients. 2014. PMID: 24871675 Free PMC article. Review.
Cited by
-
Plant-Based Diets versus the Mediterranean Dietary Pattern and Their Socio-Demographic Determinants in the Spanish Population: Influence on Health and Lifestyle Habits.Nutrients. 2024 Apr 25;16(9):1278. doi: 10.3390/nu16091278. Nutrients. 2024. PMID: 38732525 Free PMC article.
-
Vegetarian and vegan diets: benefits and drawbacks.Eur Heart J. 2023 Sep 21;44(36):3423-3439. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehad436. Eur Heart J. 2023. PMID: 37450568 Free PMC article.
-
Total meat (flesh) supply may be a significant risk factor for cardiovascular diseases worldwide.Food Sci Nutr. 2023 Mar 17;11(6):3203-3212. doi: 10.1002/fsn3.3300. eCollection 2023 Jun. Food Sci Nutr. 2023. PMID: 37324898 Free PMC article.
-
A matched case-control study in Taiwan to evaluate potential risk factors for prostate cancer.Sci Rep. 2023 Mar 16;13(1):4382. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-31434-w. Sci Rep. 2023. PMID: 36928374 Free PMC article.
-
Dietary Patterns and Risk of Gleason Grade Progression among Men on Active Surveillance for Prostate Cancer: Results from the Canary Prostate Active Surveillance Study.Nutr Cancer. 2023;75(2):618-626. doi: 10.1080/01635581.2022.2143537. Epub 2022 Nov 7. Nutr Cancer. 2023. PMID: 36343223 Free PMC article.
References
-
- Siegel R, Ma J, Zou Z, Jemal A. Cancer Statistics, 2014. CA Cancer J Clin 2014;64:9–29. - PubMed
-
- Center MM, Jemal A, Lortet-Tieulent J, Ward E, Ferlay J, Brawley O, Bray F. International variation in prostate cancer incidence and mortality rates. Eur Urol 2012;61:1079–92. - PubMed
-
- Armstrong B, Doll R. Environmental factors and cancer incidence and mortality in different countries, with special reference to dietary practices. Int J Cancer 1975;15:617–31. - PubMed
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources
Medical