| DIETARY
PHYTO-ESTROGENS, PROSTATE CANCER AND GENE-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS:
AN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY.
Professor F Alexander, C Bolton-Smith, G McNeill University of Edinburgh |
This is a large epidemiological study involving 1000 men in Scotland - 400 men with “clinically important” prostate cancer, i.e. cancer that has impinged on their lives or lifestyles, 400 from the general population and 200 with BPH who have already been examined to rule out asymptomatic cancer. The research has involved collaboration with doctors in Aberdeen and Dundee.
As mentioned elsewhere on this site a lot of men live happily with prostate cancer and it is assumed that some environmental factor allows the condition to become clinically significant. It is known that diet has an effect on prostate cancer and the most consistent association is between animal fat consumption and the cancer risk. In the USA, Afro-Americans are nearly twice as likely to develop the disease and this cannot be explained by diet and suggests a role for inherited susceptibility. The results will add further to the knowledge base for prostate cancer.
Research summarised by Prostate Research Campaign UK, 25/02/2006.
Project G1999/05.