Increased Fat Intake May Raise Prostate Cancer Risk

It is estimated that more than 500,000 new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed worldwide every year, and the incidence of the disease is projected to rise by 1.7% over 15 years.  Artitaya Lophatananon, University of Nottingham Medical School (Nottingham, United Kingdom), and colleagues assessed dietary intakes of 512 men with prostate cancer (comparing them to 838 healthy controls).  The team found that those men with the highest average intakes of total fat raised their risk of prostate cancer by 153% (as compared to men with the lowest average intakes). Similar trends were observed for saturated fat, monounsaturated fats, and polyunsaturated fats.  Writing that: “[T]here was a positive statistically significant association between prostate cancer risk and energy-adjusted intake of total fat and fat subtypes,” the researchers urge that: “These results potentially identify a modifiable risk factor for early-onset prostate cancer.”