Nutrition and prostate cancer

I had always meant to do a blog on this topic but it is quite daunting so in the past I have skirted around the edges with blogs on coconut oil, mushrooms, gluten, ghee, olive oil and more. A recent podcast by Dr Geo Espinosa is a great introduction for anyone starting out. It is by no means comprehensive and lots I'd love to add but he manages to get loads into the 38 minutes.

One interesting aspect which I have touched on previously in this blog is around the Keto Diet. I have several excellent books on this but have so far remained unconvinced that it is right for prostate cancer - Dr Geo agrees as do a number of other authorities. However it may well be useful for other cancers and certainly cutting back on carbs seems to be a good thing for many of us.

Anyway here is the podcast - see what you think: https://the-dr-geo-podcast.captivate.fm/episode/what-you-need-to-know-about-diet-and-prostate-cancer

The introductory resource I like for cancer in general is the Rainbow Diet - one study shows that, with a healthy diet, stage III cancer patients could reduce risk of cancer returning by 31% and reduce death by 42% across the following seven years.

https://www.canceractive.com/article/The-Rainbow-Diet-Book-to-prevent-and-fight-cancer

I will also repost a blog I wrote for Yes to Life after getting voters from Wigwam Cancer Support Group members on their favourite nutrition books.

Number 26 in Best Prostate Cancer blogs

Delighted to see I am at number 26 out of 213 prostate cancer blogs on FeedSpot - ranked by traffic, social media followers and freshness. Check out the others at:https://cancer.feedspot.com/prostate_cancer_blogs/ 

Many seem to be linked to organisations or products and it looks like very few take a focus of integrative health ie getting the best from conventional, lifestyle and complimentary approaches. Furthermore to add more info to climb the chart it looks like I would have to pay a subscription to FeedSpot - but as I noted when I started this blog it was more for me to get my head around diagnosis, options and thoughts rather than something carefully crafted to inform others. Of course it is great if readers find it useful!  

Cancer Choices conversation with Dr. Keith Block

Dr Keith Block has long been regarded as the father of integrative oncology - he combines cutting-edge conventional treatments with individualised and scientifically-based innovative, complementary and nutraceutical therapies. His book is one of my favorites and listed by Wigwam Cancer Support group member's in their top 10 books for when newly diagnosed with cancer - see here.

This interview by Michael Lerner of Cancer Choices is from October last year - it is well worth a listen - and if you want more of Keith then there is also a Yes to Life interview here.

Art and cancer - we want your submissions!

Launching Issue 3 - Stroud Wigwam Support Group

Flourish, the magazine by and for the cancer community, have launched an open call for submissions for the fourth issue of the free print and digital magazine, around the theme of ‘Balance’. The call-out is open to those affected by cancer, either themselves or through loved ones, inviting contributions of art, creative writing, photography, music, film, dance and more. 

Some time ago I was inspired by several magazines from The Hive that used art to tackle cancer subjects like body image and sex. Well with support from a local charity Artlift and the national integrative cancer care charity Yes to Life we launched in June 2022 - see details here. Since then we've had funding from Macmillian, The Lottery and the Arts Council - and support from many including Glos Health nd Care NHS Foundation - so far covered we've had issues on 'Nourish', 'Connections' and 'Movement' - we are now working on 'Balance' - and I'm hoping to get to more taboo topics in the future!

We’ve now got another open call for submissions for the next issue of Flourish. No prior experience is necessary to submit to the magazine but something around balance and cancer. We’ve been overwhelmed by the incredible creativity of our contributors so far, we feature everyone from experienced artists and writers to those who’ve never done anything creative before.  

Our press releases on this have had several quotes including our wonderful Editor-in-Chief Natalie Beech, saying:  “One thing that’s been particularly interesting is how diverse the cancer experience is; we have funny submissions, sad ones, abstract ones – everyone's experience is different and we aim to reflect that in the magazine. If you have experience of cancer - we’d love to hear from you.”  

Another quote comes from Gloucestershire based contributor Sheran Joy, whose poetry is featured in Issue 2. She said: “As someone who has only ever shared my love of rhyming with close friends, it’s great to gain confidence from having my words shared. The thought that they might help others smile in the face of adversity is truly wonderful. Writing helped me to face and express my fears, and to find the relief of humour. I hope this is useful, I really value the opportunity to be part of this amazing publication.”

Flourish Magazine is a free print and digital magazine from integrative cancer care charity Yes to Life and creative health charity Artlift. Each themed edition aims to explore the benefits of an integrative and creative approach to living with cancer and features a range of resources, creative responses, expert information and interviews that offer support and reflect the diversity of the cancer experience. 

The print magazine is free and distributed across Gloucestershire and the Bristol area, available to pick up at locations including many GP surgeries, Oncology departments and charities like Charlie’s and Maggie’s and more. I see that issue 3 has already disappeared from many locations - but no fear the magazine is also available to read for free online. 

Previous magazines available at:
https://yestolife.org.uk/flourish-magazine/

Press and submissions contact: Natalie Beech / flourish.mag@artlift.org 

Baldness and prostate health?!

Here's info I hadn't come across before....the connection between 'vertex baldness ie hair loss at the crown of your head and aggressive prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). A study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2014, found that men with moderate baldness at the front and crown of their head by age 45 were found to have up to a 40% higher risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer compared to their non-balding counterparts. This was supported by other studies.

The reasons for this seem to be linked to hormones...both conditions are influenced by dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a potent form of testosterone - although there is still little understanding about how this works. See more in this article here.

We still have lots to learn...another 'strange' connection is that there is some evidence showing that the taller people are during adulthood and the more people weighed at birth, the higher their risk of prostate cancer. Well I was a big baby and tall now but no sign of baldness.....

'Little we can do to prevent prostate cancer'

Cartoon by Russ

Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for the UK, in this video (see 39.42) says 'for example prostate cancer, there really isn't very much you can do to prevent it but you can identify the aggressive forms earlier.' 

This was a 'Distinguished Lecture Series' talk out two weeks ago looking at 'Health in an ageing society'. It is certainly true that unlike some cancers (eg breast and cervical), research into how to prevent prostate cancer remains poor. However we do know that there is strong evidence that being overweight increases the risk of being diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. There is also growing evidence of other factors.

Whitty mentioned healthy lifestyles earlier in the talk but seems to ignore their role in prostate cancer? Cancer Research UK say 'Prostate cancer is not linked to any preventable causes. Your risk of developing it depends on many things. These include age and ethnicity.' Other factors they note are family history, faulty genes, obesity, being taller, hormone levels and pesticides.

It seems to me that some of the factors they identify are preventable and will reduce chances of getting cancer - indeed even the World Health Organisation note that 30-50% of all cancers are preventable. What we need is more concerted efforts to improve lifestyle factors like diet and exercise. We already know that even 20 mins of exercise a day can prevent the return of some localised prostate cancers.

Prostate cancers like many others are on the rise - indeed cancer rates have doubled in the last thirty years in the UK. Some cancers, for example, some child cancers, have more than trebled.

It is long overdue time to take this issue more seriously. Clearly one factor alone does not cause all cancers - it is way more complicated but we do know that many things do increase or may increase the risk of cancers. We urgently need more information available for people. Just for starters there is more than enough expert research to attach ’Precautionary labels’ to Phones, Masts, WiFi, certain chemicals, pesticides, many drugs, HRT, the contraceptive pill, and even dairy. 

Nutrition is another key area - I like this approach from the Alliance for Natural Health - see here. See also Canceractive's 15 simple steps to cancer prevention here. 

It seems to me we could do with a manifesto for cancer prevention - checking online I found Cancer Research UK had issued one this year - see here. Sadly it seems to be more of the same from them with, as far as I can see, no mention of exercise or nutrition, no mention of cutting chemicals, ultra-processed foods etc etc. 

Locally I still sit on the Cancer Patient Reference Group for NHS Glos that meets monthly or bi-monthly - we are making slow progress on introducing more info to patients re lifestyle changes they can make - plus some basic support with prehab and rehab exercise, nutrition and mental health support. This of course is to those already diagnosed - wouldn't it be great if we could reach people before they got cancer - of course we wouldn't stop all cancers but I think we could stop and turn back the ever increasing rates of cancer which will mean that soon one in two people will get cancer.

Of course this blog post shouldn't be read without reading my post from September about banning the word 'prevention'. See that here: https://myunexpectedguide.blogspot.com/2023/09/time-to-ban-word-prevention.html

Kelly Turner in a podcast on the key healing factors in radical remissions

A long while back I listed Kelly Turner's book as one of the ones that someone who is newly diagnosed could find very useful - I still think that! You can find her talking with the amazing Nasha on YouTube here and on Spotify here.