Prostate Cancer Treatments
General Information About Prostate Cancer
- Prostate cancer is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in the tissues of the prostate.
- Signs of prostate cancer include a weak flow of urine or frequent urination.
The following types of treatment are used:
- Watchful waiting or active surveillance
- Surgery
- Radiation therapy and radiopharmaceutical therapy
- Hormone therapy
- Chemotherapy
- Targeted therapy
- Immunotherapy
- Bisphosphonate therapy
Newer treatments for prostate cancer
- Cryosurgery
- High-intensity focused ultrasound therapy
- Proton beam radiation therapy
- Photodynamic therapy
Read the full article on the National Cancer Institute website.
Complementary Therapies for prostate cancer.
Complementary therapies that you can add to your conventional treatment to help improve survival, reduce side-effects, improve quality of life, and prevent recurrence.
Newer tests and treatments for prostate cancer
Tests
Prostate Screening Epigenetic Test (PSE)
A new prostate cancer diagnostic test.
There’s a new blood test for prostate cancer and it could revolutionise prostate cancer diagnosis.
The Prostate Screening EpiSwitch (PSE) blood test has shown remarkable accuracy of 94%, beating the widely used prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test that is highly unreliable and only indicates the need for further investigations, reports Oncology Compass.
Watch a UK doctor explain the PSE test in the short video below.
This 2023 study concluded: Our results demonstrate that combining the standard PSA readout with circulating chromosome conformations (PSE test) allows for significantly enhanced PSA PPV and overall accuracy for PCa [prostate cancer] detection. The PSE test is accurate, rapid, minimally invasive, and inexpensive, suggesting significant screening diagnostic potential to minimise unnecessary referrals for expensive and invasive MRI and/or biopsy testing.
The PSE test is not yet available to patients in the public health system but is available from a private laboratory. See 94percent.com
Why this is important
According to Harvard Health, Although PSA testing can help catch prostate cancer at an early stage, having an elevated PSA (generally considered more than 4 ng/ml) doesn’t necessarily mean that a man has cancer. Noncancerous conditions, including benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), or an enlarged prostate, and prostatitis, can raise PSA levels. In fact, studies have shown that about 70% to 80% of men with an elevated PSA who have a biopsy do not have cancer. However, many men undergo an ultrasound and prostate biopsy, to be certain.
Conversely, the PSA test doesn’t detect all cancers. About 20% of men who have cancer also have a normal PSA (less than 4 ng/ml), so the test may give some men a false sense of security.
Treatments
1. Cryosurgery
Cryosurgery is a treatment that uses extreme cold produced by liquid nitrogen or argon gas to destroy cancer cells and abnormal tissue. It is a local treatment, which means that it is directed toward a specific part of your body. – National Cancer Institute
Focal Cryoablation for Prostate Cancer
This 2023 study looked at 163-patients who underwent Focal Cryoablation of the prostate at a single clinic by a physician from November 2008 to December 2020.
The patient cohort included 27 patients with low, 115 patients with intermediate, and 23 patients with high-risk prostate cancers. At five years, this cohort yielded biochemical disease-free recurrence rates of 78%, 74%, and 55% for low, intermediate, and high-grade cancers, respectively.
See Cryosurgery page
2. High-intensity–focused ultrasound therapy (HIFU)
Focused ultrasound works in the same way as rays of sunlight that pass through a magnifying glass and are concentrated at a single point, causing a significant temperature rise around the focal point.
Thermal ablation is a non-invasive (incisionless and radiation-free) treatment that has been used in humans since 1993.
Focused ultrasound treatments can be performed on an outpatient basis, require no incisions, and can result in minimal discomfort and few complications, allowing for rapid recovery. Source: Focused Ultrasound Foundation
This study says:
Image-guided FUS is both safe and effective in the treatment of primary and secondary tumours.
See HIFU page
3. Proton beam radiation therapy
A type of radiation treatment called proton beam radiation therapy may be safer and just as effective as traditional radiation therapy for adults with advanced cancer. That finding comes from a study that used existing patient data to compare the two types of radiation.
Traditional radiation delivers x-rays, or beams of photons, to the tumor and beyond it. This can damage nearby healthy tissues and can cause significant side effects.
By contrast, proton therapy delivers a beam of proton particles that stops at the tumor, so it’s less likely to damage nearby healthy tissues.
Consensus Statement on Proton Therapy for Prostate Cancer
This 2021 study article concluded: As an established and effective treatment for patients with prostate cancer, proton therapy reduces the excess radiation delivered to healthy tissues surrounding the prostate when compared with photon-based radiation therapy. Several prospective and retrospective studies have been published documenting the safety and efficacy of proton therapy in the management of prostate cancer and some long-term follow-up data are available and are accumulating. Consequently, proton therapy should not be considered experimental in the management of prostate cancer. It is efficacious when delivered to patients with localized prostate cancer or when delivered postoperatively. It also can be delivered safely to patients requiring pelvic nodal radiation for high-risk or node-positive disease.
See Proton Beam Radiation Therapy page
4. Photodynamic therapy
In the first step of PDT for cancer treatment, a photosensitizing agent is injected into the bloodstream. The agent is absorbed by cells all over the body but stays in cancer cells longer than it does in normal cells. Approximately 24 to 72 hours after injection, when most of the agent has left normal cells but remains in cancer cells, the tumor is exposed to light. The photosensitizer in the tumor absorbs the light and produces an active form of oxygen that destroys nearby cancer cells.
In addition to directly killing cancer cells, PDT appears to shrink or destroy tumors in two other ways. The photosensitizer can damage blood vessels in the tumor, thereby preventing the cancer from receiving necessary nutrients. PDT also may activate the immune system to attack the tumor cells.
Source: National Cancer Institute
This 2023 study says…PDT is a promising approach to treat prostate cancer that has the potential to provide a minimally invasive, highly targeted approach and negligible side effects on normal tissues when compared to conventional therapies. Several PDT approaches have already been approved by regulatory authorities including the FDA and the European Medicines Agency. Furthermore, combining PDT with other therapy modalities such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, and immunotherapy seems to be more effective against tumor growth.
See Photodynamic therapy page
Watchful Waiting or
Active Surveillance/Active Monitoring
Source: National Cancer Institute
The general concept of watchful waiting is patient follow-up with the application of palliative care as needed to alleviate symptoms of tumor progression. There is no planned attempt at curative therapy at any point in follow-up.
In contrast, the strategy behind active surveillance/active monitoring is to defer therapy for clinically localized disease but regularly follow the patient and initiate local therapy with curative intent if there are any signs of local tumor progression. The intention is to avoid the morbidity of therapy in men who have indolent or nonprogressive disease but preserve the ability to cure them should the tumor progress. Active surveillance/active monitoring often involves the following:
- Regular patient visits.
- Digital rectal examinations.
- Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing.
- Transrectal ultrasound (in some series).
- Transrectal needle biopsies (in some series).
Active Monitoring update
This 2023 study of 1,643 men aged 50-69 years, who were diagnosed with localised prostate cancer shows delaying treatment for localised prostate cancer does not increase mortality risk
Active monitoring of prostate cancer has the same high survival rates after 15 years as radiotherapy or surgery, reports the largest study of its kind. The latest findings from the ProtecT trial are presented at the European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress in Milan and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Although men on active monitoring, which involves regular tests to check on the cancer, were more likely to see it progress or spread than those receiving radiotherapy or surgery, this didn’t reduce their likelihood of survival.
The trial also found that the negative impacts of radiotherapy and surgery on urinary and sexual function persist much longer than previously thought, for up to 12 years.
The findings show that treatment decisions following diagnosis for low and intermediate risk localised prostate cancer do not need to be rushed, according to lead investigator, Professor Freddie Hamdy from the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences.
‘It’s clear that, unlike many other cancers, a diagnosis of prostate cancer should not be a cause for panic or rushed decision making,’ he said. ‘Patients and clinicians can and should take their time to weigh up the benefits and possible harms of different treatments in the knowledge that this will not adversely affect their survival.’…
…They found that around 97% of the men diagnosed with prostate cancer survived 15 years after diagnosis, irrespective of which treatment they received. Around a quarter of the men on active monitoring had still not had any invasive treatment for their cancer after 15 years.
Patients from all three groups reported similar overall quality of life, in terms of their general mental and physical health. But the negative effects of surgery or radiotherapy on urinary, bowel and sexual function were found to persist much longer than previously thought.
Continue reading at University of Oxford website
Studies into Active Monitoring
This 2024 study asked the question: What are the long-term outcomes for patients with prostate cancer whose cases are managed with protocol-directed active surveillance?
Findings: In this multicenter cohort study that included 2155 individuals with a median follow-up time of 7.2 years, the 10-year incidence of upgrading at biopsy and definitive treatment were 43% and 49%, respectively. The 10-year incidence of metastasis or prostate cancer mortality were 1.4% and 0.1%, respectively. There was no significant difference in adverse outcomes in men treated within the first 2 years of surveillance vs later on.
Meaning Protocol-directed active surveillance is a safe management strategy for avoiding overtreatment and preventing undertreatment.
Active monitoring as effective as surgery and radiotherapy.
Source: Oxford University
Active monitoring is as effective as surgery and radiotherapy, in terms of survival at 10 years, reports the largest study of its kind, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
Results published in New England Journal of Medicine show that all three treatments result in similar, and very low, rates of death from prostate cancer. Surgery and radiotherapy reduce the risk of cancer progression over time compared with active monitoring, but cause more unpleasant side-effects.
The ProtecT trial, led by researchers at the Universities of Oxford and Bristol in nine UK centres, is the first trial to evaluate the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and acceptability of three major treatment options: active monitoring, surgery (radical prostatectomy) and radiotherapy for men with localised prostate cancer.
Chief investigator Professor Freddie Hamdy from the University of Oxford, said: ‘What we have learnt from this study so far is that prostate cancer detected by PSA blood test grows very slowly, and very few men die of it when followed up over a period of 10 years, – around 1% – irrespective of the treatment assigned. This is considerably lower than anticipated when we started the study.
Continue reading at Oxford University website
Here is a companion article published in the same journal.
Radical Prostatectomy or Watchful Waiting in Prostate Cancer — 29-Year Follow-up
This study says: In clinically detected prostate cancer, the benefit of radical prostatectomy in otherwise healthy men can be substantial, with a mean gain of almost 3 years of life after 23 years of follow-up. The remaining expected lifetime is important in decision making, with the reservation that it is hard to predict.
After 29 years of follow-up, at a time when 80% of all the participants had died, lower overall mortality, lower mortality due to prostate cancer, and a lower risk of metastasis prevailed in the radical-prostatectomy group.
Conclusions
Men with clinically detected, localized prostate cancer and a long life expectancy benefited from radical prostatectomy, with a mean of 2.9 years of life gained. A high Gleason score and the presence of extracapsular extension in the radical prostatectomy specimens were highly predictive of death from prostate cancer.
This 2017 study says:
The Prostate Cancer Intervention Versus Observation Trial (PIVOT) randomised 731 men from the early PSA era to RPX [radical prostatectomy] or observation. After a 10-year median follow-up, surgery did not reduce disease-specific mortality. There was also no significant reduction for all-cause mortality. Absolute differences were <3 percentage points for PCA and all-cause mortality. However, there was some evidence suggesting a subgroup effect favouring surgery in men with a PSA >10 ng/mL or intermediate risk disease…
Early intervention, including active surveillance, should focus on men with higher risk disease, a life expectancy of 15 years or more and who have a clear preference for early intervention. In patients with shorter life expectancy or with lower risk disease, clinicians should recommend observation or PSA-based monitoring with transition to curative treatment based on higher thresholds than used in ProtecT.4 In summary, ProtecT results add to our confidence that we improve our patients’ health by resisting the urge to ‘curatively treat’ all men with PSA detected localised PCA.
This 2021 study concluded: The validated absolute 90-day mortality after RP was 1.3/1000 during the 21-year study period. Cardiovascular diseases were the most common causes of death after RP.
Overdiagnosis and Overtreatment
This study says: Adenocarcinoma of the prostate is probably the tumour with the greatest risk for overdiagnosis and overtreatment. During autopsy, tumours are often detected in the prostate, with older men more likely to have an indolent tumour (ie, a man aged 60 years might have a 50–60% risk of occult cancer). With repeated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing and 10–12-core biopsy of the prostate, often done repeatedly, small, low-grade tumours are frequently detected. Attesting to the relatively low biological potential of these lesions are the 99% and 97% disease-specific survivals at 5 years and 10 years of follow-up, respectively, for men who are simply monitored and only given treatment if they have evidence of a grade or volume increase. Despite this indolent behaviour, greater than 90% of these tumours are treated with radiation or surgery, generating morbidities of treatment (eg, sexual, urinary, and gastrointestinal side-effects, in about 15–20% of patients), increased risk of secondary malignancies (with radiation), and increased cost. Even active surveillance is hampered by the growing risk of sepsis in men undergoing repeated biopsies accompanied by increased cost and anxiety.
In this study, Etzioni et al found that one in three prostate cancers diagnosed by screening for prostate specific antigen (PSA) is an over-diagnosis.
Prostate Cancer – Risk of Recurrence?
Oncotype DX® Prostate Cancer Assay
Article source: Oncotypedx
Test available from: Oncotypedx
The Oncotype DX Prostate Cancer Assay harnesses the power of genomics to provide a more precise and accurate assessment of risk based on individual tumor biology. Using a minimal tissue sample from a needle biopsy, the test builds on traditional clinical pathologic factors to provide additional, clinically relevant insight into the underlying prostate tumor biology, enabling physicians and their patients to make treatment decisions with greater confidence.
Patients with newly diagnosed low-risk prostate cancer—and their urologists—need to know the aggressiveness of their tumor. The Oncotype DX Prostate Cancer Assay can help. This genomic test performed on a patient’s needle biopsy provides essential insight into the underlying biology of that patient’s prostate cancer. The result is reported as the Genomic Prostate Score or GPS, and provides a more precise, accurate, and individualized risk assessment that can help a patient and his urologist make a confident choice between active surveillance and immediate treatment.
Hormone therapy can make prostate cancer worse, study finds.
Source: Science Daily / University of Toronto
Scientists have discovered how prostate cancer can sometimes withstand and outwit a standard hormone therapy, causing the cancer to spread. Their findings also point to a simple blood test that may help doctors predict when this type of hormone therapy resistance will occur…continue reading this article
(link to original study)
For prostate cancer patients undergoing Androgen Deprivation Therapy (ADT)
This study says: In summary, calcium and Vitamin D supplementation is a recommended complementary therapy…in men undergoing ADT…
This study of 32 prostate cancer patients undergoing ADT says diet [more vegetables and less fast/no junk foods] and exercise “resulted in significant, clinically meaningful improvements in mobility performance, muscular strength, and body composition.
This study says:
- Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is associated with adverse metabolic effects which can affect prognosis in men with prostate cancer.
- Progressive resistance training (PRT) is an exercise modality which can benefit both body composition and muscle function during ADT.
- PRT may exert its positive effects on prostate cancer prognosis through its modification of cancer signalling pathways.
The Prostate Cancer Research Institute advises:
Sarcopenia (Loss of Muscle Strength)
The elimination of testosterone in men leads to a deterioration of lean muscle mass, an increase in fat mass, and a subjective decrease in physical function. In other words, men get weak, gain weight and don’t feel as well when they are on testosterone deprivation therapy. These side effects become evident within the first three or four months after starting on a Testosterone Inactivating Pharmaceuticals and progress the longer a man continues treatment.
Prevention / Treatment Strategies for Testosterone Inactivating Pharmaceuticals.
Research shows that strength training can often prevent or reverse the loss of muscle mass and physical well-being associated with the reduction of testosterone. The importance of regular strength training cannot be stressed enough. It should be a priority in any strategy to prevent and treat the side effects of any Testosterone Inactivating Pharmaceuticals. The essence of a successful strength-training program is lifting weights to the point of muscle failure. Programs to build muscle need to start slowly for the first few months so that no injuries develop. A professional trainer is highly desirable.
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Here is a very comprehensive article about treatments and dealing with side-effects from canceractive.com
Here is a review of the ProtecT trial.
Source: Canceractive.com
WARNING: PROSTATE CANCER DIAGNOSED?
MEN – Do not do a thing until you read this!
A growing number of research studies shows that there is little or no survival benefit in having orthodox medical prostate cancer treatment if you are diagnosed over the age of 50. With the known and common side-effects, you are probably better off doing absolutely nothing or looking at non-invasive alternative treatments, and later in the article, we will cover some of those.
Other studies have exposed more medical mythology. Experts now view the PSA test as virtually useless, while others are clear that testosterone levels have no causal effect on prostate cancer.
And, let’s be clear, after the age of 50-55, at least 4 out of every 10 men will develop prostate cancer!
“No survival advantage in prostate cancer treatment”
In August 2016, a major research study by Professor Freddy Hamdy and his Oxford University team found that there is absolutely no survival advantage in having orthodox medical treatment for a newly diagnosed prostate cancer patient after 50 years of age.
The 2016 NHS study followed more than 82,000 men aged between 50 and 69 for a decade. And the bottom line? Only 1 per cent of the men died in that time from their cancer, whether or not they had treatment! The fact is that in the great majority of men diagnosed with prostate cancer later in life, the cancer is slow growing. You are more likely to die with it, than of it.
Importantly, this study was not the first of its kind, as you will see below, but it was the biggest, and in all such studies the results have been remarkably consistent bringing in to question the worth of orthodox medical treatment for prostate cancer in men over 55 years of age, especially in the light of its known high levels of side-effects.
PSA tests, false positives and completely unnecessary prostate cancer treatment
In 2012 there was a full report from the American Preventive Services Task Force (PSTF) on prostate cancer. This Government body concluded that PSA tests for prostate cancer were unreliable, do not offer men any tangible benefit in lifespan or quality of life, and conclude that many more men are injured than helped by PSA tests.
The PSTF research concluded that “only one man in a thousand tested would derive any real benefit, whereas a staggering 100 will receive false positives. Many of these people will then have biopsies, which can cause complications including infection”.
Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) is a biological marker that oncologists and doctors use to detect the presence of a potential prostate tumour. However there are many other reasons why the PSA can be high; for example, you cycled in the previous 24 hours, consumed dairy, you have prostatitis (inflammation or infection in the prostate gland), or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), or you went to the gym on the way to the hospital. Equally consuming lycopene (tomatoes) or eating a cooked tomato-rich meal will temporarily lower the score.
Also many prostate tumours are benign, would never cause serious health problems yet give high PSA readings.
The same study found that 90 per cent of men may then be treated with surgery or radiation for cancers that are not and will never be life-threatening, but five out of every thousand having these treatments will die within a month of initiating them. In other words, more than ten percent of all men screened for prostate cancer will generate false positives that could result in death from treatment, while a mere 0.001 percent or less will derive any sort of benefit.
“There is a small potential benefit and a significant known harm,” said Dr. Virginia A. Moyer, a professor of paediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and chair of the task force. She and her team are recommending that the PSA test for prostate cancer be abandoned altogether, and that patients avoid the test as part of their normal check-ups.
No link between testosterone levels and prostate cancer
Many doctors state that PSA tests might be imperfect but they are all that is available, so they might as well use them. This is actually not true. In America some experts measure the DHT levels.
DiHydroTestosterone (DHT) is the active compound, produced by the action of oestrogen on nice safe testosterone. DHT is what causes prostate cancer and the test is also a measure of cancer aggression.
Be clear: There is absolutely no link between prostate cancer and testosterone levels according to Peter Boyle, MD, of the International Prevention Research Institute, who reviewed two meta-studies and found no evidence that testosterone levels were linked in either.
No real benefit in prostate cancer surgery and hormone treatment but there are many problems
In research published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Swedish researchers have concluded that if none of the men diagnosed with early prostate cancer had any treatment at all, over 97 per cent would still survive ten years or more!
After comparing a group of low to mid-risk prostate patients having no treatment with a group having the usual surgery and hormone treatments, some eight years later the death rate amongst men in the no-treatment (active surveillance) group was exactly the same as the figure for the general population!! The researchers stated that after ten years only a little over two per cent of men in the untreated group would have died from prostate cancer.
The researchers even suggested having surgery was pretty much a waste of time and made no difference to the outcome; worse, patients had to put up with often debilitating side-effects.
In a second study (New England Journal of Medicine – PIVOT study) led by Dr.Timothy Wilt of the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, 731 men were followed for ten years, after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. Some had surgery, some did nothing.
At the end of the ten years 47 per cent of the surgery men died during the study compared with 50 per cent of those having nothing. This difference is not deemed statistically significant. However, importantly, men who choose to do nothing are only half as likely to suffer from urinary incontinence or erectile dysfunction.
“We think our results apply to the vast majority of men diagnosed with prostate cancer today,” said Dr. Wilt to the Chicago Tribune.
Importantly, in this study only 3 per cent of men diagnosed with prostate cancer actually died from it, whether they had had surgery or not! The rest died of other causes!
So this study also shows orthodox prostate treatment in men over 60 does not extend life. However, men who have surgery are much more likely to suffer side-effects – overall more than 50 per cent suffer impotence, and more than 10 per cent suffer incontinence.
Over 55 and diagnosed with prostate cancer? Watch and wait
Both the US National Health Institutes and the American Society of Clinical Oncology recommend ‘Active surveillance’, or ‘Active Monitoring’. The ‘cut off’ is a Gleeson score of 6 or lower. Starting once every three months then every 6 months this may become once per year and then once every two years. 50 per cent of men diagnosed in America in 2016 with early stage prostate cancer now ‘watch and wait’. CANCERactive first recommended this strategy in 2005, 11 years ago and four years ahead of other UK charities. Five years ago in America only 10 per cent of men followed Active surveillance programmes.
One expert US oncologist Dr. Matthew R. Cooperberg, a urologist and epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, is actually arguing for new terminology that says there is abnormality but doesn’t use the ‘C’ word. Cooperberg observes that life expectancy in the over 60s is 10-15 years when diagnosed, even without treatment.
IMPORTANT: Can you take your own steps to treat your prostate cancer and live longer?
The idea of simply ‘waiting’ can fill men with some horror. But then so too can the thought of prostate surgery, drugs to cut testosterone, radiotherapy and debilitating side-effects.
So can you take matters in hand? The answer is an emphatic ‘Yes’.
1. Prostate cancer risk and aggression increases the more saturated fat, such as cows’ dairy, and alcohol you consume. Higher triglyceride levels in the blood stream are known to progress the disease.
2. Conversely, diets high in polyphenols (such as pomegranate, curcumin, resveratrol and EGCG in green tea) slow growth. One supplement, POMI-T, developed by Professor Robert Thomas has been shown to reduce PSA levels in clinical trials. Thomas originally had all newly diagnosed men around his hospital on broccoli, tomatoes and light daily exercise, pushing back the need for surgery by at least three years. Oestrogen regulators like Indole 3 Carbinol and melatonin also help slow the process.
3. A good diet and lifestyle can limit prostate cancer growth rate. And there is research concluding that both curcumin and grape seed extract can reduce metastases in prostate cancer.
4. German Clinics (such as Klinik St Georg) have evidence that prostate biopsies, apart from risking infection and impotence, can spread the disease. There are UK clinical studies concluding the same. Do you really need a biopsy?
5. Rather than invasive surgery, men should look into localised hyperthermia (also called Ablation). This can melt away the tumour and hospitalisation is short with side-effects minimal. The prostate tumour can be heated using High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) or a tube with a metal element placed in the middle of the tumour.
6. The Nanoknife IRE, which uses needles either side of the tumour and passes a current through the tumour to punch holes in the cancer cells causing them to lyse, is another potential option.
7. Instead of radiotherapy and brachytherapy, less damaging and more contained proton therapy is now increasing in popularity in America.
8. Research in 2008 linked 13 chemicals to prostate cancer. All these chemicals were ‘oestrogen mimics’. Research has shown that where selenium levels are low, supplementation of up to 200 micrograms can have positive effects. Selenium can displace chemicals and heavy metals from the body.
9. Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, has been shown in research to reduce both risk and aggression. Public Health, England advise everybody to go in the sun and, if you can’t, to supplement. Harvard Medical School advise supplementation at 5,000IUs per day for people with cancer.
10. Men who incorporate a higher overall ratio of plant-based foods and herbs into their diets reduce aggressive prostate cancer risk by 25 per cent according to a University of South Carolina study. Researchers claimed the benefit came from bioactive compounds called flavonoids found in colourful foods (for example, strawberries, grapes, greens, onions, citrus fruits).
11. Another study showed the higher your consumption of naturally fibrous foods the stronger your immune system; while yet another showed the same high-fibre diet slowed prostate cancer growth.
12. Maintaining a healthy gut (taking probiotics and probiotic foods like Kefir, Sauerkraut and unpasteurized milk products) can boost the immune system and lower bad triglyceride levels. Extra virgin olive oil, fish oils and consuming nuts and seeds can also help significantly.
Canceractive.com has also published the following article:
Glutamate and prostate cancer
Plasma glutamate levels directly correlate with the prostate Gleason score and the primary cancer’s aggression; this finding could lead to less invasive ways to diagnose prostate cancer rather than a biopsy and points to natural treatments for glutaminase rather than hormone therapy targeting testosterone.
This research study published in 2012, was very clear in its conclusion, also showing that in men with metastatic cancer, serum glutamate was considerably higher that in men with only a primary tumour.
Back in 2012, the researchers suggested that it would be a much more accurate test for prostate cancer than taking a PSA reading or having a biopsy with its risks of infection and disease-spread.
Glutamate is an alternative fuel for cancer cells after sugar. It can be made from folic acid, glucose and is involved in fat metabolism but its primary precursor in glutamine, an amino acid widely available in protein, especially animal protein.
Glutamine is also a non-essential amino acid, meaning that if your body runs short, you simply make it from other sources. You muscles are glutamine-rich; you brain holds about 25% of the glutamine in your body.
Glutamine is available in meats such as chicken, game and steak, and bone broth. It is also found in cheese. Glutamate deprivation reduces prostate growth
Another conclusion of the study was that glutamate deprivation reduced growth, invasion and migration of prostate cancer. As does glutamate ‘blockade’.
Chris Woollams, former Oxford University Biochemist said, “This last point is extremely interesting. If glutamate blockade is a benefit what they are suggesting is blocking an enzyme, glutaminase, which they did in the research with a drug. Glutaminase converts glutamine into glutamate.
We have previously covered that compounds such as Ursolic Acid, lycopene, curcumin, EGCG, resveratrol, Honokiol, valerian, ashwagandha, sulforaphanes and Graviola can all block this enzyme. We know these compounds are also very useful against prostate cancer, and most also attack cancer stem cells, which are in higher-than-usual levels in prostate cancer.
In interviews Chris Woollams has said the following:
Radiation works but gives rectal cancer after a few years
Eat a Mediterranean diet
Stay away from steak, bacon, ham, salami, eggs
Cut oestrogen with melatonin or black cumin seed oil
Use lycopene + turmeric plus Piperine
Holy basil (Tulsi) plus turmeric or resveratrol 500 to 700 mg
Ursolic acid found in pistachio nuts
Berberine.
Pomegranate
EGCG (Green Tea)
Black cumin seed oil
Zinc
IP6 800mg between meals two to three times daily
B complex supplements.
It seems such as shame that no action has really come from this research. That doesn’t stop readers though, does it!?”
See full list of
Complementary therapies
Alternative treatments
Integrative Treatments
Page updated January 2025