Calorie Restriction (CR) Diet


CR & Disease: Prostate Cancer Research

July 28, 2006

CR May Provide Some Protection Against Prostate Cancer, Based On Animal Studies

Following are excerpts and references from animal studies of the effects of CR on prostate cancer. In all cases the original paper should be read for a full understanding of what was being studied and what could be concluded.

Human Studies (None Available)

Animal Studies

  1. Title: "An investigation of the effects of late-onset dietary restriction on prostate cancer development in the TRAMP mouse."

    Toxicologic Pathology. 33(3):386-97, 2005.; Suttie, Andrew W. Dinse, Gregg E. Nyska, Abraham. Moser, Glenda J. Goldsworthy, Thomas L. Maronpot, Robert R.

    PMID: 15805078

    "In our previous work we showed that dietary restriction initiated at puberty reduced prostate cancer development in the TRAMP mouse model. The current study was conducted to ascertain whether a dietary restriction regime would similarly reduce lesion development if imposed once tumor development was well established..."

    "In this study, although dietary restriction reduced mean sex pluck weight (prostate and seminal vesicles), and mean grade of epithelial proliferative lesions in the dorsal and lateral lobes of the prostate, the effect was not as pronounced as was the case with dietary restriction from puberty."

  2. Title: "Influence of atrazine administration and reduction of calorie intake on prostate carcinogenesis in probasin/SV40 T antigen transgenic rats."

    Cancer Science. 96(4):221-6, 2005 Apr.; Kandori, Hitoshi. Suzuki, Shugo. Asamoto, Makoto. Murasaki, Toshiya. Mingxi, Tang. Ogawa, Kumiko. Shirai, Tomoyuki.

    PMID: 15819720

    "As administration of atrazine has now been identified as causing a decrease in bodyweight, a dietary-restricted TG rat group was also included in order to elucidate the influence of reduction of calorie intake per se on the development of prostate cancer..."

    "Our results indicate that the observed atrazine-related suppression of prostate carcinogenesis was probably caused by the decrease in calorie intake, rather than by atrazine-related endocrine disruption."

  3. Title: "Prostate carcinogenesis in N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (NMU)-testosterone-treated rats fed tomato powder, lycopene, or energy-restricted diets.[see comment]."

    Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 95(21):1578-86, 2003 Nov 5.; Boileau, Thomas W-M. Liao, Zhiming. Kim, Sunny. Lemeshow, Stanley. Erdman, John W Jr. Clinton, Steven K.

    PMID: 14600090

    "BACKGROUND: Consumption of tomato products or lycopene and energy restriction have been hypothesized to reduce the risk of human prostate cancer. We investigated the effects of these dietary variables in a rat model of prostate carcinogenesis..."

    "CONCLUSIONS: ...Diet restriction also reduced the risk of prostate cancer. Tomato phytochemicals and diet restriction may act by independent mechanisms."

  4. Title: "Prevention of prostate cancer and liver tumors in L-W rats by moderate dietary restriction."

    Cancer. 1989 Aug 1;64(3):686-90.; Pollard M, Luckert PH, Snyder D.

    PMID: 2472862

    "Aging conventional (CV) and germfree Lobund-Wistar (L-W) rats developed spontaneous tumors, predominantly in the prostate, liver, and adrenal glands. In CV L-W rats a 30% reduction of daily intake (natural ingredient diet L-485) had the following effects:

    (1) reduction of the incidence of metastatic prostate adenocarcinomas (PA) from 25.7% to 6.3% and extension of the average latent periods from 26.6 to 36.7 months; and

    (2) reduction of the incidence of hepatomas from 59% to 26% and extension of the average latent periods from 31.3 to 34 months.

    Adrenal medullary tumors developed in approximately 60% of rats older than 19 months, regardless of dietary intake and microbial status. Stromal hyperplasia developed among 36 of 78 (46%) rats older than age 30 months. Rats with PA were free of stromal hyperplasia, and the reverse was also true. Germfree L-W rats developed all of the above tumors, but the diet-related differences were not as significant as those among the conventional counterpart rats. The incidence of prostatis was reduced from 22% to 6% among the diet-restricted rats, but this lesion did not develop among the germfree rats."

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