Prostate Cancer Patients Can Reduce Their Mortality Risk By Eating Nuts

In addition to the typical cancer treatment, men suffering from prostate cancer can bring some dietary changes in their daily life to reduce their risk of dying because of the disease. For example, they can start consuming nuts such as walnuts, cashews, hazelnuts and almonds.

These are the findings of a new study conducted by a team of researchers from the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston in the United States. According to the research, prostate cancer patients who consume nuts four to five times a week reduce their risk of mortality due to prostate cancer by 34 percent. The statistics are in comparison to patients who consume nuts only once a month.

According to Maureen Ternus, Executive Director at the International Tree Nut Council Nutrition Research & Education Foundation, consuming just 1.5 ounces of 1/3 cup of nuts a day can have a significant positive impact on the health of the prostate cancer patient.

Nuts helps improve insulin sensitivity and also reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Therefore, it helps reduce the total mortality risk. Insulin resistance is known to increase the risk and progression of prostate cancer in patients. In this condition, the cells in the body of the patient become resistant to the hormone insulin.

Nuts are full of phytochemicals, vitamins, unsaturated fats, minerals and high quality proteins that provides an extra protection to the heart. In addition, the nutritional content also possesses anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic and antioxidant properties.

During the study, the researchers evaluated the health and dietary lifestyle of 47,299 men for a continuous period of 26 years. All of the men had non-metastatic cancer and nearly 10 percent of them died during the study period due to prostate cancer.

The complete details of the study have been published in the British Journal of Cancer.