Prostate Cancer and Nuts

Men who have prostate cancer could reduce their risk of death by up to a third by eating nuts regularly, new research has suggested.

The researchers, experts at Harvard Medical School in Boston, studied 47,000 men over 26 years and identified 6,800 who had developed prostate cancer.

Writing in the British Journal of Cancer  they found no “statistically significant associations” between eating nuts and being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

However, when it came to reducing mortality rates, they found that “patients who consumed nuts five or more times per week after diagnosis had a significant 34 per cent lower rate of overall mortality than those who consumed nuts less than once per month.”

They added: “This suggests nuts, although not associated with being diagnosed with cancer, may still improve the overall survival of patients.”

 This isn’t the first time a study has suggested the consumption of nuts could help fight certain cancers. In 2009, researches claimed that eating large quantities of Brazil nuts double help fight against prostate cancer.

Brazil nuts are known to contain high quantities of ‘selenium’, a mineral with anti-cancer properties that protects cells and tissue from damaging molecules.

Many studies strongly suggest that diet can have an impact on many forms of cancer including prostate cancer.   Its time to men to not only sign up for their annual physicals and be the men who speak up about prostate cancer , its also time for men to check out nuts.