Diet & Nutrition
As discussed, the rate of prostate cancer is highest in the United States, and the incidence of prostate cancer is increasing in other countries where Western diets and lifestyles have been adopted, suggesting that nutritional factors may contribute to prostate carcinogenesis. Specifically, culture and race-specific differences in dietary intake and nutritional factors may play an important role in prostate cancer risk in certain racial minorities. With the observations that obesity and high fat diets are more prevalent among African-American populations, these data support the linkage between diet and cancer risk.
A nutritional factor related to prostate cancer risk is vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D deficiency is more common in African Americans compared to Caucasians and is believed to be due to deficient nutritional intake (i.e., due to lactose intolerance in many African Americans) as well as to the fact that increased skin pigmentation decreases vitamin D production in the skin in African Americans.
It has thus been suggested that lower levels of vitamin D could contribute to the elevated rates of prostate cancer in African Americans. Low fat diets and vitamin D supplementation may lead to risk reduction of prostate cancer in African American males.
Why Does Prostate Cancer Affect Black Men Differently? was originally published on blackdoctor.org
