MedWire News: Among prostatectomy patients, those with diets high in high saturated fat (HSF) are almost twice as likely to experience biochemical failure as those who consume a low saturated fat (LSF) diet, say US scientists.

Several studies have indicated that obesity is associated with an increased risk of biochemical failure after treatment with radical prostatectomy or external beam radiation for localized prostate cancer.

Noting that obesity is linked to increased fat consumption, Sara Strom and colleagues from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston examined the results of a food frequency questionnaire, collecting nutrient information for the year prior to diagnosis, administered to 390 patients with clinically organ-confined prostate cancer who underwent prostatectomy only.

In all, 293 patients were recorded as consuming an LFS diet before diagnosis, while 97 ate an HFS diet. The average age of the two groups was 61.2 years and 59.4 years, respectively, and the respective saturated fat consumption was 23.4 g/day and 37.2 g/day.

Biochemical failure was experienced by 20% of patients during an average follow-up period of 97.3 months, the team reports in the International Journal of Cancer.

Men who ate HSF diets were significantly more likely to experience biochemical failure and had significantly shorter biochemical failure-free survival than men on an LFS diet, at 26.6 months versus 44.7 months.

Analysis adjusting for obesity and clinical variables revealed that the odds ratio of biochemical failure among men who ate an HSF diet in comparison with those who ate an LFS diet was 1.95. The shortest biochemical failure-free survival period was seen in obese men who consumed an HFS diet, at 19 months, versus 46 months among nonobese men who consumed an LFS diet.

"These results expand upon our previous finding that obesity was associated with increased risk of biochemical failure following prostatectomy, and suggest saturated fat intake plays a role in prostate cancer progression," the team concludes.

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