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Systematic review of the impact of a plant-based diet on prostate cancer incidence and outcomes

Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases volume 25, pages 444–452 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background

Plant-based diets are increasingly popular and have many well-established benefits for health and environmental sustainability. Our objective was to perform a systematic review of plant-based diets and prostate cancer.

Methods

We performed a systematic database and citation search in February 2022. Studies were included if they reported primary data on plant-based dietary patterns (i.e., vegan, vegetarian, plant-based) and incidence among at-risk men for prostate cancer, or oncologic, general health/nutrition, or quality of life outcomes among patients with prostate cancer or caregivers.

Results

A total of 32 publications were eligible for the qualitative synthesis, representing 5 interventional and 11 observational studies. Interventional studies primarily focused on lifestyle modification including plant-based diets for men on active surveillance for localized prostate cancer or with biochemical recurrence after treatment, showing improvements in short-term oncologic outcomes alongside improvements in general health and nutrition. Observational studies primarily focused on prostate cancer risk, showing either protective or null associations for plant-based dietary patterns. Studies of the vegan diet consistently showed favorable associations with risk and/or outcomes. Gaps in the current literature include impact for long-term disease-specific outcomes.

Conclusions

Interventional studies showed generally favorable results of lifestyle modifications incorporating a plant-based diet with prostate cancer outcomes as well as improvements in nutrition and general health. Observational studies demonstrated either a lower risk of prostate cancer or no significant difference. These results are encouraging in light of the many benefits of plant-based diets for overall health, as well as environmental sustainability and animal welfare.

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The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and/or its Supplementary Materials.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Richard McGowan with the NYU Grossman School of Medicine Health Sciences Library for help with the systematic database search.

Funding

SAK is supported by the Helen Diller Family Chair in Population Science for Urologic Cancer, SL is supported by the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the New York State Department of Health Prostate Cancer Pilot Research Grant, and a generous donation from Patricia and Michael Berns. NG is supported by grant 5T32HS026120–04 from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the NYU Clinical and Translational Science Institute grant 5UL1TR001445. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Agency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, NYU Langone Health and Manhattan Veterans Affairs, New York, NY, USA

    Natasha Gupta, Jacob Taylor, James F. Borin, Nataliya Byrne & Stacy Loeb

  2. Population Health, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, USA

    Natasha Gupta, Nataliya Byrne & Stacy Loeb

  3. Department of Urology, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL, USA

    Hiten D. Patel

  4. Department of Urology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Kenneth Jacobsohn

  5. Departments of Urology and Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Stacey A. Kenfield

  6. Section of Urology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Scott E. Eggener

  7. Albert S. Cook Library, Towson University, Towson, MD, USA

    Carrie Price

  8. Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Meena Davuluri

  9. Department of Urology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Trinity J. Bivalacqua

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  1. Natasha Gupta
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Contributions

The authors confirm contribution to the paper as follows: study conception and design: NG, HP, CP, SL; data collection: NG, CP, SL; analysis and interpretation of results: NG, HP, JT, JFB, KJ, SAK, SEE, MD, TJB, NB, SL; draft paper preparation: NG, HP, JT, JFB, KJ, SAK, SEE, MD, TJB, NB, CP, SL. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the paper.

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Correspondence to Natasha Gupta.

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Gupta, N., Patel, H.D., Taylor, J. et al. Systematic review of the impact of a plant-based diet on prostate cancer incidence and outcomes. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis 25, 444–452 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41391-022-00553-2

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