Mushrooms can Lower Risk of Prostate Cancer

Highlights:

Men who consume mushrooms regularly are at lower risk of developing prostate cancer
Prostate cancer ranks as the second‐most frequent cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer death in men
Including more fruits and vegetables in your daily diet can also lower the risk of prostate cancer

Regular consumption of mushrooms, i.e., eating three times a week can help prevent prostate cancer among middle-aged and elderly Japanese men, reveals a new study.//

Prostate cancer ranks as the second‐most frequent cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer death in men, according to Global Cancer Statistics 2018. Although, there is no sure way to prevent prostate cancer, maintaining healthy eating habits like consuming more fruits and vegetables has been suggested as an approach that might lower the risk of prostate cancer.

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‘Habitual mushroom intake can help prevent prostate cancer among middle-aged and elderly Japanese men. Maintaining healthy eating habits like consuming more fruits and vegetables can also lower the risk of prostate cancer.’
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The new study was published in the International Journal of Cancer.

Details of the Study

In vivo and in vitro evidence has shown that mushrooms have the potential to prevent prostate cancer. However, the relationship between mushroom consumption and incident prostate cancer in humans has never been investigated.

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A total of 36,499 men, aged 40 to 79 years who participated in the Miyagi Cohort Study in 1990 and in the Ohsaki Cohort Study in 1994 were followed for a median of 13.2 years. During follow-up, 3.3% of participants developed prostate cancer.

Data on mushroom consumption (categorized as <1, 1�2 and ≥3 times/week) was collected using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to estimate multivariate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for prostate cancer incidence.

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Results of the Study

During 574,397 person‐years of follow‐up, 1,204 (3.3%) cases of prostate cancer were identified.

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Compared with mushroom consumption of less than once per week, consumption once or twice a week was associated with an 8% lower risk of prostate cancer and consumption three or more times per week was associated with a 17% lower risk.

"Since information on mushroom species was not collected, it is difficult to know which specific mushroom(s) contributed to our findings. Also, the mechanism of the beneficial effects of mushrooms on prostate cancer remains uncertain," said lead author Shu Zhang, PhD, of the Tohoku University School of Public Health, in Japan.

This inverse relationship was especially obvious among participants aged ≥50 years and did not differ by clinical stage of cancer and intake of vegetables, fruit, meat and dairy products.

Conclusion

The present study showed an inverse relationship between mushroom consumption and incident prostate cancer among middle‐aged and elderly Japanese men, suggesting that habitual mushroom intake might help to prevent prostate cancer.

Source-Eurekalert