Prevention of prostate cancer

Abstract

Prostate cancer lends itself ideally to chemoprevention due to a number of specific features of the disease. These include a high prevalence, long latency time, hormone dependency, the availability of an ideal marker (prostate serum antigen) and, last but not least, the availability of a defined precursor lesion (prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia) among the pathways leading to clinical disease. The large variability in the incidence of the tumor in different geographical regions suggests the possibility of nutritional influences regarding the stimulation and/or inhibition of clinical cancer, as there is a similar prevalence worldwide of the precursor lesion. A great number of publications have dealt with a number of nutritional factors, including fat, phytoestrogens, vitamins (especially vitamin E) and minerals such as selenium and calcium. These are among the most reported substances with a possible influence on disease development; however, unfortunately there are no conclusive results or study outcomes at present which satisfy accepted standards of evidence. Ongoing studies on nutrition and prostate cancer may bring the required evidence to support what is still only an hypothesis at present.