Study Casts Doubt On High-Fat Diet And Prostate Cancer Link
November 01, 2000
Western clinical research indicates that a diet high in saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer in men, but a new study done in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia contradicts this view.
A nutritional survey of 2,270 Saudi men over 50 reveals that animal fats and red meat constitute a large portion of the average diet in recent years, yet there’s apparently a low rate of prostate cancer in that country.
The rate of prostate cancer among the participants surveyed was 3.1/100,000 person-years and other reports put the incidence of the disease in Saudi Arabia as low as 1.4/100,000 person-years, according to a report in the Journal of Urology.
Previous studies have shown that countries with the highest amount of saturated fats in the diet have the highest incidence of prostate cancer with North America leading with a rate of 92.3 cases per100,000 person-years. Australia is next at 49.7, followed by New Zealand (42.3), western Europe (39.5) and northern Europe (34.7). In contrast, countries with less fat in the diet like Japan, southeast Asia, northern Africa and China have low rates of prostatic carcinoma.
It’s puzzling why Saudi Arabia has one of the lowest prostate cancer rates in the world when the diet is comparable to North America in saturated fatty acids, particularly red meat and dairy products. One reason could because men in that country haven’t historically been exposed to fatty foods and it may take time for the effects of the diet to occur.
There may also be protective nutrients in the diet of Saudi men that result in a lower prostate cancer rate since they consume a lot of high fiber, cereals, cooked tomatoes, rice, tea, fruits, vegetables, dates and dairy products. This would certainly be a factor worth pursuing in future studies.
Source: Journal of Urology, November 2000 (Kamal A. Hanash, et al, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia).
King Faisal is a reknowned, highly respected medical and research facility. Hopefully there will be more follow-up studies done.