My boyfriend, who undoubtedly has a wheat belly, but is otherwise very fit and active (ridiculously so for someone over 60) recently had a biopsy for prostate cancer. The result was negative. However, his PSA count is rising and at a rapid rate. He said he would do anything to get his PSA back to normal and avoid another biopsy. Does anyone have experience with this and are there any studies suggesting that low carb might help him. I know it will get rid of the wheat belly, but right now that isn't the focus.

I think it can prevent all kinds of cancer since so many cancers seem to be fueled by sugar. However, this sort of research still struggles to get done because of the status quo.

I googled prostate low carb and there was quite a lot of stuff to read.

Here's one to get you going: http://www.sciencedaily.com/release...71113074933.htm

There are lots of guys on the MDA forum....you might post there.
Also have a look at ketogenic-diet-resource.com.

Thank you both! What is the MDA forum? - Ann

Just figured it out: Mark's Daily Apple. Thanks.

Here's another good source:

http://healthydietsandscience.blogspot.com/

Scroll down on the right hand side to find High Fat Diets and Cancer; Low Carb Diet and Cancer and Saturated Fat and Cancer. There may be even more.

About a year ago, Gary Taubes did an article for NYTimes called Is Sugar Toxic? He discussed the connection between sugar and cancer:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/m...&pagewanted=all

Hey, read this about vitamin D3 and prostate cancer and PSA.

Nancy,
I just came to post that link, lol!!!

Maybe my prostate cancer story will get your friends attention. I have put a web page of text containing my story.
Here is a link to the page.
Here is a plot of my PSA readings.
With prostate cancer, one of the things that the doctors don't tell you about a biopsy is "it is a crap shoot!" That is. unless there is a massive tumor in the prostate, there is a high probability that none of the biopsy "cores" will hit the cancer. In the prostate cancer support group that I attended, at least one man had three biopsy tests that found nothing in spite of rising PSA.

I would like to know what our friends case history is - what prompted the first PSA test if it was not during a routine physical; the test dates and PSA reading for each. What did his DRE (digital rectal exam) find - and lumps, hardness, etc. OR was it all soft? Were any other tests done? That will give me a better feeling for what is going on with your friend and maybe I can offer more for him to do.

I have gone about ten years symptom free (i.e. PSA does not continually rise - it DOES have ups and downs - the downs being the most important) having had NO treatment from the medical profession other than regular PSA tests. I have been eating low carb all that time and will continue to.

Thank you all so much. It is wonderful to belong to a supportive community like this.
Larry: I will get the information you mentioned. Congratulations to you on 10 year's symptom free and with NO medical treatment. I don't know why this sort of thing still amazes me, but it does.
Thanks again!

Hi Whofan.

Sorry to hear of your bf's rising PSA. As I understand it, a PSA can rise for many reasons? And there can be false positives.

Prostate cancer is a mostly (if it is that) hormonally driven cancer. Speaking from someone who is a 4 month survivor of a hormonally driven breast cancer (Estrogen/Progesterone Positive), one thing I would do is try to avoid highly estrogenic foods, or minimize them.

I totally avoid all forms of soy - my oncologist told me to...

I limit dairy - I don't avoid it, but I go for as hormone free and as raw as I can get. Grass fed cow's dairy or goat/sheep dairy is even better.

I avoid flax. I limit chia greatly. I limit chick peas and large quantities of legumes.

I limit sweet potatoes and yams.

I avoid any chocolate high in sugar but that also contains soy - and that's almost ALL chocolate! (Lindt 85% doesn't have soy at this time. Also Michael Cluesell Chocolate is soy free.)

I eat hormone free meats, organic when possible and as much grass fed as my pocket book affords.

I eat mostly organic veggies and definately any veggies in the Dirty Dozen are organic.

I eat lots of leafy greens and cruciferous veggies along with lots of sulfur family and broccoli families. It's the combination of these groups that make them even more powerful anti-cancer tools.

I keep my blood sugars low, so low, as low as I can get them. Doing that helps to minimize inflammation which drives cancer production.

(Of course, I also take a hormone blocker drug...)

Hope this helps!

It helps tremendously, Susie. I've been at risk for breast cancer for 30 years because of fibrocystic breast disease and last year they discovered calcium deposits, which rang alarm bells and got me scheduled for a biopsy. Luckily, I had an amazing radiologist who just would not give up on the pre-biopsy mammogram until she got a clear picture and was 100% sure of what kind of calcium deposits these were. She said they were non-cancerous and aborted the biopsy. I go back in June for a follow-up mammogram and keep my fingers crossed tightly. I avoid all the foods you avoid - with the exception of flax and chia both of which I have just been introduced to. People are raving over how healthy they are, but now I'll stop eating them. It won't be a hardship, they're rather bland, IMO.

The BF has completely cut out starch and beer, much to the amusement of his 25-year old son, who doesn't know about the prostate scare. At dinner last night in an Italian restaurant his son was teasing him unmercifully when he passed up the bread and asked the waiter for broiled fish and veggies, no pasta. I was so proud of him, because this is a TOTALLY new way of thinking for him; he's had to turn everything he's ever known or done upside down. Unfortunately he does still drink red wine in large quantities. Although he's 6ft 3in with a large frame and can handle the alcohol content better than most, it's the SUGAR content that worries me. I will gently keep reminding him that sugar feeds cancer but, honestly, he is making so many changes right now that I don't want to push him over the edge where he might say 'this is the last straw, to hell with it'.

Sorry this post is so long....I didn't intend it to be when I started. I guess I really needed to get some of these worries out. Thanks for listening!

Results of my bf's latest PSA test are in. The count has gone down to where it was originally before this scare. Woohooo! He has been strict low carbing (except for red wine) for only two and a half weeks and would have been ecstatic if the PSA count had only stabilized, but the fact that it went down so far so soon is just incredible. Oh, he started to tell his doctor that he had changed his diet but before he could say he was low-carbing the doctor said "going on a diet is great for you but has nothing whatever to do with your PSA". This same doctor told him weeks ago that nobody knows how to cure a rising PSA - yet now he states that diet doesn't help. What an idiot!

Thank you all for the input and advice. I am so grateful.

Suddenly last summer. The triumph of carbohydrate restriction.

I should add something about the PSA test that is often overlooked. Anything that puts stress, as in compression, on the prostate will elevate the PSA. Riding a bicycle can do it or lots of heavy lifting where you tense the abdominal muscles as you lift. I had a bronchial infection that had me coughing so hard that my ribs felt like they had been used as a punching bag! I had a PSA test not long after that and my PSA was up almost a point - came back down on the next test. And you should wait a few days before having a test after having sex.

Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (or BPH) will cause the PSA to be elevated. The real issue is continually rising PSA, or sometimes called PSA Velocity. Doubling the PSA score in less that two years is cause for investigation to find the cause - BPH or cancer? There is a "rule of thumb" that is sometimes used to calculate the expected PSA from the prostate volume which can be determined by ultrasound. As I remember the PSA is about 1.9 times the prostate volume in cubic centimeters.

Clearly, there are tons of literature about the potential beneficial effect of low carb -high fat diet on men who are suffering from prostate cancer. And while there are no definitive findings that would affirm its curative role, it is difficult to disassociate this type of diet on the incidence of this type of cancer.