June 2006

Santa Cruz County Prostate Cancer Support Group

June 2006

Do you have a news item to contribute?

We want to hear from you! Members of the support group are welcome to contribute any items of interest to the group at large. Updates on your status, news about prostate cancer treatments, or anything you feel would be of interest to the group are all welcome. Contact Doug Thornton, 588-1586 or or Howard Waage, 688-0423 with your story.

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May 2006 NEWSLETTER

Howard Waage (688-0423) ----Editor

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Where: Our meeting will be downstairs in two-story redwood Education Building behind Santa Cruz

Dominican Hospital. We meet in the Bennett & Suzy Katz Cancer Resource Center on the 1st Floor.

When: Tuesday, May 30th, 2006 7:00 PM For more information: Please call-The Bennett and Suzy Katz

Cancer Resource Center at Dominican Hospital 831-462-7770

Please feel free to contact any of the following steering committee members if you would like to volunteer

or if you have any suggestions or questions.

Tony & Beverley Calvo 684-0940 Frank Schmetz 438 4781 Bill McDermott 423-8350 Howard Waage 688-0423

Julie Batz 724-2701 Lynn Dreeszen 439-8632 Tim Ryan 476-6550

Our website: http://www.scprostate.org Doug Thornton 724-6446 (Webmaster)

SUPPORT SUB-GROUP FOR MEN WITH ADVANCED PROSTATE CANCER MEETINGS

This group is for men that have been diagnosed with prostate cancer which has spread outside the prostate or who have experienced a recurrence after primary treatment. Typically, these men are receiving hormone blockade, are participating in a clinical trial or are receiving some other form of advanced treatment. The sub-Group meets every TWO months at the Katz Cancer Resource Center of Dominican Hospital. The sub-group meets on the 2nd MONDAY OF THE MONTH.

The purpose of this group is to better address the special problems and issues of men with advanced prostate cancer. In addition, at some meetings, we invite local medical oncologists to discuss their approach and treatments. Men with advanced prostate cancer will continue to be welcomed at the regular monthly meetings on the last Tuesday of the month. Tony Calvo has agreed to coordinate the sub-group. If you have any suggestions or questions, contact Tony Calvo at 684-0940.

Meeting Date:. The Advanced Prostate Cancer Support Group will meet on Monday, June 12, 2006, 5 – 7 pm. at the Katz Cancer Resource Center.

SUPPORT SUB-GROUP MEETING FOR WIVES and PARTNERS OF MEN LIVING WITH PROSTATE CANCER

This group is for women to share information with each other, learn more about prostate cancer, and how to cope with the impact of the disease individually and within the family in a supportive, caring and confidential environment. The meeting will be held every two months, the 2nd Monday of the month, 5 – 7pm (same time and same building as the men’s Advanced Prostate Cancer Meeting). For more information, contact Julie Batz at 724-2701

Meeting Date: Monday, June 12, 2006, 5 – 7 pm, Rm. E (upstairs from the Katz Cancer Resource Center)

UPCOMING EVENTS AND SPECIAL MEETINGS

Relay For Life of Santa Cruz July 15 - 16, 2006 Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA

Relay For Life of Watsonville August 12 - 13, 2006 Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds

….PROSTATE CANCER IN THE NEWS..…

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Prostate Cancer and Diet

Article from the “Prostate Cancer Communication Newsletter” March 2006 PAACT, Inc.

By Charles E Myers Jr., M.D.

American Institute for Diseases of the Prostate, Earlysville, VA (434) 964-0212

As many of you know, I was diagnosed with poor prognosis prostate cancer in February of 1999 (PSA of 20.4 ng/ml and a Gleason 3+4 = 7). Fortunately, I remain in remission. In part this is due to the aggressive initial treatment I received and in part I think it is due to the program I’ve developed to suppress cancer recurrence. An important part of that program is diet and I’ve naturally been very interested in updating it as research on prostate cancer develops. If you want to get a sense of this literature, go to PubMed (www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/) or Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com). One of the first things you’ll notice is that there are more than 1,000 papers on the broad issue of the impact of diet and nutrition on prostate cancer. The next thing you’ll notice is that there are almost as many controversies as there are articles. Of course, there is another complication: most men with prostate cancer are also at risk for high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease as a result of elevated cholesterol. In my own family, there is a strong history of high blood pressure. With these issues in mind, I’ve tried to select the most prudent diet for general health while also preventing prostate cancer relapse. This drive led me to focus on a Mediterranean diet.

The literature supporting the Mediterranean diet is vast. Among the clinical trials that support the diet, I’ve found two particularly persuasive in terms of general health. The Lyon Diet Health study looked at 605 people in the intensive care unit with their first heart attack. Half followed a version of the Northern European diet with modest cholesterol restriction. The other half followed a Mediterranean diet patterned after that found on Crete. After four years the number of new heart attacks decreased by 50%, while the number of new cancers decreased by 60%. The second study is the HOPE trial. In this study, researchers followed close to 2,300 subjects between the ages of 70-90 for more than 10 years. Researchers also looked at four life-style issues and the risk of death from various causes. The four life-style issues were: not smoking, exercise, moderate alcohol consumption, and the Mediterranean diet. Overall, those who incorporated all four positive life-style habits had close to a 70% reduction in death rate compared with those who had none of these. The Mediterranean diet accounted for about a 25% reduction in overall deaths as well as deaths from cancer and heart disease.

There is less extensive information on prostate cancer and the Mediterranean diet, but I find it quite persuasive. Saxe and his colleagues took a group of patients who had recurred following radical prostatectomy and placed them on the Mediterranean diet. Their PSA doubling time was 6.4 months before the diet change and 17.7 months afterward. This is nearly a 2/3 reduction in the growth rate of the cancer. This alone has the potential to triple the lifespan of these patients. Another factor I find persuasive is that laboratory data on how food components control prostate cancer growth show that it is plausible that the Mediterranean diet will suppress prostate cancer growth and spread. For example, there are now over 120 papers that link the fatty acid arachidonic acid to the growth and spread of prostate cancer. Aspirin, ibuprofen, and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs work by blocking arachidonic acid and also appear to have a favorable impact on prostate cancer progression. Arachidonic acid is found in large amounts in meat.

The Mediterranean diet as practiced on Crete limits red meat to once a month and white poultry to once a week. The major daily sources of protein are beans, nuts, and grains. This diet is quite low in arachidonic acid content, but not low in fat. In fact, there’s a relatively high fat content in the form of olive oil and nuts, such as almonds, pistachios, and hazelnuts. All of these are sources of monounsaturated fat: a form of fat that markedly reduces “bad” or LDL cholesterol. In the laboratory and in clinical studies, this type of fat doesn’t stimulate prostate cancer growth and spread. While it is now popular to recommend a low fat diet to men with prostate cancer, there’s no basis for excluding olive oil or these nuts from your diet and they actually have a dramatically favorable impact on general health. The Mediterranean diet is also rich in fish and the fat found in fish—DHA and EPA—blocks the adverse effects of arachidonic acid. Adding fatty fish represents another step away from a low fat diet that actually improves overall health. The Mediterranean diet is also rich in tomatoes and other vegetables, especially dark green leafy vegetables like broccoli, kale, and spinach. Among other things, these provide lycopene and lutein, two natural compounds that appear to suppress prostate cancer.

Evidence in favor of the Mediterranean diet is everywhere in the medical literature. For example, there have been a number of recent studies suggesting that pomegranates may be beneficial for men who have prostate cancer. This fruit

is one of the classics of the Mediterranean diet, both as a fresh fruit and as syrup you can use when the fruit is out of season. The Mediterranean diet itself encompasses a wide variety of foods, but there are some products that make the diet a tasty and attractive alternative for me. (Note that I have no financial link of any kind with these products.)

Special Lentils Beans and other legumes are great for your health and offer protein free of cholesterol and arachidonic acid. But beans are not without problems. First, they can take a lot of time to cook from scratch. Also, there is the problem of intestinal gas—as I’m sure your wife can attest to! Lentils, on the other hand, don’t cause gas and are quick to cook. Now, the lentils you find in the stores may take up to an hour to cook, and while tasty, they are not really special. But there are gourmet lentils that are much smaller and have their own unique flavor. Because of their small size, these often cook very rapidly. I have found http://chefshop.com one of the best internet sites to learn about these special lentils and get samples to try. You can also find these on Amazon.com. Some unusual lentina include: beluga lentils, which are tiny black beans that cook in 20 minutes or less and have a rich, smoky flavor. Pardina browns are another great small lentil with a rich nutty flavor and again cook in 20 minutes or less. You are more likely to find small French green lentils in local gourmet stores. You can get fancy in how you cook these, but I love to sauté diced celery and onion, add the beans and water and cook. While the beans are cooking, I crush garlic into olive oil—my current favorite is rosemary-flavored oil—and let sit until the beans are cooked. At that point, I add garlic and olive oil and salt to taste. (As I explained, this isn’t a low fat diet!)

Sardines - Sardines are rich in heart healthy fats, are very low in the contaminations found in many fish, and are a key part of the Mediterranean diet. Unfortunately, commercially available sardines range greatly in quality. The brand I’ve found consistently good is King Oscar. My favorite is the double layer sardines packed in olive oil.

Avocado Oil - The taste alone makes avocado oil a special treat. There are practical advantages to the oil, though, such as the fact that it is very stable at high cooking temperatures: it doesn’t break down until temperatures exceed 600 degrees F. But what I really love is the flavor of the best Avocado oils: they have a rich golden hue and an almost buttery aftertaste. The best brand I have sampled so far is the Elysian Isle Gourmet Avocado from New Zealand. The oil is produced by cold pressing and is clearly made with care. You can find the product at several sites on the internet, but I suggest you use Google to find the best deal.

Albemarle Pippin Apples - Among alternative medical practitioners, there’s a wide-spread myth that sugar feeds prostate cancer. Many men therefore eliminate fruits and other sweets from their diet. But in truth, there isn’t one shred of scientific evidence to support this idea. Studies by Dr. Giovannuci and colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health show that the greater the intake of fruits and sugar, the lower the risk of metastatic prostate cancer. And it appears that diabetics, with their high blood sugar levels, are at a reduced risk of dying of prostate cancer. One argument I’ve heard in response to all this is that the PET scan is successful in visualizing cancers because cancers take up the radioactive sugar used. Well, PET scans are useless in visualizing prostate cancer in all but the most aggressive cases because this is one cancer that does not take up sugar in any great quantity. Now, a key element of the Mediterranean diet is that it is rich in fruits like dates, figs, pomegranate, grapes, and oranges. My favorite fruit is an apple that has been grown in our part of Virginia since pre-Revolutionary times: the Albemarle Pippin. The Albemarle Pippin was a favorite of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin and was a major export item from America to Europe in that time. Even today, the website devoted to Montecello describes this apple (http://www.monticello.org/gardens/inbloom/). Unfortunately, the Albemarle Pippin has largely disappeared from American commerce. It bears only every other year, the trees take their own sweet time maturing and the fruit is a dull green color mottled with brown. But each fall, here in Albemarle County, Virginia, a few local orchards have the apples for sale. My wife and I make sure to buy them by the bushel. Fortunately, they store very well and actually taste better after months of storage. In fact, I think they are reaching their peak right now. The flavor is rich, complex, and aromatic with a perfect balance between sweet and sour.

Freeze Dried Raspberries -You’ve heard of frozen raspberries, but what about freeze-dried? Freeze-dried fruits are fantastic: you can just pop them in your mouth like candy and the flavor gradually emerges as you chew. The drying concentrates the flavor. I’ve never tasted anything like this with the fresh berries. You can also quickly crush these berries into a powder that can be added to tea or put on top of other fruits. One of my favorites is to take Concord grape juice or pomegranate juice, add the raspberry powder and heat until it steams. We buy cans of 3.5 pounds of raspberries freeze-dried at the peak of freshness from http://www.store.honeyvillegrain.com.

What do you spread on toast? - When I tell patients that they will need to do without butter, many ask in astonishment: “What do you spread on toast, then? Luckily, there are many options. Almond butter is a great tasting

yet healthy alternative. I also love garlic crushed in olive oil plus a little salt. But my real favorite is home-made hummus. Nothing could be easier to make. I place cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans) in a blender with ground up sesame seed butter (tahini) and olive oil. Sometimes I use olive oil and a bit of water instead of tahini. This base can then be flavored in many ways. One of my favorites is to add hot pepper, but the variations are endless. Finally, when only the flavor of butter will do, I use one of the butter-flavored salts like Butterbuds.

I hope these products and ideas show you that adopting a Mediterranean diet need not be a burden but an adventure that has the side effect of improving your overall health while helping keep your prostate cancer from recurring.

Lifestyle and Diet May Stop or Reverse Prostate Cancer Progression

By Tom Keenan, CanWest News Service, Published: Saturday, April 22, 2006

A report released by the University of California at San Francisco was headlined "Lifestyle and diet may stop or reverse prostate cancer progression." (See Story at: http://pubaffairs.ucsf.edu/today/cache/news/200508111.html)

The study was directed by clinical professor Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Peter Carroll, chair of the department of urology at the university.

"The research team studied 93 men with biopsy-proven prostate cancer who had elected not to undergo conventional treatment for reasons unrelated to this study," the release notes.

It was a random, controlled trial, since the men were assigned either to a control group that wasn't asked to change, or to a group that was asked to follow a vegan diet consisting primarily of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes supplemented with soy, vitamins and minerals. They also participated in moderate aerobic exercise, yoga/meditation and a weekly support group session.

The results? "After one year, the researchers found that PSA levels (a protein marker for prostate cancer) decreased in men in the group who made comprehensive lifestyle changes, but increased in the comparison group. There was a direct correlation between the degree of lifestyle change and the changes in PSA."

They even found the serum from the men in the vegan diet group was a powerful inhibitor of prostate tumour growth outside the body.

There's a lot more work to be done on understanding just how diet and lifestyle can influence prostate cancer risk. But, given the prevalence of this disease, the precautionary principle would seem to apply.

Anything you can do to move your risk down a few notches has got to be a good thing. And hey, even if your prostate doesn't notice all those vegetables and exercises, your heart probably will.

Tom Keenan, I.S.P., is an award-winning science writer, professional speaker and professor at the University of Calgary.

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The Santa Cruz County Prostate Cancer Support Group does not endorse any provider, organization, product or individual. All medical decisions should be made with the advice and consultation of medical professionals.

Our newsletter serves over 250 members. Many THANKS to the American Cancer Society for assisting with the printing and mailing of this newsletter and the Katz Cancer Resource Center for allowing us to use their facility.