Walnuts Protective Against Prostate Cancer
Quick Doggy Bag Points
- New mouse study shows walnuts to be protective against prostate cancer
- One small human study in 2008 suggest walnuts (Spaccarotella et al. 2008)
- Walnuts may be protective against breast cancer as well (Vanden Heuvel et al. 2012)
- Mouse studies do not always translate to humans but the reason why we study them is because they are biologically similar to humans
- How much or how often to eat walnuts to get the most benefit seems to be unclear. However, a handful a day would likely be a good idea.
Details of the Study
- 32 mice received the control diet and 16 mice were given the walnut diet to eat.
- Cancer cells were inoculated with LNCaP cells
- LNCaP cells are androgen-sensitive prostate cancer cells derived from a metastatic site of humans
- The tumor size in the mice eating a walnut-enriched diet remained small and essentially stable throughout the experimental period
- The tumors in the mice consuming the control diet began to grow more rapidly; at 60 days after their appearance and thereafter, the tumors in the control-diet mice were always larger than the tumors in the walnut-diet mice.
- At the conclusion of the study, the calculated volume of the tumors in the control mice was much larger than those of tumors in animals consuming walnuts in their diet (Reiter et al. 2013)
My Take On This
Walnuts contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, gamma-tocopherol Vitamin E and carotenoids. Although its been purported that Vitamin E and lately Omega 3 fatty acids promote prostate cancer, the type of vitamin E used in SELECT trial was not gamma-tocopherol but synthetic alpha tocopherol. I have written about this at length HERE. By now, you also know my thoughts on Omega 3 fatty acids and prostate cancer. Just in case – see HERE.
A nice protective and delicious breakfast would include: oatmeal mixed with almond milk, crushed walnuts and blueberries.
More on Walnuts and Male Health HERE
Reference:
Reiter RJ, Tan DX, Manchester LC, Korkmaz A, Fuentes-Broto L, Hardman WE, Rosales-Corral SA, Qi W. A Walnut-Enriched Diet Reduces the Growth of LNCaP Human Prostate Cancer Xenografts in Nude Mice. Cancer Invest. 2013 Jun 11.