Metabolic Syndrome & the prevalence of PCa.

[pjoshea13]

New study below.

For many years, I have thought of PCa as a metabolic disease. Long-term diabetics have a lower risk for PCa, yet a higher risk for all other cancer types. To me, this clearly suggests that insulin resistance may be a PCa risk factor.

In the U.S., 9.4% of the population (30.3 million) had diabetes in 2015. However, for those 65 & older the percentage was 25.2%. (American Diabetes Association)

And for every diabetic, there are almost 3 pre-diabetics.

Reading between the lines, there are few of us (in the U.S.) 65 & up who have neither insulin resistance nor diabetes.

With insulin resistance, the pancreas tries to overcome resistance by upping production, but this stimulates further resistance. Ultimately, beta cells begin to burn out & the insulin issue goes away - except that the price is diabetes.

"Insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and prediabetes are closely related to one another and have overlapping aspects." [2]

Three of the symptoms of the Metabolic Syndrome [MetS] are "high blood sugar, high serum triglycerides, and low serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL)" [2]. High blood sugar is the cause of insulin resistance, & the triglycerides:HDL-C ratio is used as a surrogate for insulin resistance.

***

In the new study from South Korea:

"... 130,342 men included in the health checkup cohort in 2009 were divided into two groups according to the presence of prostate cancer."

"Prostate cancer was present in 2,369 men (1.8%) in 2009. The prevalence of prostate cancer was significantly higher in patients with MetS than in those without MetS throughout the entire follow-up duration."

"Among MetS components, decreased high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterolemia and central obesity were associated with an increased prevalence of prostate cancer after adjusting for other variables."

-Patrick

[1] link.springer.com/article/1...

[2] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metab...

[Graham49]

Thanks Patrick

Hence the efficacy of Metformin

[Kuanyin]

You are probably correct in making this correlation. However, we shouldn't forget that many of these guys wound up with less PCa because they were on both Meformin and statins.

[GeorgeGlass]

Patrick, what do you think the takeaways are for this study? Should we more sardines and wild Alaskan salmon to raise our HDL in addition to staying trim and keeping our triglyceride levels low?

What about adding metformin as Graham mentioned? My triglycerides to hdl ratio used to be 8-1 but the diet plan I started 2.5 years ago changed the ratio to 2-1.

[pjoshea13]

George,

My focus for about 30 years has been triglycerides. They are not easily controled when people opt for low-fat food options. I think that every meal & snack should be balanced, in terms of the carb:fat ratio. Dr. Myers trick of using nuts to raise the fat component of a meal is sensible. These days, people seem scared of fat, so it's a hard sell.

In terms of cholesterol, my VLDL-C:LDL-C:HDL-C ratio is just about perfect when my testosterone is normal-high, & absolutely lousy when I am castrate. Apart from exercise, I don't know what can be done to improve the lipid profile while on ADT.

Sardines are often overlooked. I have a can for breakfast roughly once a week. Packed in olive oil - not water. I don't trust fresh wild salmon, since it is easily faked by the salmon farms. I doubt that anyone will fake the canned version, & the distinctive cans only go to Alaska. One can get a substantial amount of omega-3 from sardines & wild salmon.

In the U.S., it sometimes seemed to me that one could not visit one's doctor without having lipids tested & getting the offer of a statin. Too bad they don't test for MetS & prescribe Metformin with the same alacrity.

-Patrick