Here's yet another study suggesting that PC patients (especially those on ADT) could benefit from dietary adjustments: as well as paying attention to what you eat, don't forget about how MUCH you eat.
If fact, some here have already noted that a switch to plant-based diets can often mean a switch to a diet far lower in total energy intake for many. Could it be that one of the most important benefits of our changes in diet is simply a reduction of calorie density? [Edited below from source.]
Calorie restriction improves metabolic and immune responses... a new study shows. "Two years of modest calorie restriction reprogrammed the pathways in fat cells that help regulate the way mitochondria generate energy, the body's anti-inflammatory responses, and potentially longevity," said Eric Ravussin, Ph.D. at Pennington Biomedical Research Center. "In other words, calorie restriction rewires many of the metabolic and immune responses that boost lifespan and health span."
The new study used data gathered by Pennington Biomedical's CALERIE 2 (Comprehensive Assessment of the Long-Term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy), the longest-running calorie restriction trial in humans.
The study found that people who cut their calorie intake by about 14 percent over two years generated more T cells, which play a key role in immune function and slow the aging process. Calorie restriction helps prevent the thymus from shrinking so the person generates more T cells.
In addition to improving immunity, an increase in T cells is associated with an improved ability to burn stores of fatty acids for energy. That's important because if a person doesn't burn this fuel, the fat may build up in organs such as the muscle and liver, leading to insulin resistance, obesity, type 2 diabetes and aging.
Calorie restriction also reduces the levels of gene encoding platelet activating factor acetyl hydrolase (PLA2G7). Reducing PLA2G7 produces health benefits that include lowering age-related inflammation and improving metabolic health.
[Another review of this study notes "The thymus gland declines faster than any other in the body. By the age of 40, 70 percent of the thymus is fatty and non-functional." The CR group retained better thymus health than controls who did not reduce calories.]
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noahware
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I knew I was going to have to eat less. Darned scale keeps telling me so.... Life Is Good, but I am not looking forward to being hungry for the next 2 yrs...
Thanks Noahware. I have been using fasting as a way to offset the effects of ADT for three years now. It is hard to overstate how effective this has been in maintaining a healthy body composition and limiting bad weight gain. I practice time restricted eating and four times a year will do a weekly Prolon FMD fasting mimicking diet. I do an extensive metabolic panel before and after these weekly fasts and the numbers are always better.
I have nothing useful to say about treatment regimes for castrate resistance.
Calorie restriction only works in the short term. Only 3 % maintain the loss for three years and 1 % for ten years, according to large studies.
Time restricted eating and intermittent fasting are helpful. Most people in our age group have some degree of MetSyndrome and can benefit from carb restriction.
Hunger is the major problem with weight loss,. It has become clear that the so called vegetable oils stimulate appetite and are obesogenic.
Natural fats are not, but they have been demonized for a hundred years, starting the the prophecies of the 7th day Adventist Church, and continuing with
Just to expand on "hunger" as a problem: there is true physiological hunger for food as signaled by the body, and there is the chronic need for the addictive emotional relief that comes with consuming the comfort foods we have developed cravings for, which is a problem resulting from how constant feeding (virtually from infancy, in the wealthy West) has rewired our brains.
I only understood this myself, for real, after fasting for 48-72 hours a few years back. After two days, the cravings for food were no longer bothering me and TRUE hunger was not really a problem... it would pop up out of nowhere for a few minutes, as an interesting sensation that this fat Westerner had never really felt before, and then disappear.
Addictions, though, are very hard to beat over the long term.
For me, a ca 19-hour daily fast is a blessing. It automatically means calorie restriction since I'm hard-wired never to buy junk food. I love food but keeping hunger away during the day is no deal then I load up with a huge dinner volume-wise dominated by veggies. Later those delicious berries. I've never enjoyed food and my body like now.
But as noahware indicated, addiction is always lurking. Suddenly, at a party or buffet setting all discipline evaporates and I pig out in an orgy of delight, savoring all those atrociously wonderful calorie-rich foods. Like the hunter-gatherer finding a load of honey once in a while. The trick is keeping these occasions rare!
Yes, I agree. Wheat and sugar have addictive properties. Thus stimulating overeating. Seed oils stimulate overeating by the effect of the breakdown products on the endocannabenoid system, like pot. Another type of hunger is vitamin deficiency, where the body will seek to fill its needs
In mid-July 2019 I journeyed to True North Health Clinic in Santa Rosa, CA. I had experimented with water-only fasting for up to two days, but wanted to do a longer one under supervision. I wound up fasting almost 10 days. However, as a result of my visit, I wound up adopting a whole food plant-based diet, dropping alcohol, soft drinks, processed boxed/packaged products, artificial sweeteners, dairy, meat, eggs,etc- a real sea change.
That happened 8.5 months after beginning Lupron. My weight when I arrived was 210, and now I'm at 177-178, more or less.
One thing I've noticed is how long it took for some changes to occurs. It took at least 7 months before the bulk of the weight began to roll off. It took a year before cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure moderated substantially.
Practically everything I eat now is a root, stem, leaf, bark, flower, fruit, nut, seed, etc.
I think any study of the effect of dietary changes on a health condition, including cancer, must take place over a much longer period than most such studies allow. Of course, people cheat like hell, so self-reporting invalidates many studies and makes others impractical. Manufactured products are made so people will think they're OK, when they're really cheating.
I've been pleased. My already mild Lupron SEs have faded away (not to mention that my initial oncologist said I WOULD gain weight).
My PSA has been low and stable, many Mets have disappeared. However, I'm not ready to make grand claims. I haven't forgotten that I'm on Lupron (and mention that in every post about my results). And I have done quite a number of alternative things over my 3 1/2 year PCa journey. But this is where I am thus far.
I enjoyed it. The cost was reasonable, there were no add-ons. I learned a lot about a different way of thinking, and the personnel were friendly and helpful. Even the medical doctors there were friendly. And Santa Rosa was a nice small city. Hitchcock's 1943 movie Shadow of a Doubt was made there (I'm a longtime Hitchcock fan).
Glad to hear you are doing well. Me too. Except I am on a Whole Foods meat based diet. I think it is mostly the food processing, including Omega6 heavy seed oils that causes poor health.
Little or no processed foods! Some. But not much vegetable. For me, no grains or legumes. Eggs, butter wild caught fatty fish, much lamb and beef. Homemade yogurt and bone broth, keto mayo with coconut oil, chaffles made from egg and cheese as a bread substitute.No fast food, takeout or restaurant food. No vegetable oil.
Coffee, tea, stevia soda, sparkling water.
Most veggies I use are for chilli, which I pressure cook.
"Calorie restriction helps prevent the thymus from shrinking so the person generates more T cells.".
The involution of the thymus is something that occurs when we have an increase in testosterone at puberty. I think that it is complete by the time we have left the teens.
The implication is that the thymus is important during childhood, and,oddly, of little value thereafter.
Interestigly, ADT causes the thymus to regenerate:
"To assess the clinical potential for restoring thymus function in humans, we analyzed prostate cancer patients (>60 years) who routinely undergo sex steroid ablation therapy based on LHRH-A treatment. They were examined at the time of presentation and after 4 mo of treatment by which time serum testosterone concentration was at castrate levels for all patients (data not shown). A significant increase in total lymphocytes (p ≤ 0.05), T cells (p ≤ 0.01) (predominantly CD4+), and NK cells (p ≤ 0.05) were observed (Fig. 8⇓, a–c). More detailed analysis of the T cell compartment revealed a significant increase in the numbers of naive CD4+ T cells (p ≤ 0.05) and both naive and memory CD8+ T cells (p ≤ 0.05 for both) following LHRH-A treatment (Fig. 8⇓d). There was also a significant increase in the ratio of naive and memory T cells within the CD4+ T cell population (2.3 ± 0.1 before treatment compared with 4.4 ± 1.7 at 4 mo of LHRH-A treatment, p ≤ 0.05; data not shown)." [1]
So, for men on ADT, calorie restriction will not lead to more T cells.
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