Could a Plant-Based Diet Boost Men’s Below-the-Belt Health?

MIAMI — A plant-based or plant-based diet may offer some protection against prostate cancer and other sexual health issues, according to a systematic review.

Twelve of the 23 studies that met the review’s inclusion criteria looked at prostate cancer, and data from large registry studies suggested an association between a plant-based diet and a reduced risk of prostate cancer, reported Nathan Holiday, MD, a medical student at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, at the Annual Meeting of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America (SMSNA).

“Medicine as a whole has evolved towards a more holistic approach, and with that more researchers have started to look into it [the question of] “Can we use these plant-based diets to treat and prevent conditions like prostate cancer and erectile dysfunction?” [ED]and benign prostatic hyperplasia [BPH]?’ holiday told MedPage today. “There were relatively few studies that we were able to find for this literature search, but that’s the current status.”

As plant-based diets become more popular, more patients may be experimenting with them. Holiday said plant-based diets have shown health benefits for patients with diabetes and high blood pressure, but less is known about their benefits for prostate cancer, ED and BPH.

Irwin Goldstein, MD, of the University of California San Diego, contacted Ferien after the presentation to ask him to submit the data Reviews of sexual medicine. Goldstein is the editor-in-chief of the magazine.

“I need more information, because to suggest that a particular diet actually positively affects sexual function would be cool, but it has to be true,” Goldstein said MedPage today. “I would like to be able to say that there are pharmacological strategies and surgical strategies, but maybe there are [also] only conservative, lifestyle changes [you could make for ED].”

holiday told MedPage today that “Urologists may view our review as an opportunity to incorporate or modify existing nutritional advice for their patients, particularly those ready to implement lifestyle changes, particularly those related to prostate hyperplasia, ED and prostate cancer.”

Researchers mainly evaluated cohort studies, as well as cross-sectional studies and a small number of randomized controlled trials. They included data from vegan diets, vegetarian diets, and plant-based diets such as the Mediterranean diet. Several small cohort studies have shown a significant decrease in the rate of prostate cancer, although the benefit did not last after 6 months, Holiday said.

Two of the five ED studies reviewed found an association between plant-based diets and improved International Index of Erectile Function scores, although worsening scores were reported. The two included studies on ED reported a reduced relative risk of ED for patients on a plant-based diet. Five out of six studies on BPH found that plant-based diets were inversely related to the development of BPH.

Holiday and colleagues noted in the SMSNA abstract that the results could not be generalized because the studies were limited to observational and cohort studies that relied on patient-reported assessments of diet. They said more high-quality studies are needed to evaluate the relationship between diet and urological diseases.

However, no studies reported non-association or harmful effects of plant-based or plant-based diets. “It makes sense for patients who want to change their diet. It certainly won’t do any harm,” says Urlaub MedPage today.