TRIAL FINDS DIET RICH IN VEG AND PROBIOTICS COULD HELP IN KEY WAYS

A DIET rich in vegetables and probiotics could help slow the growth of low-risk prostate cancer, a new study suggests.

- By ELLA PICKOVER, PA

Researchers found that specially designed supplements and probiotics appeared to slow progression of an indicator of prostate cancer in the blood.

Academics said that the link between the gut and the prostate, known as the “gut-prostate axis”, is increasingly being recognised as they set out to investigate whether increasing the level of “phytochemical-rich foods and Lactobacillus probiotics” would have an effect on prostate cancer.

They developed a specially developed supplement made from broccoli, turmeric, pomegranate, green tea, ginger and cranberry and a specially designed probiotic.

Some 212 men with low-risk prostate cancer were recruited to the new study.

Half the men were given the supplement and a placebo, also known as a dummy drug. The other half were given the supplement and the probiotic.

Researchers, led by a team from the University of Bedfordshire, along with experts from Cambridge University Hospitals and Bedford Hospital, then measured prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in blood.

The PSA test can indicate prostate conditions including prostate cancer or an enlarged prostate.

Working with scientists from California in the US and Perth in Australia, they found that the rate of PSA progression slowed significantly in both groups of men taking part in the trial. But the rate of change was “significantly greater” among the group who got the supplement and the probiotic.

Meanwhile, researchers also used MRI scans to measure disease progression during the four-month study.