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2024 PCF VAlor Challenge Award

Donors: Anonymous, Patrice and Precious Motsepe (Motsepe Foundation), Stephen and Christine Schwarzman, Leerom and Karolina Segal, Cindy and Rob Citrone (Citrone 33), David and Kristin Steinberg

Plant Based Dietary Patterns and Advanced Prostate Cancer     

Principal Investigators: Stacy Loeb, MD, MSc, PhD (Hon) (New York University Langone Health), Lorelei Mucci, ScD, MPH (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health)

Co-Investigators: Edward Giovannucci, MD, ScD (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health), Jaime Hart, ScD (Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School), Konrad Stopsack, MD ( Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health), Martha Shrubsole, PhD (Vanderbilt University)

Young Investigator: Natasha Gupta, MD, MSc (Manhattan Veterans Affairs and New York University Langone Health)

Description:

  • Consuming a healthy plant-based diet prior to a cancer diagnosis has been associated with a significantly lower risk of lethal prostate cancer, but more evidence is needed, particularly around the impact of dietary patterns for high-risk groups.
  • Dr. Stacy Loeb and team are investigating whether plant-based diets can reduce risk and improve prostate cancer survival and outcomes.
  • They are also investigating a novel plant-forward dietary pattern, the Planetary Health Diet, that optimizes health and environmental sustainability. This is impactful given that one-third of greenhouse gas emissions is tied to the food supply and nutrition may play a role in observed prostate cancer disparities.
  • In this project, the team will assess the potential of the Healthy Plant-Based and Planetary Health Dietary Patterns for primary prevention of fatal prostate cancer, including among racially/ethnically diverse populations. Given the strong genetic contribution to cancer risk, a multiethnic polygenic risk score will be integrated to examine whether plant-centered dietary patterns reduce fatal prostate cancer in people with high genetic risk.
  • The potential for Healthy Plant-Based and Planetary Health Dietary Patterns to improve survival in patients already diagnosed with prostate cancer will be assessed. Whether patients with certain molecular or genomic prostate cancer subtypes might benefit more from these diets will be determined.
  • The impact of these diets on greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental metrics will also be assessed.
  • The team will identify barriers and facilitators of healthy lifestyle modification among patients with advanced prostate cancer and their healthcare providers, and test the efficacy of dissemination strategies such as educational materials and podcasts for lifestyle promotion.
  • If successful, this project will determine whether Healthy Plant-Based and Planetary Health Dietary Patterns improve patient outcomes and benefit the environment, and determine how best to influence people to make dietary and lifestyle changes that will improve their health. 

What this means to patients: Healthy lifestyles have been associated with reduced risk for prostate cancer diagnosis and death, yet more studies are needed. Dr. Loeb, Mucci and team will be the first to examine the Planetary Health Dietary Pattern in prostate cancer, and to jointly estimate the impact of dietary patterns for prostate health and planetary health metrics in the same population. This project will provide novel data on the ability of nutrition to mitigate the risk of prostate cancer in groups at high genetic risk, and on precision secondary prevention based on molecular tumor features. Additionally, this study will provide new data on barriers to healthy lifestyle at multiple levels, and test novel methods to disseminate findings to healthcare providers, patients and the general public. This will lead to greater knowledge of how nutrition can improve patient outcomes and how people can be encouraged to implement important dietary changes.