Abstract 2172: Associations between plant- and animal-based dietary patterns and aggressive prostate cancer in the North Carolina-Louisiana prostate cancer project (PCaP)
Authors: Sainyo Jessica , Steck Susan E. , Zhao Longgang , Su L. Joseph , Arab Lenore , Turner David , Butler Ebonee N. , Bensen Jeannette T. , Fontham Elizabeth T.H. , Mohler James L. 
Published: March 2024

Objective: Results of studies examining the association between a plant-based diet or animal food intake and prostate cancer have been mixed. Few studies have focused on aggressive prostate cancer in a racially diverse population. We examined the association between healthy and unhealthy plant-based and animal-based diet scores and aggressive prostate cancer in the North Carolina-Louisiana Prostate Cancer Project, a case-only study of Black and White men in the United States.

Methods: Eighteen food groups were created and classified as healthy plant foods, unhealthy plant foods, or animal foods using dietary data collected from an interviewer-administered modified version of the National Cancer Institute Diet History Questionnaire among 909 Black and 991 White men with a histologically confirmed diagnosis of prostate cancer. High aggressive prostate cancer (n=332) was defined as Gleason sum ≥8; or PSA&gt; 20ng/ml; or Gleason sum ≥7 and clinical stage T3-T4, and the comparison group was all other prostate cancer cases (n=1,568). Logistic regression was used to determine the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for high aggressive prostate cancer by tertiles of dietary pattern scores.

Results: A decreased odds of aggressive prostate cancer was observed among men in the upper compared to the bottom tertile for healthy plant-based diet score (OR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.58, 1.15) and unhealthy plant-based diet score (OR: 0.89, 95%CI: 0.63, 1.25) while an increased odds was observed comparing extreme tertiles of the animal-based diet score (OR: 1.17. 95% CI: 0.84-1.65) after adjustment for multiple covariates, though confidence intervals were imprecise and not statistically significant. Associations tended to be stronger among White men than among Black men; e.g., for the animal-based diet score, ORs (95% CIs) were 1.41 (0.86, 2.37) and 1.02 (0.63, 1.66) for White and Black men, respectively.

Conclusions: Consuming a plant-based dietary pattern may be associated with lower odds of aggressive prostate cancer while an animal-based dietary pattern may be associated with higher odds, though associations were weak and not statistically significant.

Keywords: Healthy plant-based diet, unhealthy plant-based diet, animal-based diet, aggressive prostate cancer, racial disparities

Conflict of interest: None

Funding: PCaP is carried out as a collaborative study supported by the Department of Defense contract DAMD 17-03-2-0052. This research was made possible in part by Grant Numbers R01-CA259415 from NIH-NCI and T32-GM081740 from NIH-NIGMS. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIGMS or NIH.

Citation Format: Jessica Sainyo, Susan E. Steck, Longgang Zhao, L. Joseph Su, Lenore Arab, David Turner, Ebonee N. Butler, Jeannette T. Bensen, Elizabeth T.H. Fontham, James L. Mohler. Associations between plant- and animal-based dietary patterns and aggressive prostate cancer in the North Carolina-Louisiana prostate cancer project (PCaP) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 2172.