Elevated PSA reduced with diet
by Sue Kira, Naturopath & Clinical Nutritionist
Client name and identifying information changed
Mick was only 45 when he discovered that his PSA was quite elevated. There was a strong family history with all of the men having prostate cancer. His dad died from it. His elder brothers had their prostates removed and Mick was encouraged to have his removed.
Mick told me that his family led rather unhealthy lives and he was relatively healthy by comparison. He wanted to see if diet and lifestyle adjustments could help him as his doctor was happy to monitor his PSA levels for the time being.
Looking at Mick’s diet I could see that although it was indeed relatively healthy by most standards, there were things that could be done to make improvements, especially considering that certain foods or cooking methods can make a big difference.
Being an Aussie male, he and his family were big on having loads of BBQ’s with lots of red meat and sausages, all nicely charred (but served with healthy salads) washed down with a couple of beers during weekends. Mick played a lot of sport so he was fit and strong, which certainly does help to support good prostate health.
I asked him if he liked fish and seafood and fortunately he loved them and would often go out fishing and get a ‘big catch’ and stock up the freezer. So I suggested that initially while we tried to get his PSA levels down, to eat fish or seafood every day for at least one meal a day and legumes, nuts and seeds with salads and veggies for his other meals.
He chose to eat: paleo style muesli with almond milk for his breakfasts; sardines in tomato with home-made seed crackers for his morning tea snack; a big salad with sprouted legumes for lunch; fish, prawns, scallops, or oysters (steamed, lightly stir-fried or lightly grilled/broiled, or lightly pan fried in coconut oil) with veggies or salad for dinner.
We discussed avoiding beer and other alcohol, as well as coffee, dairy products, all grains and sugar (which he did). He ate more berries and for a refreshing drink once a day, he drank frozen sugar free cranberries blended with coconut water and coconut oil. Cranberries are said to be good for the urogenital areas and although cranberries are sour, the coconut tastes sweet, has no sugar and contains good anti-inflammatory fats.
His wife loved the new menu and she lost 5 kgs/11lbs in a month and felt great. Mick was happy as his PSA level dropped by 50% in one month, so being motivated by the results, he continued the diet for another two months. When re-tested, his PSA was within the normal range.
He started to add back either some pasture raised red meat or chicken for some variety for one meal a week and continued with the fish and seafood. Three months later his PSA was still good.
He maintained this diet for the next twelve months while still holding good PSA results, so he was happy to continue and to keep monitoring his levels just to be sure. His doctor said to keep doing whatever he was doing.
Note: Always be under the guidance of your doctor and be regularly tested if making any changes to your diet to support prostate health.