Prostate Cancer Severity in Relation to Level of Food Processing

The level of food processing has gained interest as a potential determinant of human health. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between the level of food processing and prostate cancer severity.

A sample of 120 consecutive patients were examined for the following: their dietary habits, assessed through validated food frequency questionnaires; their dietary intake of food groups, categorized according to the NOVA classification; and their severity of prostate cancer, categorized into risk groups according to European Association of Urology (EAU) guidelines. Uni- and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to test the association between the variables of interest.

Individuals reporting a higher consumption of unprocessed/minimally processed foods were less likely to have greater prostate cancer severity than those who consumed less of them in the energy-adjusted model (odds ratio (OR) = 0.38, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.17-0.84, p = 0.017 and OR = 0.33, 95% CI: 0.12-0.91, p = 0.032 for medium/high vs. low grade and high vs. medium/low grade prostate cancers, respectively); however, after adjusting for potential confounding factors, the association was not significant anymore. A borderline association was also found between a higher consumption of ultra-processed foods and greater prostate cancer severity in the energy-adjusted model (OR = 2.11, 95% CI: 0.998-4.44; p = 0.051), but again the association was not significant anymore after adjusting for the other covariates.

The level of food processing seems not to be independently associated with prostate cancer severity, while potentially related to other factors that need further investigation.