Prostate Cancer: Lifestyle Recommendations During Androgen Deprivation Therapy

Announcer:
Welcome to On the Frontlines of Prostate Cancer on ReachMD. On this episode, we’ll learn about lifestyle recommendations for prostate cancer patients with Dr. Tanya Dorff. Not only is she a Professor at the Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research, but she also serves as the Division Chief of the Genitourinary Disease Program at City of Hope in Duarte, California. Here’s Dr. Dorff now.

Dr. Dorff:
As soon as I whip out a prescription for androgen deprivation, I start talking about exercise because it’s really the one thing we can do that has been shown over and over again to make a difference. The literature supports it and my own patient experiences support it, so I always tell patients to please not only do cardiovascular exercise, which of course they need to do for their general health and it’s good for their well-being as well, but also resistance training to maintain muscle mass because I think that is a really key component to offsetting many of the side effects of androgen deprivation therapy.

We also talk usually about diet, and different patients have different goals when they’re asking about diet. Some of them want more of an anticancer diet, but I try to focus on the weight gain and the metabolic changes that are occurring during androgen deprivation, and for that really, the best strategy time and time again that we see is reducing carbohydrates. There are new data that suggest a plant-based diet is associated with better prostate cancer outcomes, so I think it’s appropriate to let patients know that and try to counsel them towards more fruits and vegetables and less animal product. But it’s not really achievable for everyone to go fully in that direction, and I don’t want to forget about a real immediate goal, like trying not to gain 20 lbs. in a year on hormone therapy. And so giving patients strategies that address that, I think, is really important as well.

Announcer:
That was Dr. Tanya Dorff sharing lifestyle recommendations for prostate cancer patients. To access this and other episodes in our series, visit On the Frontlines of Prostate Cancer on ReachMD.com, where you can Be Part of the Knowledge. Thanks for listening!