Background: Adopting a Mediterranean-style dietary pattern during prostate cancer treatment has the potential to mitigate cancer-related fatigue, and improve quality of life through a reduction of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT)-induced metabolic adverse side effects.
Aims: To examine the efficacy of an individualised Mediterranean-style dietary pattern for reducing cancer-related fatigue and improving quality of life in men with prostate cancer treated with ADT.
Methods: Men with prostate cancer who had received ADT for ≥3 months were randomly allocated (1:1) to usual care (UC) or an individualised Mediterranean nutrition intervention (INT) delivered by an Accredited Practising Dietitian. Fatigue [Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT)-Fatigue scale (FACT-F)] and quality of life [FACT-General (FACT-G)] were measured at baseline and following the 8 week intervention.
Results: Twelve participants (age: 65±8.7 years, body mass index: 29.6±2.7 kg/m2, time on ADT: 38.2±41.9 months) completed this RCT pilot study. Two-way repeated-measures ANOVA revealed significant differences between groups for change in total body mass (p=0.012), yet no significant differences were seen between groups in FACT-F (p=0.240), FACIT-F (p=0.219) or FACT-G (p=0.399) at 8 weeks. Significant within group changes were seen in the intervention group for total body weight (-3.2±2.3; p=0.20), FACT-G (+10.3±8.2; p=0.028) and FACIT-F (+13.8±7.7; p=0.007); whilst no significant changes were seen in the usual care group.
Conclusion: This pilot study found that an 8-week individualised Mediterranean-style dietary pattern did not significantly improve fatigue or quality of life compared to UC. However, the 3-10 points change observed in the FACIT-F and FACT-G indicate a clinically significant improvement in both fatigue and quality of life. Whilst a larger RCT is required to confirm these findings, individualised nutrition therapy aligned with a Mediterranean-style dietary pattern may be an effective clinical utility for the management of cancer-related fatigue and quality of life in men with prostate cancer treated with ADT.