Nuts And Olive Oil Can Improve Prostate Cancer Survival Odds, Study Finds

We always hear that nuts and mono-unsaturated fatty acids can help reduce our cholesterol and chances of a stroke, help improve cardiovascular health, and even help keep cancer at bay. But a new study from JAMA Internal Medicine is touting nuts and olive oil as factors that can help men survive prostate cancer, according to NPR.

Out of 4,500 men with cancer that had not spread from the prostate, researchers found that men who "replaced 10 percent of their total daily calories from carbohydrates [...] with vegetable fats (such as olive oil and canola)," after they had been diagnosed, resulted in a 29 percent lower risk of developing the more deadly form of prostate cancer. Also when added, a daily ounce of nuts showed "an 18 percent lower risk of developing metastatic prostate cancer."

The data needs further research, but preliminary results are showing some promising things. Erin Richman, scholar at the University of California San Francisco's Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, told Nature World News, "Consumption of healthy oils and nuts increases plasma antioxidants and reduces insulin and inflammation, which may deter prostate cancer progression." She also added that these results were not surprising, but the fact that vegetable oils can help is something previously undiscovered. Perhaps the Mediterranean Diet is all we've need all along; so eat your nuts and lose the butter.