Higher Intake of Saturated, Animal Fats May Increase Mortality in Prostate Cancer

THURSDAY, Sept. 10, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Higher intake of saturated and animal fats after nonmetastatic prostate cancer diagnosis is associated with higher all-cause mortality, according to a study published online Sept. 2 in JAMA Network Open.

Yiwen Zhang, Ph.D., from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues examined whether consumption of specific dietary fats after diagnosis is associated with long-term survival among patients with nonmetastatic prostate cancer in a study nested in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.

The study included 4,884 patients with nonmetastatic prostate cancer (mean age at diagnosis, 69.5 years); 3,040 deaths from any cause were confirmed during follow-up. The researchers found that higher postdiagnostic saturated fat intake was associated with greater all-cause, cardiovascular, and other cancer mortality when comparing patients in the highest versus the lowest quintile of saturated fat consumption (hazard ratios, 1.24 [95 percent confidence interval, 1.05 to 1.47], 1.42 [1.02 to 1.98], and 1.42 [0.93 to 2.17], respectively). Animal fat was also positively associated with all-cause mortality and deaths from other cancers (hazard ratios, 1.14 [0.97 to 1.33] and 1.49 [1.00 to 2.21], respectively). Reductions were seen in all-cause mortality when replacing 10 percent of calories from animal fats with plant-based fats and replacing 5 percent of calories from saturated fats with monounsaturated fats (hazard ratios, 0.84 [0.76 to 0.93] and 0.80 [0.70 to 0.91], respectively).

“Replacing some animal fats and saturated fats with plant-based and unsaturated fats may help support long-term health after a prostate cancer diagnosis,” co-senior author David P. Labbé, Ph.D., from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, said in a statement.

Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.

Abstract/Full Text

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