The impact of a fasting mimicking diet on the metabolic health of a prospective cohort of patients with prostate cancer: a pilot implementation study

Thirty-five patients with prostate cancer and features of metabolic syndrome were offered a periodic 4-day Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD), low in calories, sugars and proteins and high in unsaturated fats. Twenty-nine of them completed three monthly cycles. The authors compared each patient's baseline weight, abdominal circumference, blood pressure and selected laboratory results with the same measurements three months after the cycles finished. There was no control group.

The authors reported an average weight reduction of 3.79 kg, an average reduction in abdominal circumference of 4.57 cm, and average reductions of 9.52 mmHg in systolic and 4.48 mmHg in diastolic blood pressure. They reported that a sub-analysis indicated larger effects in patients already at risk than in those with normal values, giving the example of a greater blood pressure reduction in patients whose baseline systolic pressure was above 130 mmHg. They reported that the cycles were introduced safely with little or no observed toxicity and 83% overall compliance, and said larger clinical trials are needed.

This is a small before-and-after study with no control group, so the changes cannot be attributed to the diet rather than to time, measurement, or other changes in the patients' care. Several of the stronger findings come from a sub-analysis of at-risk patients rather than from the whole group, and six of the thirty-five enrolled did not complete the cycles. Participants were prostate cancer patients with features of metabolic syndrome, not a general wellness population, and the study does not evaluate Prolon directly. The authors state that larger trials are needed to assess any effect on the cancer itself.