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Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 26, No. 4, 317-320 (2007)
Published by the American College of Nutrition

Lack of Effect of Walnuts on Serum Levels of Prostate Specific Antigen: A Brief Report

Joel A. Simon, MD, MPH, FACN, Jay S. Tanzman and Joan Sabaté, MD, DrPH

General Internal Medicine Section, Medical Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center (J.A.S)
Division of Clinical Research, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco (J.A.S.)
Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, Loma Linda University (J.S.T., J.S.), Loma Linda, California

Address correspondence to: Dr. Joel A. Simon, General Internal Medicine (111A1), San Francisco VA Medical Center, 4150 Clement Street, San Francisco, California, 94121. E-mail: joel.simon{at}ucsf.edu

Objective: To examine whether the short-term consumption of walnuts, a food rich in {alpha}-linolenic acid, affects levels of serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a marker of prostate enlargement, inflammation, and cancer.

Methods: Using data from a 12-month randomized crossover study examining the effect of walnut consumption on body composition, we examined whether increased walnut consumption (mean 35 grams daily, 12% total energy) affected serum PSA levels among 40 middle-aged men.

Results: There was no significant difference between mean PSA level at the conclusion of the 6-month walnut-supplemented diet (1.05 µg/L, 95% CI [0.81, 1.37]) and the conclusion of the 6-month control diet (1.06 µg/L, 95% CI [0.81, 1.38]) (P = 0.86) (or a mean proportional decrease in PSA of –1%).

Conclusions: Our results suggest that short-term consumption of walnuts is unlikely to affect PSA levels adversely among otherwise normal men.

Key words: {alpha}-linolenic acid, diet, prostate cancer, prostate specific antigen, walnuts






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