Metabolic Syndrome and Prostate Cancer

An unlikely association, you might say, unless you think of the connection between obesity and some forms of cancer. But Norwegian scientists have established that the metabolic syndrome can predict the likelihood of prostate cancer. Sixteen thousand men aged 40-49 were entered into a study which followed them for 27 years. The metabolic syndrome consists of an estimate of weight, fasting glucose, triglycerides and blood pressure readings (although in this study the criteria varied very slightly). The authors of the study, after conducting a number of analyses, concluded that having the metabolic syndrome increased the risk for development of prostate cancer, suggesting that there’s an association between insulin resistance and the incidence of the cancer. It should be noted that the combination of any two or three factors were predictive for prostate cancer, and that weight (or BMI, or girth) was not alone a linked factor.

These days, experts are arguing “do we need the metabolic syndrome as an entity?” – it’s a collection of risk factors that, by themselves, arte predictive of various conditions (including early mortality from cardiovascular disease). This study suggests that we do need it – if only because no single factor was able to predict for prostate cancer as well as two or three factors, combined.

Too complicated? Just avoid all the risk factors, and you’ll be all right (or as well as you can be).