Background: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common disease of older men. Although the etiology remains unclear, nutritional factors may have an effect on the disease.
Objective: Because the literature on the relations between macronutrient intakes and BPH risk is limited, we examined these relations among men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.
Design: We followed men aged 40-75 y from baseline in 1986 to 1994. Total BPH cases (n = 3523) comprised men who reported BPH surgery (n = 1589) or who did not undergo surgery but scored 15-35 points on the lower urinary tract symptom questionnaire of the American Urological Association (n = 1934); non-cases were men who scored < or = 7 points (n = 24388). Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs were calculated by using multivariate logistic regression.
Results: The ORs rose with increasing total energy intake in a comparison of the highest and lowest quintiles for total BPH (OR: 1.29; 95% CI: 1.14, 1.45) and symptoms of BPH (1.43; 1.23, 1.66). Energy-adjusted total protein intake was positively associated with total BPH (1.18; 1.05, 1.33) and BPH surgery (1.26; 1.06, 1.49). Energy-adjusted total fat intake was not associated with risk of total BPH, but intakes of eicosapentaenoic, docosahexaenoic, and arachidonic acids were associated with a moderate increase in risk of total BPH.
Conclusions: We observed modest direct associations between BPH and intakes of total energy, protein, and specific long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. Because eicosapentaenoic, docosahexaenoic, and arachidonic acids are highly unsaturated fatty acids, our findings support a possible role of oxidative stress in the etiology of BPH.