Intermittent Fasting with a Special Diet for Prostate Cancer and Metabolism
Official title: Intermittent Fasting using a Fasting-Mimetic Diet to Improve Prostate Cancer Control and Metabolic Outcomes
Funded at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center · NIH-11144437 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This work explores if a special diet that mimics fasting can help men with prostate cancer manage their disease and improve their overall health, especially when undergoing hormone therapy.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Cedars-Sinai Medical Center NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Los Angeles, United States) |
| Project start | July 1, 2023 |
| Project end | June 30, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $684,131 |
| NIH project number | 5R01CA280081-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11144437 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are men with prostate cancer, especially those undergoing hormone therapy, who may be at risk for or already experiencing metabolic issues like insulin resistance or diabetes.
✕Less likely to help
Patients who are not able to follow a strict dietary regimen or those whose prostate cancer is not linked to metabolic factors may not receive direct benefit from this specific intervention.
What this research studies
Prostate cancer is very common in men, and while treatments like hormone therapy are effective, they can lead to side effects like increased risk of diabetes and heart disease. These metabolic changes might even make the cancer harder to treat. This project looks at whether a specific eating plan, called a fasting-mimicking diet, can help reduce these side effects and potentially slow cancer progression. The diet involves eating very low-calorie plant-based meals for five days, followed by regular eating for the rest of the month, with guidance for healthy choices. We hope this approach can improve health outcomes for men with prostate cancer.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could offer a new way for men with prostate cancer to better control their disease and reduce serious side effects from their treatments, improving their quality of life.
How similar studies have gone: Previous human studies have shown that this fasting-mimicking diet can positively affect insulin, glucose, and other related markers, and it has also delayed tumor growth in mouse models.
Where this research is happening
-
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Los Angeles, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Freedland, Stephen Jay — Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
- Study coordinator: Freedland, Stephen Jay
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Intermittent fasting diet to help prostate cancer and metabolic health
A patient-facing plan tests a fasting-mimicking diet to help men with prostate cancer improve cancer control and metabolism.
-
Intermittent fasting with a fasting-mimicking diet to help prostate cancer control and metabolic health
This tests whether short cycles of a low-calorie, plant-based fasting-mimicking diet can help men with prostate cancer keep cancer control and improve blood sugar, insulin, and body weight.
-
Cardiovascular risk planning and reduction for men with prostate cancer
A program to better predict and reduce heart disease risk in men treated for prostate cancer, especially older patients.
-
Effects of ADT on motivation and emotion in prostate cancer patients
This project looks at how androgen deprivation therapy may affect motivation and mood over time in men with prostate cancer.
-
Causal Protein Markers to Understand and Predict Prostate Cancer Risk in Africans and Europeans
A cancer research project looking at proteins linked to prostate cancer to better understand why it happens and how risk differs between African and European populations.
-
Ethical multimodal AI platform to improve prostate cancer detection with ultrasound
A patient-friendly AI system uses ultrasound and MRI information to help doctors better find prostate cancer, aiming to improve accuracy and access.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.