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According to a study led by Dr. Jason Efstathiou from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer who are obese or overweight have a greater risk of death. In fact men who are obese at the time of prostate cancer diagnosis are twice as likely to die as patients with a healthy body mass index.

A man is defined as being overweight when he has a body mass index between 25 and 29.9 kg/m2. If the BMI exceeds 30, he is obese by definition. A healthy BMI is defined to be between 18.5 and 24.9 kg/m2. Prostate cancer is expected to be diagnosed in 218,000 U.S. men each year and over 27,000 will die from the disease.

This study followed 788 men with prostate cancer for 8 years and discovered that the risk of death from prostate cancer increased as the patients body mass index increased.

After five years, the death rate for prostate cancer patients with normal BMI was less than 7 percent compared to about 13 percent for men who were obese or overweight.

Although there may be inconsistent studies on this matter, prostate cancer patients may need to look at their diet and lifestyle in order to live a longer life.

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