SWITCHING to a low-fat diet can slow or reverse the growth of prostate cancer in animals, according to a new study of laboratory mice that harbored human cancers.

The study, by Dr. Yu Wang and colleagues at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, showed that tumor growth could be stymied by halving the animals' fat intake, to 21 percent or less of calories from fat, down from about 40 percent.