When To See A Doctor
Its a good idea to call your doctor if you experience symptoms of prostate cancer, even if theyre mild. As a rule of thumb, the National Cancer Institute recommends that men who are in their 30s or 40s see a doctor immediately if they experience any prostate cancer symptoms. While these symptoms dont necessarily indicate prostate cancer, noncancerous prostate problems usually occur in men after the age of 50.
Symptoms like bloody discharge or extreme pain may warrant an immediate cancer screening.
Getting regular cancer screenings is also important, particularly if theres a history of the disease in your family. Men with brothers or fathers with prostate cancer are up to three times more likely to develop the disease. Your risk may also be greater if breast cancer runs in your family. Sharing this information with your doctor can help you get timely testing done should any suspicious symptoms arise.
Egg Consumption And Gastro
In a study done by the researchers of the University of Sydney in Australia, they evaluated the relationship between egg consumption and the risk of gastrointestinal cancers. The analysis obtained data from 37 case-control and 7 cohort studies involving 424,867 participants and 18,852 GI cancer cases, through literature search in electronic databases until January 2014.
The findings from the study suggested that egg consumption may have a positive dose-response association with the development of gastrointestinal cancers.
The National Health Service has hit back at recent media reports suggesting egg consumption can increase the likelihood of men developing prostate cancer.
The press articles were based on a study by the Harvard School of Public Health which followed 27,607 medical professionals from 1994, recording every four years their diet, smoking status, physical characteristics and tested them for prostate cancer.
Researchers found that men who ate more than two-and-a-half eggs a week were 81% more likely to develop prostate cancer than those who ate less than half an egg a week.
But the NHS has questioned the strength of the findings, highlighting the small number of deaths in the study group, , and suggesting it may be down to chance.
In addition, the men who consumed more eggs were also found to have a higher body mass index, exercise less, were more likely to be smokers and to have a family history of prostate cancer.
What To Make Out Of The Association With Eggs Choline And Prostate Cancer
- Dont try to eliminate choline from your diet. You wont be able to as this nutrient is found in a lot of foods and some of those foods are necessary for good health. Besides, many foods that are a five on the CaPLESS Food Rating System, like broccoli and cauliflower contain some choline.
- The yolks in eggs carry the choline, not egg whites. One large egg has about 150mg of choline. Eat egg whites mostly, with maybe one egg yolk. I am not sure you have to give up eggs at all if you do not want to, just dont eat them every day.
- Eliminate or limit dairy consumption. Dont do diets of exclusion, i.e., low-fat or 2% milk, for example. Fat is not your dietarily enemy. Plus taking out a macronutrient from food often mean adding other crap to it. In the case of choline, there seems to be more of it in low-fat and non-fat milk than whole milk.
- Dont take supplements that include phosphatidylcholine or stand-alone lecithin, often found in brain or memory boost supplements if you had prostate cancer or at high risk of it. Lecithin improves absorbability of fat-soluble nutrients like curcumin, and it is often blended for that purpose. The amounts of lecithin, when used for this purpose, is small.
- A better nutrient for memory that doesnt seem to increase prostate cancer risk is Acetyl L-Carnitine which I use in my Advanced ADT Support packet.
Thoughts?
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What Did The Research Involve
In 1994, the researchers recruited 27,607 men from the existing cohort study in the US. The men did not have prostate or other forms of cancer . They had also had a prostate specific antigen test .
In this study:
- Information on the mens eating habits was collected every four years.
- Information regarding prostate cancer diagnosis was collected every two years.
- From men who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, information of treatment and disease progression was collected every two years.
- The researchers defined lethal prostate cancer as disease that had spread to distant organs or death due to prostate cancer during the studys follow-up period .
The researchers followed up the cohort for 14 years and analysed the associations between eating different amounts of red meat, poultry and eggs and the risk of developing lethal prostate cancer. The researchers grouped each participant according to the average amounts of each type of food they ate per week. For red meat, the subgroups included :
- less than three servings
For poultry, the subgroups were defined as :
- less than 1.5 servings
- over 3.5 servings for week
For eggs, the subgroups were:
- less than half an egg
- 0.5 to 1.5 eggs
- 1.5 to 2.5 eggs
- over 2.5 eggs
To determine which subgroup each participant would be allocated to, the researchers averaged their responses from all of the dietary questionnaires the participants had completed up until their diagnosis, or until the end of the study .
Lets Take A Look At The Scientific Data Regarding Egg Consumption And Prostate Cancer
In The Health Professionals Follow-Up Study , a study observing over fifty thousand male health professionals since 1986 noticed that men who consumed 2.5 eggs per week had a 1.8-fold increased risk of developing lethal prostate cancer compared with men who consumed < 0.5 eggs per week. However, this study found no association between consumption of eggs and risk of deadly prostate cancer after diagnosis.
On the other hand, results from 15 prospective cohort study involving 842,149 men from North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia, examined the association of incidence of prostate cancer and the intake of unprocessed and processed red meat, seafood, eggs, and poultry. No association among unprocessed red meat, processed red meat poultry and seafood and prostate cancer was made.
However, a connection was detected between eggs intake and fatal prostate cancers risk.
The Cancer of the Prostate Strategic Urologic Research Endeavor , another very large male study found an increased risk of recurrence for higher intakes of eggs around the time of diagnosis.
Egg intake in CaPSURE was higher, with a mean of 7.9 servings per week compared to 3.2 servings per week in our population. Also, CaPSURE, men who consumed the most eggs after prostate cancer diagnosis had a two-fold increased risk of prostate cancer recurrence compared with men who consumed the least eggs
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Your Diet And Your Prostate
What you eat can have a big influence on the health of your prostate. While some foods can help reduce the risk of developing a benign prostatic hyperplasia or enlarged prostate , as well as lessen the severity of the symptoms, there are others which can actually aggravate your symptoms.
The more inflammation present in your body generally, the more likely you are to have inflammation in the prostate, so avoiding or limiting certain foods which trigger an inflammatory response is a good place to start, as well as staying clear of food and drinks which irritate the bladder and cause frequent urination.
Unfortunately gentlemen, it is often some of our favourite foods that can cause inflammation flare ups and bladder problems. Knowing the main culprits however could help you manage your symptoms better.
Increase Your Vitamin D
Most people dont get enough vitamin D. It can help protect against prostate cancer and many other conditions. Vitamin D-rich foods include cod liver oil, wild salmon and dried shitake mushrooms. Since the sun is a better, more readily available source of vitamin D, many experts recommend getting 10 minutes of sun exposure every day. Doctors often recommend vitamin D supplements. However, you should talk to your doctor before taking any vitamin or supplement.
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Foods To Avoid: Caffeine
Avoiding or limiting your caffeine intake, including coffee, tea, energy drinks and fizzy drinks, is another thing that can make a big difference to your urinary health.
Caffeine has a diuretic effect which means it can increase the urge to go to the toilet. On top of this, drinking these beverages, especially late at night, can irritate the bladder and so will make it more likely that youll need to use the loo. As it is difficult for men with an enlarged prostate to empty their bladder completely anyway, consuming caffeinated drinks will only add to the problem.
There are now so many caffeine-free drinks available that it shouldnt be too much of a challenge to swap your usual brew for something a little kinder to your bladder.
Chamomile tea is particularly beneficial as it has anti-inflammatory properties. If you favour coffee, though, then Bambu, our caffeine-free coffee, is a great alternative.
On top of this, another important drink for your prostate is water. Its vital you stay well hydrated if you suffer from the condition but remember not to drink anything at least 2 hours before bedtime.
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What Role Does Choline Play
Choline is an essential nutrient found in eggs that helps cells repair and rebuild every time they divide.
Eggs are the most abundant source of choline, with about 683 mg choline per 100 grams of yolk.
The problem is that choline is also found in prostate cancer cells. As such, there are fears about whether or not choline can increase your risk of developing prostate cancer.
Another factor is that dietary choline is transformed into trimethylamine in the gut.
Research has suggested that the trimethylamine produced from high levels of dietary choline intake may increase inflammation, which in turn, could promote prostate cancer progression to lethal disease.
A study looking at the relationship between choline intake and aggressive prostate cancer was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition .
There were 47896 men involved in the study. Their diet was assessed 6 times over 22 years.
Men who consumed the highest amount of choline had a 70% increase in developing aggressive prostate cancer compared to men with the lowest intake of choline.
However, this finding is confined to a small population in America. Studies in other countries are required to determine if choline is truly linked to prostate cancer .
One of the issues with the theory that choline in eggs increases prostate cancer risk is that there are more prominent contributors to choline in the American diet, such as wheat germ .
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Do Certain Foods Increase The Risk Of Prostate Cancer
Its not entirely clear which foods increase the risk of prostate cancer. Meat , fatty foods, carbohydrates, eggs, poultry, and milk are all prime suspects, however reports connecting these foods to prostate cancer are inconsistent . Several studies do raise a concern for dairy milk, specifically dairy calcium and protein. Recently, an extensive population study from the UK estimated that a 35g per day increase in dairy protein raises the risk of prostate cancer by 32% . This is the equivalent of drinking 4-5 cups of whole milk daily. If you are really concerned about your risk for prostate cancer, you may consider decreasing your meat and dairy intake.
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Five Foods To Protect Your Prostate
Good news if youre worried about your prostate health: What you eat can make a difference. There is plenty of strong evidence that good nutrition and an active lifestyle can reduce the likelihood of prostate cancer and slow its progression, says Mitchell Sokoloff M.D., Chair of the Department of Urology and Professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
There are a few categorical changes you can make to your diet that make a big difference in overall health, as well as prostate health. What you eat can potentially disadvantage your prostate health e.g. foods you might want to avoid or protect the prostate in various ways. The Science of Living Well, Beyond Cancer recommends a diet that is high in colorful vegetables, low in sugar and processed carbohydrates, and moderate in animal-based protein . Some might refer to this as a version of the Mediterranean Diet. PCF-funded epidemiologist Lorelei Mucci, M.P.H., Sc.D., at Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health notes that people in Mediterranean countries not only eat more vegetables and fruits they also eat less fatty foods, processed food, and red meat categories that can increase insulin resistance, increase inflammation, raise cardiovascular risk and be a part of a dietary pattern that may increase obesity, as well.
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Cut Down Or Cut Out Alcohol And Processed Foods
Both alcohol and processed foods can cause unhealthy inflammation in your body. Youll want to eliminate processed foods, which are also low in nutrients and high in chemicals that could compromise your health.
When you shift your focus around eating to nutrition instead of taste alone, you may find that youre so full of pomegranates and cucumbers and other good foods that you dont have room for nutrition-poor processed foods, alcohol, and other indulgences.
Foods That Are Ruining Your Prostate Health
One in six men will deal with prostate cancer in his life, so its important for guys to keep their prostate health at the forefront of their minds.
Unfortunately, you may not realize that your prostate health is being negatively affected by the foods youre eating.
In this article, learn which foods you should be avoiding to maintain good prostate health.
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Exercise And Lose Weight
Exercising and losing weight are some of the best things you can do to promote prostate health. Many studies show that moderate or vigorous exercise reduces risk of BPH and urinary tract symptoms and helps with prostatitis as well. Exercise also benefits your cardiovascular health and can help prevent other health and sexual problems such as erectile dysfunction.
If you are overweight, losing weight is one of the most important natural changes you can make in improving your prostate health, whether your concerns are cancer, BPH or prostatitis. A study published in the Journal of Urology found that overweight men, especially men with a high amount of abdominal fat, have an increased risk of BPH. If you are looking to shrink the prostate, losing weight can help you reduce your prostate size and help relieve annoying and frustrating urinary symptoms. On top of that, weight loss can reduce your risk for prostate cancer and help relieve prostatitis, too.
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Why Are Eggs Linked To Cancer Progression
Written By Michael Greger M.D. FACLM on November 19th, 2013
About two million men in the U.S. are living with prostate cancer, but thats better than dying from prostate cancer. Catch it when its localized and our 5-year survival is practically guaranteed, but once it really starts spreading our chances drop to 1 in 3. So Harvard researchers took more than a thousand men with early stage prostate cancer and followed them for a couple years to see if there was anything in their diet associated with a resurgence of the cancer, such as spread to the bone.
Compared to men who hardly ate any eggs, men who ate even less than a single egg a day had a significant 2-fold increased risk of prostate cancer progression. The only thing worse was poultry consumption, which showed up to 4 times the risk of progression among high-risk men. Researchers believe the higher risk might be caused by the cooked meat carcinogens that build up more in chicken and turkey muscle than in other meats.
But what about the eggs? Why would less than once a day egg consumption double the risk of cancer progression? The Harvard paper suggests that the choline in eggs may increase inflammation.
In the New England Journal of Medicine the same Cleveland Clinic research team that performed the famous study on carnitine , tried feeding people hard-boiled eggs instead of steak. As they suspected, the egg-eaters experienced a spike of the same TMAO compound associated with red meat consumption .
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What You Need To Know About Diet And Prostate Cancer
10 anti-cancer nutrition tips for men
In many ways, prostate cancer is to men what breast cancer is to women. It’s the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men . And the older men get, the higher the frequency of the disease.
Health experts estimate that nearly three out of every 10 men in their 50s have prostate cancer, compared with about seven out of 10 men 80 or older. This may seem like good news for younger men — prostate cancer develops slowly, and is uncommon before age 50. But the fact that it does develop slowly behooves younger men to do whatever they can to help prevent it. And the fact that prostate cancer often doesn’t have noticeable symptoms behooves men 50 and up to get annual checkups and testing.
September is ProstateCancer Month, so this is a great time to take a few minutes to learn more about this cancer and the dietary steps we can take to reduce our risk.