How To Decrease Risk Of Prostate Cancer

Consider A Daily Baby Aspirin

How to lower your risk for prostate cancer

Speaking of inflammation as a potential risk factor for prostate cancer, its possible that some anti-inflammatory medications could be protective, too, says Dr. Ross. This could include taking a baby aspirin a daybut theres a caveat. There are risks to this, so the American Medical Association hasnt recommended it, he adds. Those risks include the possibility of spontaneous bleedingso this definitely isnt a step you want to take without consulting your doctor first, he says.

Aim For A Healthy Eating Pattern

Instead of focusing on specific foods, dietitians, physicians, and researchers tout an overall pattern of healthy eating and healthy eating is easier than you might think. In a nutshell, heres what experts recommend:

Eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Go for those with deep, bright color.

Choose whole-grain bread instead of white bread and choose whole-grain pasta and cereals.

Limit your consumption of red meat, including beef, pork, lamb, and goat, and processed meats, such as bologna and hot dogs. Fish, skinless poultry, beans, and eggs are healthier sources of protein.

Choose healthful fats, such as olive oil, nuts , and avocados. Limit saturated fats from dairy and other animal products. Avoid partially hydrogenated fats , which are in many fast foods and packaged foods.

Avoid sugar-sweetened drinks, such as sodas and many fruit juices. Eat sweets as an occasional treat.

Cut down on salt. Choose foods low in sodium by reading and comparing food labels. Limit the use of canned, processed, and frozen foods.

Watch portion sizes. Eat slowly and stop eating when you are full.

Diet & Exercise Tips For Prostate Health

“What can I eat to reduce my risk of developing prostate cancer?” This is one of the most common questions physicians hear from men concerned about prostate health. Undoubtedly, many hope that their doctor will rattle off a list of foods guaranteed to shield them from disease. Although some foods have been linked with reduced risk of prostate cancer, proof that they really work is lacking, at least for now.

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How To Check Prostate Cancer

When youre checking for prostate cancer, its important to know the symptoms. When youre aware of the signs, prostate cancer can be caught early. Because prostate cancer doesnt typically show signs early on, this particular cancer is typically found through PSA blood test or digital rectal exams.

But, there are typically five major warning signs of prostate cancer however, as cancer progresses, symptoms typically involve the urinary system. Because the prostate is located close to the urethra and bladder, symptoms might include 1 :

Frequent urination
Hip or back pain
Leg swelling or weakness

Contact your doctor if you notice any of the above symptoms. And if you do catch any of these symptoms, try not to panic. These particular symptoms can often have to do with non-cancerous conditions of the prostate, as well as bladder infections.

Its important to know that there are also several different types of prostate cancer. The most common types found in prostate cancer patients include:

Overview Of Cam Use In Prostate Cancer

Studies of CAM use to treat prostate cancer have shown the following:

Men who have prostate cancer are more likely to take dietary supplements and eat certain foods than men who do not have prostate cancer.
Men who have prostate cancer and who have healthy eating habits are more likely to take dietary supplements.
Men who have prostate cancer use CAM treatments to help boost the immune system, improve quality of life, and lower the risk of the cancer coming back, but only half of them tell their doctors about their use of CAM.

Studies of CAM use to lower prostate cancer risk or to prevent it from coming back have shown the following:

A study of men with a family history of prostate cancer found that over half used vitamins or other dietary supplements for prostate health or to prevent cancer.
A study of men at a prostate cancer screening clinic found that over half took multivitamins and some took herbal supplements.
A study of prostate cancer survivors found that up to one-third took vitamins or minerals.

See the PDQ summary on Prostate Cancer Prevention for more information on prostate cancer prevention.

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The Following Risk Factors May Increase The Risk Of Prostate Cancer:

Age

Prostate cancer is rare in men younger than 50 years of age. The chance of developing prostate cancer increases as men get older.

Family history of prostate cancer

A man whose father, brother, or son has had prostate cancer has a higher-than-average risk of prostate cancer.

Race

Prostate cancer occurs more often in African American men than in White men. African American men with prostate cancer are more likely to die from the disease than White men with prostate cancer.

Hormones

The prostate needs male hormones to work the way it should. The main male sex hormone is testosterone. Testosterone helps the body develop and maintain male sex characteristics.

Testosterone is changed into dihydrotestosterone by an enzyme in the body. DHT is important for normal prostate growth but can also cause the prostate to get bigger and may play a part in the development of prostate cancer.

Vitamin E

The Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial found that vitamin E taken alone increased the risk of prostate cancer. The risk continued even after the men stopped taking vitamin E.

Folic acid

Dairy and calcium

A diet high in dairy foods and calcium may cause a small increase in the risk of prostate cancer.

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.

Does Having More Ejaculations Lessen The Chance Of Prostate Cancer

For reasons not fully known, ejaculating more may lower the risk of prostate cancer.

Ejaculating after all, based upon some studies, through sexual intercourse or masturbation, does not seem to protect against higher risk prostate cancers. The studies do not sort out between ejaculating during sexual intercourse or masturbation, and the effect of each on prostate cancer.

One study followed 32,000 men for 18 years. It found men who ejaculated the most had a 20% lower chance of prostate cancer vs. those who ejaculated 4 to 7 times a month. The more the number increased per month, the lower their risk. Other studies have found ejaculation rate has no impact on prostate cancer rates.

Ejaculation may protect the prostate by flushing out harmful chemicals that build up in semen. It is also possible ejaculation does not actually protect against prostate cancer. Men who ejaculate more may have healthier lifestyle habits that decrease their odds of being diagnosed with the disease. Additionally, ejaculating may only reduce the risk in men in certain age groups.

The bottom line is more research is needed before we know for sure whether more ejaculation reduces the risk of prostate cancer.

Dr. Anne Calvaresi is the chair of the Urology Care Foundation’s Prostate Health Committee. She works in Philadelphia and specializes in urology and prostate health.

How Do I Keep My Prostate Healthy

How To Reduce Risk For Prostate Cancer & Lower PSA Levels

10 diet & exercise tips for prostate health Eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Choose whole-grain bread instead of white bread and choose whole-grain pasta and cereals. Limit your consumption of red meat, including beef, pork, lamb, and goat, and processed meats, such as bologna and hot dogs.

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What Are The Risks Of Screening For Prostate Cancer

The risks of screening include a false positive test result, meaning an elevated PSA level without having prostate cancer. When the test results come back abnormal, you may feel anxious about your health and have an unnecessary biopsy. The risk of an elevated PSA level increases with age.

Screening can also detect prostate cancer in men who do not have symptoms and may have eventually died from another cause. These men are at risk for complications without the benefits of treatment.

However, for men with at least a 10-year life expectancy, on balance the benefits of prostate cancer screening outweigh these risks. Cancer screening has been shown to save lives.

Top 10 Considerations For Preventing Prostate Cancer

To understand how to prevent prostate cancer, one must first understand what causes it. There are four major factors that influence ones risk for developing prostate cancer.

Age: The average age at diagnosis of prostate cancer in the United States is 69 years and after that age the chance of developing prostate cancer becomes more common than any other cancer in men or women.

Race: African-Americans are more likely to develop prostate cancer and have more than twice the risk of dying from it. Conversely, Asian men who live in Asia have the lowest risk however when they migrate to the west, their risk increases.

Family history: A man with a father or brother who developed prostate cancer has a twofold-increased risk for developing it. This risk is further increased if the cancer was diagnosed at a younger age or affected three or more family members. You should discuss with your Doctor if you have a family history of not only prostate cancer, but also breast cancer, colon cancer, or pancreatic cancer.

Where you live: The risk of developing prostate cancer for men who live in rural China is 2% and for men in the United States is 17%. When Chinese men move to the western culture, their risk increases substantially men who live north of 40 degrees latitude have the highest risk for dying from prostate cancer of any men in the United States this effect appears to be mediated by inadequate sunlight during three months of the year which reduces vitamin D levels.

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Selenium And Vitamin E

The medical community once considered selenium and vitamin E to be opponents of cancer.

However, more recent research suggests that these compounds, when taken together or in isolation, can increase the risk of prostate cancer in some people.

Anyone concerned about prostate cancer should avoid supplements containing vitamin E or selenium.

Foods To Eat Medications To Consider Supplements To Avoid

How to Reduce Your Risk for Prostate Cancer

by Timothy Gower, AARP Bulletin, November 18, 2011| 0

En español | Two widely popular prostate cancer protection measures PSA testing and vitamin E were blasted recently by scientists with the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force advising against routine prostate cancer screening and by a new study concluding that high doses of vitamin E may actually increase rather than decrease the risk for prostate cancer. Those two key pieces of news have left many men wondering: Is there anything I can do to protect against this disease?

Aspirin may reduce prostate cancer deaths. Read

Yes. And fortunately, health-conscious men already may be taking some of the right steps to reduce their risk. “Almost every heart-healthy behavior you can imagine is associated with a lower potential risk of prostate cancer,” says Mark Moyad, M.D., director of preventive and alternative medicine at the University of Michigan Medical Center department of urology.

Here are a man’s best bets for eluding prostate cancer, according to researchers and health experts.

1. The right diet: beyond marinara sauce

Frequent sexual activity can lower the risk of developing prostate cancer.

Fill up on:

Fish. The omega-3 fatty acids in fish especially oily varieties such as salmon and mackerel dampen inflammation, which appears to promote prostate tumors. In one recent study, men who ate oily fish more than once a week reduced their risk for developing aggressive prostate cancer by 57 percent.

Cut back on:

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Stay Active To Support Prostate Health

In addition to eating a healthy diet, you should stay active. Regular exercise pares down your risk of developing some deadly problems, including heart disease, stroke, and certain types of cancer. And although relatively few studies have directly assessed the impact of exercise on prostate health, those that have been done have concluded, for the most part, that exercise is beneficial. For example:

Based on questionnaires completed by more than 30,000 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, researchers found an inverse relationship between physical activity and BPH symptoms. Simply put, men who were more physically active were less likely to suffer from BPH. Even low- to moderate-intensity physical activity, such as walking regularly at a moderate pace, yielded benefits.

Using data from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, researchers also examined the relationship between erectile dysfunction and exercise. They found that men who ran for an hour and a half or did three hours of rigorous outdoor work per week were 20% less likely to develop ED than those who didn’t exercise at all. More physical activity conferred a greater benefit. Interestingly, regardless of the level of exercise, men who were overweight or obese had a greater risk of ED than men with an ideal body mass index, or BMI.

Get more information and the latest news about prostate health at www.HarvardProstateKnowledge.org.

Purpose Of This Summary

This PDQ cancer information summary has current information about the use of nutrition and dietary supplements for reducing the risk of developing prostate cancer or for treating prostate cancer. It is meant to inform and help patients, families, and caregivers. It does not give formal guidelines or recommendations for making decisions about health care.

Get Your Green Tea On

Green tea contains an abundance of unique antioxidants that have repeatedly been linked to cell health and a reduction in the number of cancer causing free-radicals found in the body.

Furthermore, those men who drink green tea regularly have not only been shown to have reduced risk of cancer, but prostate cancer in particular.

This has also been associated with an increase in prostate health and prostate function.

As a result, a cup or two of green tea each day can go a long way to improve your prostate health.

Body Weight Physical Activity And Diet

How to Reduce Prostate Cancer Recurrence

The effects of body weight, physical activity, and diet on prostate cancer risk aren’t completely clear, but there are things you can do that might lower your risk.

Some studies have found that men who are overweight or obese have a higher risk of developing advanced prostate cancer or prostate cancer that is more likely to be fatal.

Although not all studies agree, several have found a higher risk of prostate cancer in men whose diets are high in dairy products and calcium.

For now, the best advice about diet and activity to possibly reduce the risk of prostate cancer is to:

Get to and stay at a healthy weight.
Keep physically active.
Follow a healthy eating pattern, which includes a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables and whole grains, and avoids or limits red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, and highly processed foods.

It may also be sensible to limit calcium supplements and to not get too much calcium in the diet.

To learn more, see our American Cancer Society Guideline for Diet and Physical Activity for Cancer Prevention.

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How To Use Turmeric

The roots of the turmeric plant are boiled, dried, and then ground into a fine consistency to create this spice. Its used in everything from food and textile dye to herbal medicine. In addition to a cooking spice, turmeric is also available as:

a supplement
a fluid extract
an herbal tincture

You should aim for 500 milligrams of curcuminoids, or about 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder, per day. Doses of 1,500 mg of curcuminoids, or about 1 1/2 teaspoons of thermic powder, per day may cause side effects.

If you dont want to take it as a supplement, you can also use the spice when cooking. Add a dash of the spice to your egg salad, sprinkle it on some steamed cauliflower, or mix it into brown rice. For best results, add black pepper to the recipe. The piperine in the pepper will help your body properly absorb the curcumin.

You can also enjoy turmeric as a relaxing tea. Simmer together water and a blend of the following ingredients for 10 minutes:

turmeric
clove
nutmeg

Once youre done simmering, strain the mixture and add milk and a drop of honey for sweetness.

Mediterranean Diet May Decrease Risk Of Prostate Cancer Progression Formen On Active Surveillance

MD Anderson News ReleaseJanuary 07, 2021

In a study to examine a Mediterranean diet in relation to prostate cancer progression in men on active surveillance, researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found that men with localized prostate cancer who reported a baseline dietary pattern that more closely follows the key principles of a Mediterranean-style diet fared better over the course of their disease.

Men with prostate cancer are motivated to find a way to impact the advancement of their disease and improve their quality of life, said Justin Gregg, M.D., assistant professor of Urology and lead author of the study, published today in Cancer. A Mediterranean diet is non-invasive, good for overall health and, as shown by this study, has the potential to effect the progression of their cancer.

After adjusting for factors known to increase risk of cancer getting worse over time, such as age, prostate-specific antigen and tumor volume, men with a diet that contained more fruits, vegetables, legumes, cereals and fish had a reduced risk of their prostate cancer growing or advancing to a point where many would consider active treatment. The researchers also examined the effect of diabetes and statin use and found a similar risk reduction in these patient groups.

Trial participants were 82.9% Caucasian, 8.1% Black and 9% other or unknown. The median age was 64, 15% of the men were diabetic and 44% used statins.