Prostate Cancer Prevention Plan

Things You Can Do To Protect Your Prostate

Want to half your prostate cancer risk?  Here is five simple lifestyle techniques that you can implement to ensure a healthy prostate. For most of your life, a prostate gland is definitely a good thing to have – without it, you won’t produce much semen but that good gland goes bad all to often. To keep your prostate from becoming a cancer statistic, know how to cut your risk where you can.  

1.  Eat more prostate protectors.

Hitting your daily mark of several key nutrients may slash your risk of ever getting prostate cancer. Here are five prostate protectors to put on your menu:

Lycopene. I’ve been touting this nutrient (the stuff that makes tomatoes red) for years now, and we’re not about to stop. Researce suggests that taking in an average of 15 milligrams of lycopene daily – two to four servings of tomato sauce per week – can cut your risk of prostate cancer by 34 percent.  And add some carrots – beta-carotene boosts lycopene absorption.

Boron. Like raisin bran for breakfast? Your prostate may thank you for it.  According to a recent epidemiological study, men with the highest boron intake (raisins and peanuts are loaded with it) were 65 percent less likely to develop prostate cancer than men with a lower boron intake. Other foods that pack a boron punch: Apples, pears, peaches, oranges, grapes, lima beans, peanut butter.

Soluble fibre. Oatmeal and beans are prime sources.A study in the Journal of Urology noted that men whoate more soluble fibre had lower levels of Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA), a major prostate-cancer marker.Most fruit and veg contain some soluble fibre as well – plus a healthy dose of the digestion-speeding insoluble kind;you need a total of 25 to grams a day of both.

Selenium. In a University of Arizona study,men with the highly daily intakes of this trace mineral were two thirds  less likely to to have prostate cancer than men who skimped on the stuff.You can get more selenium in your diet by eating rich sources like tuna,Brazil nuts, and sunflower seeds.But to guarantee the healthiest levels and guard against gaps in your diet,many experts advise a daily supplement containing 200 micrograms of the mineral.

Vitamen E. The anti-oxidant vitamin E may be especially important if you’ve picked up any nasty health habits on the road of life.In a mammoth study of more than 29 000 male smokers those who supplement with 50mg of E daily had a prostate-cancer rate 34 percent lower than that of men who didin’t  supplement.Some recent studies suggest that Vitamin E in its natural form is most effective at combating cancer.But since the richest dietary sources(think nuts,seeds,and oils such as peanut and canola)are also rich in fat,it’s not good to eat them in high amounts.Hedge your best by substituting E-rich oils for other fats in your diet,then taking a 200mg supplement daily.

2.  Eat less fat – and more soy.

Limiting the amount of fat you eat, especially the saturated kind in meat and full-fat dairy products, may play a key roll in lowering your prostate cancer risk.  Researchers in Spain who studied 651 cancer cases and controls found that men who ate the most saturated fat were twice as likely to have prostate cancer as those who ate the least.  Paring your fat intake to less than 30 percent helps even the odds.  Plus, it can help make a difference in the number you see when you step on the scale – being overweight is another well-known way to court cancer of the prostate. But soy is another way to keep it at bay.  Japanese men have a10-to15 times-lower prostate-cancer rate than other men, and many scientists point to soy, a staple of Asian diets, as the likely reason why.  In lab studies, soy proteins have stopped the growth and spread of prostate-cancer cells.  As little as have a cup of soy milk can make a difference.

3.  Move your butt.

The evidence in favour of exercise’s prostate-protecting potential is impressive. One study of 13000 men fount that those who worked out enough to burn off just 4000 kilojoules (about three hours of vigorous exercise) week were two- thirds as likely to have cancerous prostates as their couch-potato counterparts. Scientists think exercise may suppress hormones linked with stimulating prostate-cancer growth.

4. Who’s your daddy?

Knowing if prostate cancer runs in your family could save your life. Since the disease is far more treatable when it’s caught early, men whose genetics put them in high risk category are often advised to start having screenings in their forties, rather than at 50.If your father or brother has been diagnosed with the disease, your odds of getting it may double. Substracting your age from your dad’s can yield additional information, since men born to older dads may be more vulnerable to the disease. Researchers from Boston University tracked 2200 men over a 42-year period and found that those born when their fathers were 38 or older were 70 percent more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer. The thinking is that older men’s sperm may contain DNA abnormalities that pass cancer on to their offspring. And don’t leave mom out of the genetic-risk equation. A study evaluating 360 families in North America, Finland and Sweden traced 16 percent of hereditary prostate-cancer cases to an irregular gene on the X- chromosome you get from your mom. Her personal cancer history may count as well. An American Cancer Society study that followed nearly a half-million men for 12 years found that those whose mothers had breast cancer were 34 percent more likely to die of prostate cancer.

5. Clean up your sex act. 

As if  promiscuity weren’t perilous enough…one study from Sweden found that guys who’ve bedded six or more sex partners in their lifetimes have a higher prostate-cancer risk than monogamous men.  And a study in the USA of III men by the National Cancer Institute suggests another sex related link: subjects with a history of infection with HPV, the virus that can cause genital warts, had three times the prostate cancer risk of HPV –free men.  While condoms may offer some HPV protection, they’re not failsafe, since HPV can infect genital skin that no condom can cover. Keep your bedpost notches to a minimum, and if your diagnosed with genital warts consider early prostate-cancer screening.