For some years now there has been a great deal of debate about prostate cancer and the subject of prostate cancer prevention specifically is still to some extent controversial. while, as is the case with many cancers, men are not themselves the cause of the onset of prostate cancer, there are clearly a variety of risk factors for developing the disease and there is a lot which can be done, if not to actually prevent it, then without question to reduce your risk of developing it.
The first step in preventing prostate cancer is simply to understand that you are at risk of developing the condition and also to understand exactly what the various risk factors are.
There can be no question that men who have a family history of prostate cancer are at greater risk and that the risk for somebody with a close relative having prostate cancer is about twice that of somebody without any family history. If you have two close relatives then the risk increases to about five times that of someone with no family history and if you have three close relatives the risk reaches a staggering ninety-seven percent.
One difficulties here is that a lot of men are unaware of their family history, commonly because a lot of fathers, grandfathers or brothers have died from other illnesses without ever knowing they had prostate cancer. This happens because prostate cancer often develops late in life and can be an extremely slow growing form of cancer. As a result there is a good chance of individuals developing other conditions alongside their prostate cancer and it is these other conditions which ultimately cause their death.
Accordingly, if you do not know your family history, then a good point at which to start is to check things out if you can. If it is not possible to do so, then it is probably best to err on the side of caution and believe that you might be at risk rather than simply assume that you are in the clear.
The next important factor is race. For instance, African American men are at higher risk than Hispanic men who, in turn, are at higher risk than Caucasian men. For an African American man the risk is about sixty percent greater than that of a Caucasian man.
Another risk factor is diet and men living in Western countries such as the the US or the UK are at increased risk because of the high levels of fat in many Western diets. Here for the first time is a risk factor which you can actually do something about and lowering the fat in your diet and eating such things as more fresh fruit and vegetables can reduce your risk quite dramatically.
At this point we begin to get into difficulty as, beyond the basic principle of reducing fat levels in the diet, views start to differ when it comes to looking at other areas of the diet which may be helpful in prostate cancer prevention.
There is little if any doubt that levels of such things as vitamins and minerals in your diet can have a dramatic affect on your health generally and will undoubtedly have a role to play in prostate health. But, determining exactly which vitamins and minerals have a part to play is a difficult matter and is certainly a subject all of its own.
