It’s Prostate Cancer Awareness Month
In the United States alone, one in five men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. It is the most common cancer diagnosed in men. And although there is no proven prostate cancer prevention strategy, most doctors agree that making healthy choices is your best bet. Of course, this strategy has many benefits that go beyond just prostate cancer. Eating a healthy diet and exercising will go a long way to helping prevent most diseases. If you’re a woman reading this article, make sure to pass this along to the men in your life.
According to the Mayo Clinic, there are three good rules of thumb – maintain a healthy diet, exercise most days of the week and talk to your doctor about your risk factors.1 An article in Men’s Health2 has some further tips you can take to keep the odds in your favor.
- Drink more coffee – Harvard researchers found that men who drank six or more cups of regular or decaf coffee were 59% less likely to develop advance prostate cancer than those who eschewed the brew.
- Give your gland a regular workout (i.e. have lots of sex) – A 2004 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association analyzed data on 29,342 men and found that guys who had 21 or more orgasms a month were about 30% less likely to develop prostate caner than those who racked up only four to seven a month.
- See red, eat red – Eat more cooked tomato products to reduce your risk of prostate cancer. This quirky link was first noticed in the 1990s by Harvard researcher Edward Giovannucci, M.D., Sc.D., and subsequent studies have confirmed the power of edible red. Credit lycopene, a pigment in tomatoes that’s more potent after they’re cooked. Aim for two-plus servings a week.
- Move it – Exercise reduces the risk of fatal forms of prostate cancer by 41 percent. What’s more, among survivors, those who exercised vigorously for five hours a week had a 56% lower risk of death from the disease.
- Top off your oil – In studies on lab animals, the omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA in fish oil inhibited tumors. Plus, Harvard researchers found that men who ate fish three times a week reduced their risk of aggressive prostate cancer by 25 percent.
- Ditch the doughnuts – Men with the highest blood levels of trans fats have more than twice the prostate-cancer risk of men with the lowest levels. Trans-fatty acids increase inflammation and insulin resistance, both of which may play a role in prostate cancer. Avoid commercially baked doughnuts and cookies, as well as packaged baked goods containing hydrogenated oil.
- Shelve the selenium supplements – A mineral found naturally in Brazil nuts, red meat, fish, and grains, selenium became popular as a supplement in the late ’90s because researchers believed it could help prevent prostate cancer. But a recent study of more than 35,000 men published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that 200 micrograms of selenium a day did nothing to defend against the disease (or any other cancer for that matter). Worse, taking selenium slightly increased the risk of diabetes in some men.
- Check for so-called bed bugs – A stealth STD may increase your risk for prostate cancer. In a new Harvard study, men with a history of trichomoniasis were more than twice as likely to develop advanced-stage prostate cancer as those who never had the parasite. The infection could lead to prostate inflammation, which has been linked to cancer risk and progression.
- Go green – produce is powerful stuff. Case in point: Regularly eating broccoli may lower your risk of prostate cancer and heart disease. In a 2008 British study, scientists found a disease-fighting benefit from consuming just 4 servings of the vegetable a week. It’s likely that compounds found in broccoli, called isothiocyanates, can activate genes that disturb the chemical processes that may cause cancer and inflammation.
If you need help with tip #4, it doesn’t make you any less of a man to reach out to a Personal Trainer. Even if it’s just to recognize areas where you can approve or up your workout regimen a notch, personal training can have many benefits. So what are you waiting for – schedule a free consultation with Advanced Physical Training now!
1 http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/prostate-cancer-prevention/MC00027
2 http://www.menshealth.com/spotlight/prostatecancer/prostate-cancer-prevention-tips.php