Enlargement of the prostate, and other problems
with this gland, affect more than half the men over the age of 40 in this
country. It is something that men are beginning to expect and dread, and
rightly, because deaths from prostate cancer are also on the rise. Symptoms of
this problem can be almost anything unusual in what should be a routine: the
need to go to the bathroom more often, finding that you have to get up in the
night to go, the feeling that you can no longer satisfactorily empty your
bladder - these are signs that you should run, not walk, to your Doctor for a
checkup.
Something that a is rarely mentioned, but should
be watched for, is the sudden inability to defecate: when the prostate
gland swells, it can actually block the anal canal. If you are
experiencing increased discomfort with urination AND cannot eliminate from your
bowels - don't wait to go to the Emergency room: see your Doctor right
away.
Be aware,
though, that Doctors themselves are becoming increasingly confused about
how to diagnose and treat prostate problems/cancer:
It used to be that a PSA above 4 meant
danger, and under 4, that you had nothing to worry about. A study from
Texas by Dr. Thompson in the New England Journal of Medicine, May 2004, reveals
that this is not the case, but that 15% of men with lower than 4 PSA levels
develop cancer, and 25% of those men have the more aggressive form. Read a report
at http://www.annieappleseedproject.org/twomorpres.html. The problem now is that this makes the PSA test virtually
useless, and it is impossible to tell how many years before a meaningful
replacement will be devised.
Dr. Douglass, of the "DAILY DOSE", puts it this way:
Dutch and Swedish researchers found that even though more frequent
screening increased the number of tumors detected, it failed to reduce
the number of AGGRESSIVE TUMORS that appeared between screenings.
Researchers followed two groups of men between the ages of 55 and 65
years old for 10 years. The first group (4,000 men) was tested every
two years, and the seond group (13,000 men) was tested every four
years. As you would imagine, more tumors were found among the group
that was tested more frequently — 13 percent verses 8 percent.
But here's the catch: There was no statistically significant
difference between the two groups of men in the number of aggressive
tumors that formed between screenings. The researchers said,
"More screening did not cut the number of these cancer cases as
one might have expected."
That's been my point all along. As we age, it's perfectly normal to
develop small tumors in our prostates. It's when you start messing
with them that you stir up a hornet's nest. But it's the AGGRESSIVE
TUMORS that'll kill you — whether you get a routine PSA or not.
The lead researcher of the study, Monique Roobol, said, "We here
in Europe feel that over- diagnosis and over-treatment is certainly
something you should avoid." That's a not-so-subtle and
all-too-deserved slap in the face to the medical commn ity on this
side of the pond. And, as you know, I couldn't agree more.
Because there is also no way at the moment to
tell the difference between a cancer that could kill you in 6 months, and one
that will develop slowly over 10 years, there are some Doctors who feel that many men are receiving unnecessarily aggressive treatment.
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1224673,00.html)
There are some interesting theories as to why
this scourge is on the increase: some researchers are seeing a connection
between prostate problems and estrogen-like compounds in pesticides, and
experiments with animals fed hormone containing diets confirm this as a
possibility . Recent studies (see RESOURCES at
bottom) confirm that a common
organochlorine contaminant hexachlorobenzene (HCB)
disrupts normal development of the male reproductive tract by interfering with
normal hormonal action. Many other contaminants share the same mechanisms of
action of HCB and thus are also implicated by these results.
A 2005 study found a direct causal link
between Omega 6 fatty acids in corn oil and Prostate cancer. The
study author comments, that as the ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 has changed
from app. 1:2 in the '40s to 25:1 now, so has the rate
of Prostate cancer risen. (My emphasis)
Physical activity also seems to play a
part: never before in human history have so many men spent so much time sitting
on their prostates! High cholesterol is also a culprit, as
by-products of cholesterol have been shown to accumulate in prostate tissues
affected with Benign Prostate Hypertrophy and cancer. It should be a goal to
keep cholesterol levels low, and HDL levels high - another reason to exercise
and keep fit!
There is a connection between drinking milk and
prostate cancer - and the worst offender is low fat milk, as researchers
at the Fox Chase Cancer Center (Philadelphia) discovered. Men who reported the
highest intake of low-fat milk were 1.5 times more likely to develop prostate
cancer compared to men who had the lowest intake, but whole milk intake was NOT
found to be linked to increased risk.
Now it appears that whole fat milk is not only not connected to increased
risk, but is found to reduce risk.
Dietary
intake of vitamin K and risk of prostate cancer http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/87/4/985
Effect
of food composition on human absorption of Vitamin K http://journals.cambridge.org/production/action/cjoGetFulltext?fulltextid=877636
Even better would be whole, RAW milk - got
REAL milk? http://www.realmilk.com/why.html
The mechanism appears to be activation of IGF1
(http://www.consumerhealthjournal.com/articles/milk-and-cancer.html),
which has an advers effect on prostate epithelial cells. Co-incidentally,
there is some
research suggesting that the use of rBGH -
http://www.vpirg.org/campaigns/geneticEngineering/rBGHOverview.php (a hormone added to feed to make
cows produce more milk) elevates IGF1 levels. Perhaps these levels are
concentrated in low fat milk?
Much research has focused over the years on
the role of Vitamin E in the prevention of prostate cancer: While
mega-analysis of all studies showed conclusively that it did help, no-one knew
why it seemed to help when other anti-oxidants didn't. Now, new research
has given us a rationale: the authors of the current study report that
vitamin E inhibits the expression in prostate cancer cells of prostate-specific
antigen (PSA), a protein that is often elevated in the disease and used as a
marker for early detection. The investigators also note in the May 28th issue of
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that the vitamin can prevent
cells from making Androgen Receptors. In an interview with Reuters Health, Dr.
Messing said he suspects the benefits of vitamin E stem from its interference
with AR production. "The only thing we know of in 2002 that turns on PSA is
an activated AR." Moreover, the researcher added, stopping the
production of AR will halt the expression of all other genes that are activated
by AR, which can also influence the development of prostate cancer.(Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, May
28, 2002;99:7408-7413)
The American Cancer Society has this to say
about Vit. E and prostate cancer: The
National Cancer Institute, in conjunction with the National Public Health
Institute of Finland, found that the long-term use of a moderate-dose vitamin
E supplement substantially reduced prostate cancer incidence and deaths in
male smokers. In men taking the vitamin E supplement, there was a reduction in
clinically detectable prostate cancers beginning within two years of starting
the supplement. Importantly, the supplement did not mask symptoms which would
cause a man to seek medical attention which would lead to a diagnosis of
cancer. Rather, men taking vitamin E had fewer diagnoses of later stage
cancers than men not taking the supplement. The results of this study,
although promising, do not provide definitive answers about vitamin E’s
effect on prostate cancer in men of different races, ethnicities, or in
nonsmokers.
Heavy beer drinkers are particularly at
risk, because beer releases a substance called prolactin, which increases the
gland's uptake of testosterone, and its subsequent conversion to
dihydrotestosterone. Some men say that drinking just one cold beer can
definitely aggravate their symptoms almost immediately.
Diet is important in other ways,
too, in that many men would benefit from determining which foods they
have intolerances to, and eliminating them.
Frequent offenders are milk, caffeine,
wine, pickles, and some spices: but any food to which you personally have an
intolerance can cause inflammation that affects the prostate.
Interestingly, tomatoes contain a nutrient called
Lycopene, and an inverse relationship has been
shown here: the more tomato containing foods a man eats, the lower his risk of
prostate cancer. This nutrient is now also available as a supplement.
Essential fatty acids also play a part in boosting the body's production of
certain prostaglandins, which regulate (among other things) uptake of
testosterone in the prostate.
There is also a supplement made from cruciferous
vegetables such as Broccoli, called indole -3-carbinol which has an
effect on the body's production of toxic estrogens. Adding plenty of the such
vegetables to the diet is an excellent anti-any-cancer strategy! Much has been
made of blocking the effect of dihydrotestosterone by inhibiting the enzyme that
produces it: less has been made of the fact that this affects another
enzyme, which allows the production of more estrogen.
Two herbs are at the forefront of the battle
against this problem: Saw Palmetto, (Serenoa
Repens),( standardized for no less than 85% free fatty acids and
sterols ) is, according to Dr. Whitaker more effective than prescription meds,
and certainly has fewer side-effects! It inhibits uptake of
dihydrotestosterone. Pygeum Africanum
is often combined with Saw Palmetto, and European studies leave no doubt as to
its effectiveness: it appears to inhibit cholesterol uptake by the prostate.
Very recent research on Quercetin is
finding it of great value in the fight against prostate cancer, possibly because
of its ability to inhibit inflammation. The study was so impressive that the
prestigious journal Urology published it as a matter of "high
priority". (1999;54:960-3)
What the study found is that out of a group of 30 placebo controlled,
double-blinded category 111 chronic prostatitis sufferers, those taking the
Quercetin experienced improvement on the average of 40%, compared to 6% for
placebo. The symptoms for which improvement was reported were: pain,
voiding dysfunction, and quality of life. A second similar study reported
82% of the Quercetin users reported 25% or more improvement in their problems.
See RESOURCES at bottom for more.
Another helpful herb is Stinging Nettle (Urtica
Dioica) an extract of which was used in a group of 50 patients with
Prostatic Hyperplasia stages 1 & 2: after an average of 3.5 months, volume
of residual urine, urinary volume and flow and levels of sex hormone binding
globulin were significantly improved. Combining Nettle with Saw Palmetto (Urology
2000; 55(4) 533-539) appears to be highly effective in
shrinking swollen prostate tissue.
Other helpful supplements are Zinc (as
either Picolinate or Monomethionine), a very special extract of bee pollen (Cernitine)
, certain amino acids, and the essential fatty acids. There is also some
interesting research being done on Melatonin and prostate cancer (see RESOURCES
at bottom)
Just recently, a study purported to find that Zinc
supplementation causes prostate cancer. Naturally the headlines could
hardly have been more alarmist. In actual fact, the study found (I quote
from WebMD, my emphasis):
Researchers found that although taking zinc
supplements of up to 100 mg per day did not increase men's
overall risk of prostate cancer, men who took more than 100 mg of supplemental
zinc per day were more than twice as likely to develop advanced prostate
cancer than nonusers.
Men who took zinc supplements for 10 or more
years also were more than twice as likely to have advanced prostate cancer
compared with those who didn't take zinc supplements.
Researchers say they can't rule out the fact that
some other factor may account for the increase in advanced prostate cancer
risk associated with excessive zinc supplementation found by the study. For
example, heavy zinc users may have also taken high levels of other supplements
that might affect the prostate, such as calcium.
In addition, because zinc has been associated
with prostate health, some users may have been self-medicating longstanding
prostate cancer symptoms or delayed medical care, which may have increased the
risk of the cancer being found at a later, more advanced stage. But
researchers say that's unlikely because taking the men's history of prostate
cancer screening and early years of follow-up into account didn't alter their
findings.
Researcher Michael F. Leitzmann, MD, of the
National Cancer Institute, and colleagues say it's not clear how zinc may act
in the body to increase prostate cancer risk, but more research to investigate
this link between overuse of zinc supplements and advanced prostate cancer is
needed.
Once again, moderation is the key word!
I want to bring to your attention also a compound called Modified
Citrus Pectin, which has a great deal of research behind the claim that it
can prevent the spread of prostate (and other) cancer. There are long
chain sugar molecules in the pectin which prevent the cancer cells from
attaching themselves to other organs in the body through a reaction with a
substance called galectin-3 in the cancer cell's membrane. Dr.
Kenneth Pienta, a leader in research on this nutraceutical, says :"
to the best of our knowledge this is the first report of an oral method to
prevent spontaneous cancer metastasis." In a recent animal study
conducted by him
( Pienta et al., J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 87:348-353,
1995). The American Cancer Society posts the
following information:
Researchers at the University of Michigan School of Medicine
found that rats given citrus pectin—a complex, soluble
polysaccharide—had a significantly slower rate of metastasis (spread of cancer
cells beyond their origin) than rats in a control group who were not given
citrus pectin. The same effect did not occur with unmodified pectin or from
eating citrus fruits. Clinical trials on human subjects will be needed to
determine whether or not citrus pectin has the same effect on people with
prostate and other cancers.
Last but not least, Selenium, a mineral which has
shown promise in preventing prostate cancer. It may also have the potential to
prevent recurrence in men who have been treated for prostate cancer. (Journal
of Urology (Vol. 166, No. 6: 2034-2038). Results
seem to be very dose specific, with amounts OVER 200 mcg possibly doing harm.
Selenium levels in the blood tend to decline with age, and researchers
speculate that this may play a part in the development of prostate problems in
older men. In 2004, more
studies in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute concluded: "The
new epidemiologic data on selenium from Li et al. continueto
support the initial impressions of this agent's tremendouspotential
as a prostate cancer preventive agent. The emerginglaboratory data
greatly strengthen the biologic plausibilityfor this optimism and
for the ongoing randomized clinical seleniumtrials, which ultimately
will be necessary to define the potentiallycomplex risk–benefit
profile of this promising preventiveagent . Meanwhile,
science will continue peeling backlayer after layer of the
enormously deep and complex onion ofselenium effects in the
prostate." http://jncicancerspectrum.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/full/jnci;96/9/645
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