What Are The Chances Of Getting Prostate Cancer And What Can You Do To Prevent It
Author: Donald Saunders
Category: Health
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Over the years there has been a great deal of debate about prostate cancer and the subject of preventing prostate cancer in particular remains somewhat controversial. Even though, as with the majority of cancers, men do not themselves cause their own prostate cancer, there are clearly various risk factors for developing the disease and there is a lot that can be done, if not to prevent it, then certainly to lower the risk of developing it.
The first step in preventing prostate cancer is simply to understand that you are at risk of getting the condition and to know just why you are at risk.
There is no doubt that men with a family history of prostate cancer are at greater risk and that the risk for a man with a close relative suffering from prostate cancer is roughly twice that of a man without any family history. If you have two close relatives this risk increases to about five times that of someone with no family history and with three close relatives your risk reaches an almost incredible ninety-seven percent.
The problem here is that a lot of men are not aware of their family history, commonly because a lot of fathers, grandfathers or brothers have died from other illnesses without even being aware that they had prostate cancer. This happens because prostate cancer will often develop late in life and can be a very slow growing cancer. As a consequence there is a good chance of individuals developing other conditions alongside their prostate cancer and it is these other conditions which ultimately result in their death.
So, if you are not sure about your family history, then a good starting point is to check things out if at all possible. If it is not possible to do so, then it is probably a good idea to err on the side of caution and to believe that the risk might be there rather than simply assume that you are in the clear.
Another important factor is race. African American men for example 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 approximately sixty percent higher than that for 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 as a result of the high fat levels in many Western diets. Here for the first time is a risk factor that you can do something about and reducing the fat in your diet and eating such things as more fresh fruit and vegetables can reduce your risk quite dramatically.
Now, at this point we start to run into difficulty because, after the principle of lowering fat in your diet, opinions begin to differ when it comes to other aspects of the diet that may be helpful in preventing prostate cancer.
There is little if any doubt that levels of such things as vitamins and minerals in your diet can have a significant affect on your health generally and will without doubt have a part to play when it comes to prostate health. But, working out just which vitamins and minerals have a role to play is a difficult matter and is a subject all of its own.
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Keywords: prostate, prostate problems, enlarged prostate, prostate cancer, cancer, health, men's issues
View Count: 57
Date Submitted: 8/23/2008
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