As the baby boomer generation matures, the concern for prostate cancer is growing among men. At the same time though, research is showing that there are ways we can reduce our risk of having prostate cancer.
There are several ways for you to reduce your risk of getting prostate cancer, and they all have to do with a healthier lifestyle, especially your diet.
Lycopene
One way to reduce your risk of prostate cancer is to eat a diet high in lycopene. Lycopene has been found to reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Lycopene is an antioxidant and is the pigment that gives fruits and vegetables their red or pink color. Lycopene is found in tomatoes, watermelon, grapefruit and anything made with tomatoes. That could be something like pasta sauce for example. There are varying opinions on the amount of lycopene there is in cooked or raw foods or is it that they are better absorbed into our bodies when cooked. Adding some oil like olive oil in the meal also appears to help absorption of lycopene. Which might explain why the Mediterranean is so healthy.
Lycopene containing foods have also been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and macular degeneration.
Diet
Another way to reduce prostate cancer is to eat a low fat diet. Researchers are finding that a high fat diet increases the risk of prostate cancer. There is a difference in fats and oils, there are good and bad fats. A diet high in the bad fats is one that consists mainly of fatty animal foods and dairy foods such as red meat, milk, cheese, cream, butter, eggs and ice cream. Fried foods are also very high in the bad fats. There is a difference with the oil used to cook with. The bad fats are trans-fats or partially hydrogenated and saturated fat. Olive oil is considered and good and healthful oil. Look at the label of the products you buy and read the fat content. You might be surprised at just how much fat is in your food, look at the saturated fat especially. Pay attention to the servings size since these facts on the nutrition label are per serving.
Prostate cancer is much more common in countries where high fat meat and dairy foods are the main diet and in countries where the diet mainly consists of rice, vegetables and other plant foods, the risk of prostate cancer is much lower. You don’t have to become a vegetarian to lower the amount of fat in your diet, just use more plant foods as larger portions of your diet.
Tomatoes and anything made with tomatoes make up the largest amount of lycopene containing foods. Here is a list of the amount of lycopene in foods from the USDA.
|
Product |
Size |
Milligrams (mg) |
|
Tomato products, canned paste Tomato products, canned puree Marinara pasta sauce, ready-to-serve Canned tomato sauce Canned vegetable juice Canned tomato juice Canned tomato soup Watermelon, raw Canned stewed tomatoes Guava, raw, common Canned red ripe tomatoes Raw red ripe tomatoes Catsup 1/2 grapefruit, pink or red Salsa Baked canned beans |
1 cup 1 cup
1 cup 1 cup 1 cup 1 cup 1 cup 1 slice 1 cup 1cup 1 cup 1 cup 1 tbsp ½ 1 tbsp 1 cup |
75 54
43 37 23 22 13 13 10 8.6 6.5 4.6 2.5 1.75 1.7 1.3 |
Herbs and nutrients
There are certain herbs and nutrients that you can include in your daily diet that reduces the risk of prostate cancer and can also reduce or eliminate problems and pain associated with an enlarged prostate.
Studies have shown milk to be bad for the prostate; the excessive calcium in milk suppresses the syntheses of vitamin D, which is important for prostate health. Fructose (the sugar from fruits) stimulates the production of vitamin D.
The prostate gland uses more zinc than any other body part. An increase in zinc has shown to enhance prostate health. Pumpkin seeds are very good for prostate health since they have a high amount of zinc.
Other trace nutrients include selenium, which Brazil nuts have a high concentration of. Vitamins D and E, soy based foods which contain genistein and garlic which has the cancer fighting sulfur compounds.
Saw palmetto has been used to reduce an enlarged prostate with positive results. Clinical studies have shown that saw palmetto works better at reducing an enlarged prostate than the prescribed drug Proscar 1. Other herbs along with saw palmetto are pygeum, red clover, cernilton and stinging nettles.
Other ways to possibly reduce your risk for prostate cancer include only moderate alcohol use or less, moderate exercise, lose weight if you need to and reduce your body fat. The more body fat you lose, the higher your lycopene levels will be in your body.
Resources:
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
1 Rhodes L, Primka RL, Berman C, Vergult G, Gabriel M, Pierre-Malice M, Gibelin B, “Comparison of finasteride (Proscar), a 5 alpha reductase inhibitor, and various commercial plant extracts in in vitro and in vivo 5 alpha reductase inhibition, “ Prostate 22 (1), 1993 pp. 43-51.
