Men's Health - Avoiding Prostate Trouble
Health and vital energy is what makes living a pleasure. Good nutrition, plenty of exercise, and satisfying work balanced with leisure activities sets the stage for enhanced life satisfaction. In contrast, stress, chronic pain, disease, and progressive degeneration of the body cloud the senses and detracts from experiencing the beauty in the world. Luckily, maintaining vitality and health isn't a mystery. Science has shown that eating well, exercising frequently, and maintaining emotional balance can prevent the diseases that are a major threat to longevity such as cancer and heart disease. In addition, many chronic diseases like arthritis can be improved with changes in diet and appropriate physical activities, not to mention the benefit of integrative therapies such as acupuncture and chiropractic care. A proactive approach to living well may not extend life but certainly will improve the quality of life in the later years.
These general lifestyle suggestions apply to both men and women and should not be overlooked when creating a foundation for good health. However, men also have problems that are unique to their sex, problems that often develop or progress as they age. Many men find they need to urinate more frequently, often needing to get up in the middle of the night to do so. And when they urinate they find that the stream doesn't come easily, or that its too hard to urinate standing up anymore so they do so from a seated position. Urination problems such as these can be due to a prostate tumor, but more frequently are the result of more benign issues such as enlargement of the prostate, a condition known as benign prostate hypertrophy (BPH) and prostatitis.
The prostate is a walnut sized gland that encircles the urethra right where it leaves the bladder. It functions by providing the sperm with nutrient rich fluid. When this gland becomes swollen or enlarged it puts pressure on the urethra, cutting off the flow of urine. This pressure results in the need for greater force when urinating and may also result in an inability to empty the bladder. These are symptoms of BPH which are quite common. Prostatitis, infection or inflammation of the prostate, is another common problem when the prostate is out of balance.
Maintaining prostate health is an important issue for men as they age, especially if prostate cancer or prostate issues run in their family. As for BPH one third of men over 50 have this condition, while the number jumps to 50% for the 60 year olds and 80% for men in their 70s! With these types of statistics, some might consider this to be a normal part of aging, but many studies have shown that specific herbs and nutrients can reverse this condition, which suggests that similar nutritional changes can prevent it.
The following nutrients should be included as part of a daily health plan for men. They help support and maintain prostate health in particular and of course should be used in conjunction with a good diet, regular exercise and stress reduction activities.There are multiple nutrients and botanicals with established benefit for Prostate Health. I will discuss a few of them. For a more complete list you can refer to Table 2.
Zinc
One of the critical nutrients that the prostate concentrates and secretes into the seminal fluid is zinc. A healthy prostate has ten times the zinc compared to other body tissues. Zinc is important for immune health and infection prevention (The effectiveness of zinc in the treatment of the common cold has been verified in at least six clinical studies.) as well as enhancing sperm motility. The complete role of zinc in maintaining prostate health is not known, however, we do know that cancerous prostates have lower tissues stores of zinc compared to healthy prostates and that the symptoms of BPH disappear in some men upon supplementing with zinc. One last note: be careful when supplementing with zinc since supplementation of zinc in amounts that exceed 100mg/day on a long term basis can actually suppress your immune system and possibly speed up the spread of existing Prostate cancer.
Selenium, Vitamin E, Padma Basic, Other Antioxidants
People with cancer tend to have lower levels of antioxidants in their blood. The benefits of vitamin E and Selenium in prostate health is well established.
Lycopene
Lycopene is a member of one of nature's most important antioxidant families, the carotenoids. It is the red pigment that is found naturally occurring in tomatoes, pink grapefruit, watermelon and the skin of red grapes. One cup of chopped raw tomatoes contains about 15 mg of lycopene, however, the lycopene in raw tomatoes eaten alone is not readily absorbed, since cooking is required for enhanced bioavailability.
Recommended daily allowances for this nutrient have not been established. Likewise there are no accepted supplementation levels for specific conditions. However, a review of the literature suggests that 16mg/day for 10 weeks protects against sunburn, and 30mg/day for one week reduces the incidence of exercise induced asthma in prone individuals.
Saw Palmetto Berries
Testosterone and its more active derivative, dihydrotestosterone (DHT), stimulates the growth of normal prostate tissue as well as prostate cancer. The enzyme (5-alpha reductase) that converts testosterone to DHT is the target of drugs designed to reduce BPH. However, in comparing study results testing the FDA approved drug (Proscar) with studies testing saw palmetto berry extracts, we find that saw palmetto is effective in 90% of men with BPH symptoms within 4 to 6 weeks while Proscar works for only 50% and only after taking the drug for a year! Although herb and drug alike have demonstrated the ability to inhibit 5-alpha reductase, the herb also contains other components which apparently create a more effective synergy. Other activity of saw palmetto has been studied (anti-estrogenic, smooth muscle relaxing) and the fast action of the extract points to more, as yet unidentified, actions.
Integrative Approach to Prostate Health
There are many things we can do to improve our health, but men don't often realize that they need to be concerned about maintaining a healthy prostate until a more serious condition like prostate cancer sets in. Or perhaps the motivation comes when they are told the potential side effects of surgery - urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction. In any case, a diagnosis of a serious illness or lack of satisfactory conventional therapeutic options lead many men to consider alternative options.
Prostate cancer (PC) is a heterogeneous disease ranging from a physiological, "non-malignant" process to a disease that can kill you in months. Therefore the basic principles of treatment are maximum diagnosis and minimum intervention. What does this mean on a practical level?
The first step in evaluating a patient is to create a broad and extensive baseline. The baseline should focus on both the health and the disease aspects. I frequently see patients that were initially evaluated by the leading institutions in this country. The evaluation they received often lacks basic information critical to designing intelligent treatment protocols.
The First Step: Evaluation
In order for a person to get back to optima |