The Risks Of Developing Prostate Cancer And What Can Be Done To Reduce The Risk

Aug 24
14:31

2008

Donald Saunders

Donald Saunders

  • Share this article on Facebook
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Share this article on Linkedin

While there is a great deal of debate about the subject of the prevention of prostate cancer there can be no question that the starting point is to understand the risks involved and, having done this, there are then various steps which can be taken to reduce these risk significantly.

mediaimage
For several years now there has been a great deal of debate about prostate cancer and the subject of preventing prostate cancer specifically remains rather controversial. Although,The Risks Of Developing Prostate Cancer And What Can Be Done To Reduce The Risk Articles as with many cancers, men do not themselves cause the onset of prostate cancer, there are clearly many risk factors for developing the disease and there is much which can be done, if not to prevent it, then without question to reduce the risk of developing it.

The initial step in prostate cancer prevention is simply to understand that you are at risk of developing the disease and to know precisely what the various risk factors are.

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 having the disease is about twice that of a man without any family history. If you have two close relatives this risk increases to approximately five times that of someone without any family history and with three close relatives your risk reaches a staggering ninety-seven percent.

One difficulties 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 occurs because prostate cancer will often develop late in life and can be a very slow growing form of cancer. As a consequence there is a good chance that individuals will develop other conditions together with their prostate cancer and it is these other conditions which ultimately result in their death.

So, if you do not know your family history, then a good starting point is to check things out if at all possible. If this is not possible to do so, then it is probably a good idea to err on the side of caution and believe that you might be at risk rather than simply assume that you are in the clear.

Another important factor is race. African American men for instance are at more risk than Hispanic men who, in turn, are at greater risk than Caucasian men. The risk for an African American man is about sixty percent greater than that for a Caucasian man.

Another risk factor is diet and men who are living in Western countries such as the United States or the United Kingdom are at greater risk because of the high levels of fat in many Western diets. Here at last is a risk factor which you can do something about and lowering the fat in your diet and eating such things as more vegetables and fresh fruit can reduce your risk quite dramatically.

Now, at this point we begin to run into difficulty because, beyond the basic principle of reducing fat in your diet, views start to differ when it comes to looking at other aspects of the diet which may be helpful in preventing prostate cancer.

There is very little doubt that levels of such things as vitamins and minerals in your diet can have a dramatic affect on your health generally and will without doubt have a role to play in your prostate health. However, working out precisely which vitamins and minerals play a role is a difficult matter and is a subject all of its own.