Stress is any change in the environment that requires your body to react and adjust in response. The body reacts to these changes with physical, mental, and emotional. Chronic Diseases: The Leading Causes of Death and Disability in the United States. Chronic diseases and conditions—such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, type 2. ![]() ![]() Nutrition and Prostate Health . Barnard, M. D. The prostate is an organ that sits snuggled up under the bladder. Its biological purpose is to produce semen. As time goes on, however, many men have an enlargement of their prostates, causing annoying and sometimes painful urinary problems. The prostate is also the number- one cancer spot in a man’s body. These problems are not inevitable. ![]() ![]() Despite surging obesity numbers in the U.S., a new survey finds that just one out of 10 Americans say their diet is unhealthy. The survey, conducted by Consumer. What Can Be Done? The best approach is prevention. Adopting a lifestyle that includes a healthy diet and exercise will prevent obesity from happening. Is Cellulite Forever? Some claim creams can bust the bulgy bane of many, whereas others swear by pricey procedures. But what is cellulite? And can it really be.They depend in part on what men eat. Like so many other parts of our biology, the mixture of nutrients we choose every day can encourage prostate cells to grow into an aggravating mass or can help them stay put. The bladder empties into a tube called the urethra, which passes through the prostate gland, where it is joined by another tube carrying sperm from the testes. Starting at about age 3. If this continues, they can pinch off the urethra, causing a poor urinary stream, dribbling, pressure, and, ultimately, infection and kidney damage. More than 9 million children and teenagers are. It has taken decades, but medical professionals are finally starting to give diet and exercise for the prevention and reversal of type 2 diabetes some. Irritation of the urethra causes the urge to urinate and repeated night. It does not take much prostate growth before the urinary symptoms begin. The technical term for an enlarged prostate is “benign prostatic hyperplasia.” It is not cancer, because these cells will not invade neighboring tissues or spread to other organs. By age 8. 0, some cell multiplication has occurred in most men. In many men, the prostate actually shrinks as they get older. Mild prostate symptoms sometimes improve with no treatment at all. In one research study, men with mild prostate enlargement were followed for five years, by which time a quarter of them had improved without treatment. About half stayed the same, and another quarter had become worse. However, men with difficulty urinating should not defer medical treatment because they can end up with serious kidney problems, not to mention continued discomfort. Doctors sometimes prescribe drugs to relax the pressure in the prostate or to block the hormones that lead to enlargement. Finasteride (Proscar) is in the latter category. It shrinks the prostate and is well tolerated. In more severe cases, urologists remove a bit of prostate tissue, which, with modern techniques, can be done through the penis. A researcher named Burhenne developed a balloon device for dilating the prostate (transurethral balloon dilation of the prostate, TUDP) and actually tried it on himself. Similarly, other researchers are trying out a transurethral laser- induced prostatectomy (TULIP). Balloon and laser procedures are still experimental. Although male readers have undoubtedly crossed their legs by this point in the discussion, a TURP is actually a fairly easy procedure, particularly compared to treatments used in times past. The main downside of the TURP is that, by eight years after the operation, up to 1. Your Prostate Would Rather Be a Vegetarian. Changing your eating habits can help prevent prostate problems. The prostate is under hormonal control. In the prostate cells, testosterone is turned into a powerful hormone called DHT (dihydrotestosterone), and DHT is what drives prostate enlargement. This is the conversion that finasteride blocks. Foods can strongly influence sex hormones, including testosterone. Could it be that cutting out meats and dairy products and adding more vegetables to our plates could turn down the hormonal stimulation of the prostate and prevent prostate problems? That is, in fact, exactly what researchers have found. Daily meat consumption triples the risk of prostate enlargement. Regular milk consumption doubles the risk and failing to consume vegetables regularly nearly quadruples the risk. Prostate hyperplasia is reportedly increasing in Asian countries, paralleling the westernization of the diet that has occurred in recent decades. The meat- based diet that has become routine in Western countries and is now spreading to other parts of the world encourages many hormone- related conditions, and pros. DHT plays a critical role in baldness. Without it, men will not lose their hair, no matter what their genetics may dictate. DHT activity in the scalp may be subject to dietary manipulation. Nutritional treatments for prostate enlargement are being explored by an increasing number of practitioners. The first step is a low- fat, vegetarian diet. Physician and medical author David Perlmutter, M. D., has reported success in reducing prostate symptoms using the following regimen (all listed supplements can be found at health food stores) in addition to a vigorous program of dietary changes. Note, these are for prostate enlargement, not cancer: Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens), a natural plant extract, taken in a dose of 1. Cold- pressed flaxseed oil, two tablespoons per day. If this causes loosening of the stool, the problem usually abates after a week or so. Vitamin E, 4. 00 IU per day with food. Reduce to 1. 00 IU per day if you have high blood pressure. Vitamin B6, 1. 00 milligrams per day. Avoid caffeine and keep alcohol consumption to a mini. If cancer cells would simply stay put, the disease would be little more than an inconvenience. Researchers have examined the prostates of men who have died from accidents or other causes and have found something you might not have expected. Among 3. 0- to 4. American men, 3. 0 percent have cancer cells in their prostates. By age 5. 0, this figure rises to about 4. This is a shockingly high percentage. But in most cases, these are latent cancer cells. While they are clearly abnormal, they are not yet at the stage where they rapidly multiply and spread. In many cases, they never will be. Again, foods can make the difference. A comparison of different countries is revealing. In Asia and Latin America, latent cancers are much rarer than they are in the United States or Western Europe. Moreover, the risk of these cells growing into invasive or spreading tumors varies in precisely the same way. A man in Hong Kong has a 1. Swede’s risk is double that figure, at 3. And compared to a man in Hong Kong, the Swede is eight times more likely to die of the disease. Cancers are like weeds whose seeds blow from place to place. On moist, fertile soil, they take root and grow uncontrollably. But if the soil is not watered or fertilized, they lie dormant or even wither away. Asian diets do not provide such welcoming ground for cancer growth. No country has a perfect diet, but the trend is clear. Countries with fatty, meaty diets have much higher cancer rates than countries that use rice, other grains, beans, or vegetables as their staples. Testosterone and related hormones stimulate prostate cancer cells like fertilizer on weeds. The high- fat, meat- based diet boosts testosterone’s effects and has been linked in many studies to high rates of prostate cancer. Prevention. A diet built from plant foods is a man’s best defense against developing prostate cancer. This type of diet is naturally low in fat and high in fiber—both of which act to keep testosterone at a healthy level—and is rich in antioxidants, which help a man’s immune system combat free radical production and fight off cancer. Two important dietary guidelines that deserve special mention in prostate cancer prevention are the inclusion of the antioxidant lycopene and the avoidance of dairy products. Lycopene. You may not have heard much about lycopene, but you have certainly seen plenty of it. Just as beta- carotene is nature’s yellow- orange pigment, lycopene is a bright red pigment, providing the color for tomatoes, watermelon, and pink grapefruit. Lycopene is in the carotenoid family, meaning that it is beta- carotene’s chemical cousin, and it is actually a much more powerful antioxidant. A study at Harvard University showed that men who had just two servings of tomato sauce per week had 2. Men consuming ten or more servings of tomato products each week had a 3. In fact, the cooking process releases lycopene from the plant’s cells, increasing your ability to absorb it. Dairy Products. An additional cancer risk relates to a protein in the bloodstream called insulin- like growth factor- I (IGF- 1). Although a certain amount of IGF- 1 in the blood is normal, high levels are linked to increased cancer risk. IGF- 1 plays a role in cell growth, among other functions, and test- tube experiments show that IGF- 1 encourages cancer cell growth. Diet has a strong influence on IGF- 1. In general, excess intake of calories or proteins increases the amount of IGF- 1 in the blood, and the inclusion of dairy products in the diet merits particular attention. People increasing the amount of dairy products in their diets are typically found to have higher levels of IGF- 1 in their blood. Following a study of 1. Sheffield, England, which found that increasing daily milk consumption increased serum IGF- 1 concentration, a study of adult men and women showed that adding three daily eight- ounce servings of nonfat or 1 percent milk for 1. IGF- 1 concentration. Other mechanisms that may contribute to the association between dairy products and prostate cancer include the deleterious effect of high- calcium foods on vitamin D balance, and the effect of dairy products on testosterone concentration or activity. The most important message is that while consumption of meat and dairy products appears to increase cancer risk, diets rich in vegetables and fruits cut risk, giving men more control over their health than they might otherwise have had. Foods for Cancer Survival. What about after prostate cancer has been diagnosed? Will a change in eating habits help a man beat the disease? More research is needed, but evidence already available suggests that, whatever other treatments a man may undergo, changes in his diet might well save his life. Vegetarians and populations whose culinary traditions are based on rice, soy products, or vegetables not only have lower cancer rates; they also have a far lower risk of progression should cancer cells gain a foothold.
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