For many years now there has been considerable discussion about prostate cancer and the subject of prostate cancer prevention in particular is still to some extent controversial. while, as is the case with the majority of cancers, men are not themselves the cause of 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 without doubt to lower the risk of developing it.

The initial step in prostate cancer prevention is to understand that you are at risk of developing the condition and to understand just what the different risk factors are.

There can be no question that men who have a family history of prostate cancer are at higher risk and that the risk for someone with a close relative suffering from prostate cancer is approximately twice that of someone without any family history. With two close relatives this risk increases to approximately five times that of someone with no family history and with three close relatives your risk reaches a staggering ninety-seven percent.

The problem here is that a lot of men do not know their family history, frequently because a lot of grandfathers, fathers or brothers have died as a result of other illnesses without ever being aware that they had prostate cancer. This occurs because prostate cancer often develops late in life and can be a very slow growing cancer. As a consequence there is a good chance of individuals developing other conditions together with their prostate cancer and it is these other conditions which ultimately cause their death.

Accordingly, if you do not know your family history, then a good point at which to start is to check things out if at all possible. If it is not possible, then it is probably best to err on the side of caution and to believe that the risk could be there rather than simply assume that you are in the clear.

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

Yet another risk factor is diet and men living in Western countries such as the United States or the United Kingdom are at higher risk as a result of the high fat levels in many Western diets. Here for the first time we have a risk factor that you can actually do something about and reducing the fat in your diet and eating things like more vegetables and fresh fruit can lower your risk quite considerably.

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

There is little doubt that levels of things like vitamins and minerals in your diet can have a significant affect on your health generally and will without question have a part to play in your prostate health. However, working out precisely which vitamins and minerals play a part is a difficult matter and is certainly a subject all of its own.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 17th, 2008 at 6:28 pm and is filed under Prostate Cancer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.