Originally published September 30 2005
Doctors push prostate screening, even as prostate cancer is easily prevented through nutrition
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
As the number of men diagnosed with prostate cancer continues to rise, doctors recommend men begin getting screened tests for the cancer at age 40, since it is 95 percent curable if detected early enough.
The disease is now expected to strike one in seven men, says Greg Sarney of the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation of Canada, citing 2005 statistics from the Canadian Cancer Society.
An estimated 4,300 will die from the disease.
Age, family history and race play major roles in determining who will develop cancer of the prostate.
''Family history is a major determinant, although there is not a specific prostate cancer gene that is responsible,'' said Dr. Laurence Klotz, chief of urology at Sunnybrook and Women's Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.
By age 60, about 40 per cent of all men will harbour microscopic cells that look --- to the pathologist --- like cancer, Klotz said.
''But there is a huge difference between Asian and Caucasian men in the rate at which those cells progress to clinical prostate cancer and life-threatening cancer,'' he said.
Prostate cells are hormone dependent --- they need the male hormone to give them the growth signal, and that signal is interpreted somewhat differently in the cells of Asian and Caucasian men.
''Caucasian and African cells have a greater response to androgen (male hormone) and that probably is one reason they have a greater amount of prostate cancer,'' Klotz said.
There's not much men can do about some of the genetic factors that increase their chances of developing prostate cancer, but they can do something about the environment, Klotz said, referring to such factors as diet and nutrients (vitamins and minerals).
''Everything you've ever heard about a heart-healthy diet applies to prostate cancer.
So fat, particularly animal fat, puts you at an increased risk; vegetables that contain antioxidants seem to be protective; soy is one of a group of foods that contain isoflavenoids that are naturally occurring antioxidants.''
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