Just What Are The Risks Of Developing Prostate Cancer And What Can You Do To Prevent It

Over the years there has been considerable debate about prostate cancer and the subject of prostate cancer prevention in particular is still rather controversial. Although, as is the case with most cancers, men are not themselves the cause of their own prostate cancer, there are clearly many risk factors for developing the disease and there is much that can be done, if not to prevent it, then without doubt to lower your risk of developing it.

The initial step in preventing prostate cancer is simply to understand that you are at risk of developing the disease and to understand exactly why you are at risk.

There is no question that men with a family history of prostate cancer are at greater risk and that the risk for someone with one close relative suffering from prostate cancer is about twice that of someone without any family history. With two close relatives this risk increases to around five times that of someone without any family history and if you have three close relatives the risk reaches an almost incredible ninety-seven percent.

One problem here is that many men do not know their family history, commonly because many fathers, grandfathers or brothers have died from other illnesses without even knowing they were suffering from prostate cancer. This happens because prostate cancer will often develop late in life and can be an extremely slow growing cancer. As a consequence there is a very good chance that individuals will develop 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 to do so, then it is probably a good idea to err on the side of caution and believe that you could be at risk rather than simply assume that you are in the clear.

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

Yet another risk factor is diet and men who live in Western countries such as the UK or the US are at increased risk as a result of the high levels of fat in most Western diets. Here at last is a risk factor that you can do something about and reducing the fat in your diet and eating things like more fresh fruit and vegetables can lessen your risk quite dramatically.

At this point we begin to run into difficulty because, after the basic principle of lowering fat levels in the diet, views begin to differ when it comes to other aspects of the diet that might be helpful in prostate cancer prevention.

There is little if any doubt that levels of things like minerals and vitamins in your diet can have a significant affect on your health generally and will undoubtedly have a role to play when it comes to prostate health. But, determining exactly which minerals and vitamins have a part to play is a difficult matter and is a subject all of its own.