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

Over the past few years there has been considerable argument about prostate cancer and the subject of preventing prostate cancer in particular remains rather controversial. While, as is the case with most 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 that can be done, if not to prevent it, then undoubtedly to reduce your risk of developing it.

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

There can be no doubt that men with a family history of prostate cancer are at greater risk and that the risk for a man with one close relative suffering from the condition is roughly twice that of a man without any family history. With two close relatives this risk rises to around five times that of somebody with no family history and with three close relatives the risk reaches a staggering ninety-seven percent.

The problem here is that a lot of men are unaware of their family history, commonly because a lot of fathers, grandfathers or brothers have died from other illnesses without ever being aware that they had prostate cancer. This happens because prostate cancer often develops late in life and can be an extremely slow growing form of cancer. As a consequence there is a very good chance that individuals will develop other conditions at the same time as their prostate cancer and it is these other conditions which ultimately cause their death.

Accordingly, if you are not sure of your family history, then a good starting point is to check things out if at all possible. If this is not possible, then it is probably a good idea to err on the side of caution and to assume that the risk could be there rather than assume that you are in the clear.

The next important factor is race. For instance, African American men are at higher risk than Hispanic men who, in turn, are at greater risk than Caucasian men. The risk for an African American man is approximately sixty percent higher than that for 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 increased risk because of the high fat levels 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 such things as more vegetables and fresh fruit can lessen your risk quite dramatically.

At this point we begin to run into difficulty because, after the principle of lowering fat levels in the diet, opinions begin to differ when it comes to looking at other aspects of the diet that could 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, determining exactly which vitamins and minerals play a role is not a simple matter and is a subject all of its own.

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