What Are The Chances Of Getting Prostate Cancer And What Can You Do To Lower The Risk

Over the years there has been a great deal of debate about prostate cancer and the subject of preventing prostate cancer specifically is still rather controversial. Although, as with many cancers, men do not themselves cause the onset of prostate cancer, there are clearly several risk factors for developing the disease and there is a lot that can be done, if not to prevent it, then certainly to lessen your 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 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 somebody with a close relative having the condition is about twice that of somebody without any family history. With two close relatives then 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.

One problem here is that many men are not aware of their family history, frequently because many fathers, grandfathers or brothers have died as a result of 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 form of cancer. As a consequence there is a fair 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 are uncertain about your family history, then a good starting point is to try to check things out if at all possible. If it is not possible to do this, then it is probably best 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.

Another very important factor is that of race. For instance, African American men 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 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 Kingdom or the United States are at increased risk because of the high levels of fat in most Western diets. Here at last is a risk factor that you can do something about and lowering the fat in your diet and eating things like more fresh fruit and vegetables can reduce your risk quite considerably.

At this point we start to get into difficulty as, after the principle of reducing fat in your diet, opinions start to differ when it comes to other aspects of the diet which may be helpful in preventing prostate cancer.

There is very little 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 in your prostate health. However, determining exactly which minerals and vitamins have a part to play is a difficult matter and is certainly a subject all of its own.