10 Top Causes of Prostate Cancer
and How to Avoid Them
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men (skin cancer is the first), according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). In just one year, nearly 219,000 new cases of prostate cancer are expected in the United States, and over 27,000 men will die from the disease.
Vigorous exercise can help to prevent prostate cancer, particularly in men over the age of 65. |
Although one in six men will get prostate cancer during his lifetime, only one in 34 will die from the disease. This is because prostate cancer is often slow growing (though it can at times grow quickly), and men may have the disease and not even know it.
Though it’s not known exactly what causes this disease, there are several known risk factors, some of which you can easily control to reduce your risk of prostate cancer.
The Top Causes of Prostate Cancer
- Age: Your risk of prostate cancer increases with age, particularly among men over 65 years old.
- Family history: If a close relative (father, brother) had prostate cancer, it will increase your risk.
- Diet: Men who eat a lot of processed meat, bad fats and refined grains have an increased risk of prostate cancer, particularly if they don’t eat a lot of fruits and vegetables.
- Exercise: Exercise is generally known to reduce the risk of all types of cancer, however men over 65 who exercise vigorously have been found to have a lower risk of prostate cancer, specifically.
- Ethnicity: African-American men have the highest rates of prostate cancer in the world, according to the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention.
- Environmental chemicals: Researchers are focusing increasingly on the potential chemical causes of prostate cancer. Exposure to pesticides has been linked with an increased risk, as has in-utero exposure to the plastics chemical bisphenol A (BPA) and other hormone-mimicking environmental contaminants.
- Cadmium: Exposure to excess levels of cadmium is also known to increase prostate cancer risk. Cadmium is found in foods (shellfish, liver and kidney meats have the highest levels), cigarette smoke, and contaminated air and water (particularly if you live near, or work in, a facility that manufactures batteries, pigments, metal coatings or plastics).
Men can reduce their risk of prostate cancer by eating a lot of cooked tomato-based foods, like pizza sauce. Why? They’re rich in the antioxidant lycopene. |
- Cigarette Smoking Men when diagnosis with prostate cancer are much more likely to die of the disease or experience a recurrence than nonsmokers including former smokers who kicked the habit at least 10 years before diagnosis. That’s the conclusion of a new government-funded study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. This is one more very good reason to quit smoking.
- Too much, or too little, vitamin D. Men who had vitamin D deficiency, or excess vitamin D, both had an increased risk of prostate cancer, according to a study in the International Journal of Cancer.
- Vasectomy: Several studies have suggested that men who have had a
vasectomy have a slightly higher risk of prostate cancer.
How to Lower Your Risk of Prostate Cancer
Although some risk factors of prostate cancer, like age, ethnicity and family history, are obviously beyond your control, there are plenty of factors that you DO have control over. Making the following changes may help to reduce your risk of this widespread cancer:
- Eat more tomato-based foods. Tomatoes (particularly cooked varieties such as tomato sauces, paste and ketchup) are rich in the antioxidant lycopene, which is known to prevent damage to DNA and fight prostate cancer. Pink grapefruit and watermelon are also good sources of lycopene.
- Eat less processed meat and bad fats. Limiting your intake of processed meats like bacon, sausage and luncheon meats, along with your intake of bad fats, like trans fats, may also help reduce your risk.
- Watch your calcium intake. Getting too much calcium (beyond the recommended 1200 milligrams per day) could actually increase your risk of prostate cancer, according to the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention.
- Consume more selenium. Selenium is thought to protect against cancer through its antioxidant content. It also may slow or prevent tumor growth by enhancing the immune system and suppressing blood vessels to the tumor. Foods rich in selenium include Brazil nuts, tuna, chicken, turkey, beef, brown rice, eggs and sunflower seeds.
- Exercise regularly. Exercise will not only reduce your risk of prostate cancer, but just about every other type of cancer as well.
- Don’t smoke. This will increase your levels of cadmium.
- Avoid exposure to environmental chemicals. As much as possible, try to limit your exposure to pesticides and BPA (found in tooth sealants, plastic containers and bottles, microwave ovenware and more).
- Get the proper amount of vitamin D. Vitamin D inhibits the development and growth of prostate cancer cells. Experts say 15-20 minutes of sunlight a day is an ideal amount for a light-skinned person to produce the right amount of vitamin D.
Sources
International Journal of Cancer 1;108(1):104-8