You may have noticed that men are looking so clean-shaven these days!
While some men like to let their facial hair fill in for extra warmth during the colder season, others have just shaven off their “Movember” moustaches.
If you aren’t familiar with the term Movember, let me explain: The month of November is dedicated to men supporting prostate cancer research – and growing a formidable moustache for a good cause.
To celebrate the close of this annual prostate cancer awareness campaign, I’d like to take a moment to recap what we know about the risk, treatment and prevention for you or a loved one.
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What is prostate cancer?
Prostate cancer occurs when cells in the prostate, which is a gland surrounding the neck of the bladder, grows abnormally and forms cancer. If left completely untreated, prostate cancer cells may eventually spread from the prostate, resulting in tumors in other parts of the body, particularly the bones and lymph nodes.
What could be most troubling is prostate cancer develops often without any warning. Many times, men don’t have symptoms at first, and when they do develop, it happens slowly. These can include urinary issues like slow urine flow and low frequency, blood in the urine or semen, reduced ability to get an erection and painful ejaculation.
Who has the highest prostate cancer risk?
Prostate cancer is a men’s cancer, and an aggressive one at that. But aside from this, older men are much more likely to be diagnosed with the disease.
There is a hereditary component, too. If someone has a father or brother who developed prostate cancer before 60, they are twice as likely to develop it themselves. An unhealthy diet and a lack of exercise are contributing factors to the disease as well.
Why do you need to take your prostate health seriously? Statistics are sobering: 50 percent of men over 60 will develop an enlarged prostate, according to the Mayo Clinic. After age 85, this number jumps to a staggering 95 percent.
Drink your daily juice
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Diet is a key prevention tactic, and one of the best foods for prostate that you can fill your fridge with starting today is pomegranate juice, from the vibrant red pulp and seeds of the pomegranate fruit.
A study presented at the American Urological Association (AUA) meeting found that drinking eight ounces of pomegranate juice a day could help slow the progression of prostate cancer.
Participants in the study included 48 men who had increasing “prostate-specific antigen” (or PSA) levels after their prostate cancer surgery or procedure. At the start of the study in 2003, participants had an average PSA doubling time (the shorter the time the more aggressive the cancer) of 15.4 months. Three years later, researchers reported that the men who drank one eight-ounce glass of pomegranate juice daily had saw a slower progression of prostate cancer than those who didn’t.
Researchers continued to follow the men in the study for progress. They noted that 15 of the men stuck with the glass of pomegranate juice a day recommendation. The AUA reports that the PSA doubling times of the men who kept drinking pomegranate juice were about four times longer than at the start of the study and, of course, much longer than the men who didn’t drink the juice at all.
If you decide to start drinking pomegranate juice, don’t drink more than a glass a day. It is high in calories, with almost double the amount per glass than orange juice
Regular monitoring is first line of attack
If you’ve already been diagnosed with prostate cancer, there is still hope. That’s because many prostate cancers grow slowly and may not need surgery or other treatment quickly. But remember that active surveillance, which is regular monitoring, for men with low-risk or low-grade prostate cancer is the first line of attack. During this active surveillance, prostate cancer is closely monitored for any signs of progression.
The surgical approach to treating prostate cancer is a prostatectomy. This is the removal of the prostate gland. Although it depends on what stage of cancer, men in the early stage of the disease will undergo a radical prostatectomy, which is the removal of the entire prostate gland, plus the tissue that surrounds it.
Radiotherapy, on the other hand, involves the use of numerous types of X-rays to treat cancer, which means exposure to radiation.
Hormone therapy, also known as androgen-deprivation therapy (or ADT) is also engineered to stop the release of testosterone in order to prevent it from acting on prostate cells. Increasingly, hormone therapy is used before, during or after local treatment. It’s long played a vital role in men with advancing prostate cancer.
Finally, chemotherapy involves the use of drugs through the bloodstream. This is meant to destroy cancer cells that have spread from the prostate gland all the way to other parts of the body. There are many chemotherapies, and different combinations of the therapies I’ve outlined.
Of course, there’s no proven strategy to prevent prostate cancer altogether. Particular treatments, too, are not without their own side effects.
But you can significantly reduce the risk of prostate cancer by taking some real interest in your health and bringing awareness of the disease to the men closest to you.
Along those lines, here’s to next year’s moustache!
Reprinted with permission from Bel Marra Health.
