"The prostate is the number one cancer spot in a man's body," writes Dr. Neal Bernard, M.D., of The Cancer Project. The foods you eat play a vital role in your prostate health. Implement specific nutritional strategies that lower your caloric intake but increase your nutrient consumption. These strategies include decreasing your fat consumption, eliminating empty calories, lowering the amounts of refined sugars you eat and increasing your consumption of antioxidant-rich food. These simple dietary tactics can be a catalyst to improving your prostate health and lowering your risk of prostate cancer.
Calories
Excessive calorie consumption leads to increased body fat and high insulin levels. Processed foods and refined sugar are huge contributors to excessive caloric intake. Increased insulin levels are converted to insulin-like growth factor, or IGF-1. In his 2004 book, "Stop Inflammation Now," Dr. Richard Fleming writes, "Insulin and IGF-1 are fuels for cancer." By eating the correct amount of quality calories to keep your insulin levels from spiking and producing harmful IGF-1, you decrease the possibility of prostate inflammation.
Simple Sugars
"Eating simple sugars has no real benefit, promotes obesity and possible tumor growth," says the Prostate Cancer Foundation's booklet, "Nutrition, Exercise and Prostate Cancer." Besides having no positive benefits, sugar is an energy source for cancer cells and it stimulates insulin production. Eliminate or reduce your consumption of empty calories and replace them with low gylcemic index, nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables to control your weight and provide your body with high quality nutrients.
Antioxidants
Brightly colored fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants and phytochemicals that help render disease-causing free radicals harmless. According to Dr. Bernard, "A diet built from plant food is a man's best defense against developing prostate cancer." It is recommended that you consume five to nine servings of vegetables and fruits daily. Choose different colored foods to supply your body with a wide variety of disease-fighting antioxidants and phytochemicals.
Fats
Eating the right types and quantities of fats is vital to the health of your prostate gland. Increase your ingestion of unsaturated fats and decrease your intake of saturated fats and hydrogenated fats. Unsaturated fats, or oils, are found in fish, olive oil, soy, corn, nuts and seeds. Saturated fats, or hard fats, are primarily found in beef, pork and dairy products. Hydrogenated fats are man-made fats that the body has a difficult time breaking down and utilizing. They are also called trans fats and partially hydrogenated fats and are found in baked goods, processed foods and fast foods.
Conclusion
The standard American diet contains too many calories, too much fat, excessive quantities of refined sugar and too little fresh fruit and vegetables. Combining poor diet with little or no exercise increases risk of chronic systemic inflammation, prostate cancer and benign prostate hypertrophy, or BPH. You can make a huge difference in your health by improving your diet and exercising everyday. The Prostate Cancer Foundation states, "Although some factors that contribute to prostate cancer are difficult or impossible to change, nutritional and exercise habits that reduce inflammation and oxidation can be changed."
References
- The Cancer Project: Nutrition and Prostate Health
- Prostate Cancer Foundation: Nutrition, Exercise and Prostate Cancer
- "Stop Inflammation Now"; Richard Fleming, M.D.; 2004.
