No one wants to get prostate cancer. But did you know that experts are starting to recommend against the routine PSA screening that’s been so commonplace for decades?
The current political state of prostate-specific antigen screening (or PSA) is surprisingly turbulent. The latest stance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finally appears to be questioning their own zeal, with a new policy that involves taking a look at how often or necessary screening for this prostate gland cell-produced protein should be. The FDA approved PSA screenings as a way to track prostate cancer progression in men back in the late 1980s and even approved it as part of the digital rectal exam, or DRE, to test men that don’t even have signs of prostate cancer back in the mid-1990s. PSA screening was also promoted to men considered high risk for prostate cancer, including men over age 40 or older who are African-American or have a family history of prostate cancer. PSA was encouraged annually for men 50 and older until recently.
Today, PSA screening is cautioned against by a variety organizations, including the American Urological Association (AUA) due to its associated harms, such as over-diagnosis, unnecessary treatments and medical visits and patient anxiety, which have been shown to outweigh its benefits. Moreover, there is a lack of evidence that demonstrates whether or not PSA screening actually decreases mortality or morbidity. You read that right. The FDA wonders whether all this testing has really done a damn thing for American men’s health, statistically.
There is also controversy surrounding prostate surgery. Many of you may have heard our second ever podcast, Don’t Cut Out The Prostate. As you can see, our view has not changed here. Men that are quick to just cut out the cancer often don’t consider the psychological effects of surgery and the fact that it doesn’t necessarily solve the issue. Beyond that, the prostate is a critical part of healthy sexual function, so the longer you can keep this gland intact, the better.
Understand How Nutrition Impacts Your Prostate Health
Yet, it’s not ideal to be passive about your prostate issues either, especially if you’re an older man who doesn’t get annual checkups or avoids getting your prostate examined altogether. With all that is going on, it seems that every male will eventually face an issue with their prostate or get prostate cancer. However, your nutrition often holds the key to better prostate health and can help minimize the risk of prostate cancer or other health problems. Here’s how:
While exercise and diet is helpful for reducing or maintaining weight and for improving mental health, your diet is the main component that drives your life’s quality. It’s vital to understand how nutrition affects your prostate health.
Stay Away From the Wrong Foods
There are loads of foods and beverages that you may think are adding value to your life but may be causing you more harm to your prostate health in the long run. Here are a few items you should consider steering clear from:
- Non-organic white meat and vegetables. Pesticides and herbicides that are used in farming vegetables can introduce harmful chemicals into your endocrine system. Go organic.
- Alcohol – the sugar for our brain – is seriously bad is so many ways. If you’ve listened to any of our podcasts, you already know sugar’s role in just about every malady in humans,
- Deep-fried or Baked Foods made with hydrogenated oils – instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, there is all kinds of good fat – even to fry with – but hydrogenated vegetable oils are the undisputed king of carcinogen-producing compounds when heated. With the prostate being one of the more vulnerable of our organs to outside carcinogens the situation becomes even more acute.
- Foods from cans. Many cans have Bisphenol A or BPA in them, which can soak into foods, such as tomatoes, and end up lingering in the body for years or decades. BPA has one of the strongest linkages to prostate cancer of any known toxins typically found in humans.
Take Action
Whether you’ve taken a PSA screening or not, take your nutrition into consideration. It can help you reduce the chances of getting prostate cancer and better your health. Get a plan in place that maps out the foods you need to eat and beverages you can consume for better prostate health. You can also employ supplements as an added value to your diet to take advantage of nutrients your body may not be able to produce on its own or that you may not be able to get from your diet.
That was Dr. Jack’s situation. We now recommend a specific prostate supporting protocol to our patients that Dr. Jack used himself to save his own prostate several years ago. Take the free symptom survey and let us help you guys, and the gals that love them, to better understand how to have and keep a healthy prostate gland.
