..............................
Prostate
Cancer
5 Ways to Lower Your PSA
Count
BY PATRICK J. KIGER
Mention the acronym PSA to a man over 50,
and you may see him cringe a little.
That's because the letters stand for prostate-specific
antigen, a substance produced by the prostate, a walnut-sized reproductive
gland that often is a source of health problems for middle-aged and older
males.
When
a man in that age group goes to the doctor for a prostate checkup, he's
generally given a blood test to determine the amount of PSA in his bloodstream.
It's
normal for a small amount of PSA to be found in the blood, but a
higher-than-normal level can indicate one of a variety of unpleasant woes -- a
prostate infection, inflammation, enlargement, or, in the worst case scenario,
cancer [source: Mayo Clinic].
A
high PSA score doesn't always indicate the presence of a malignant growth, and
conversely, prostate cancer has been found in men who have normal PSA levels.
But generally, if there's something wrong with the prostate that
requires further testing, the PSA score will reveal that problem. Doctors
continue to monitor PSA levels in men who've been treated for prostate cancer
to watch for clues that it may have returned [source: National Cancer Institute].
While no man wants to have an abnormally high PSA count, whatever the
cause, it's important to remember that the PSA count is an indicator of
problems, not the cause of them.
The best way to avoid a bad test score is to have a healthy prostate.
While age-related changes in the body and heredity are factors in prostate
health, lifestyle and diet also play significant roles.
By making some relatively painless changes in how you live, you can
maximize your chances of having a healthy prostate and a low PSA score. Here
are five suggestions from experts.
5 Eat Less Meat and Cut Out Fat
You
probably like cheeseburgers as much as the next guy, but in truth, your
prostate would prefer you eat a nice salad with low-fat dressing.
According
to Dr. Neal Barnard, a professor at George Washington University Medical School
and founder of the group Physicians for Responsible Medicine, changing your
diet can help prevent prostate problems.
That's
because prostate enlargement is driven by hormones, whose production is
influenced by what you eat.
Research
has shown that daily meat consumption triples the risk of prostate enlargement,
and regular milk consumption doubles it.
That's
why Asian countries that are beginning to adopt the Western diet reportedly are
seeing more and more men with prostate problems.
Even
worse, the hormones triggered by eating a lot of animal-based foods and
consuming a lot of fat also help stimulate the growth of cancer cells.
As
Dr. Barnard notes, a man from Sweden, where meat consumption is high, is twice
as likely to have cancerous cells in his prostate at age 45 as a man from Hong
Kong, where people eat less meat and more vegetables.
The
Swedish man is also eight times more likely to die of prostate cancer.
There's
even evidence that a vegan diet can help slow and control prostate cancer in
those who already have it.
A
2002 study by physician and nutrition researcher Dr. Dean Ornish found that
prostate cancer patients who switched to a low-fat vegan diet actually saw
their PSA levels decrease from 6.3 to 5.8 over a three-month period, and none
required additional medical treatment.
That's
why Dr. Barnard concludes that "a diet built from plant foods is a man's
best defense against developing prostate cancer" [source: Barnard].
4 Eat Tomatoes, Particularly Cooked Tomato
Cutting
out meat is a tough one for a lot of guys, but this one will be easier, we
promise.
Everybody
likes a juicy slice of fresh tomato on a sandwich or salad, right? Marinara
sauce on pasta is tasty, too.
And
then there's ketchup. Both tomatoes and tomato-based foods are good for
prostate health, according to Dr. Barnard, because they contain lycopene, a
powerful antioxidant.
One
Harvard University study showed that men consuming 10 or more servings of
tomatoes or tomato-based foods -- such as ketchup or pasta sauce -- had a 35
percent reduction in prostate cancer risk. Cooking tomatoes actually helps
release the lycopene from the tomato cells, increasing your body's ability to
utilize them [source: Barnard].
Research
also suggests that lycopene may even be able to reduce the PSA count in men
with advanced prostate cancer who have their testicles removed as a
lifesaving measure.
A
study published in the British Journal of Urology International in 2003 found
that surgery patients who took 4 milligrams of lycopene had 65 percent lower
PSA levels than those who only had the surgery.
After
two years, PSA levels in the group that received lycopene had fallen into the
normal range, while those who only got surgery still had PSA levels more than
twice the upper limit of normal.
Additionally,
the surgery patients who took lycopene had an 87 percent survival rate over a
two-year period compared to 78 percent for the control group, a small but
statistically significant difference [source: Bastyrcenter.org].
3 Get
More Exercise
A
2005 study of 93 prostate cancer patients by University of California-San
Francisco and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center found that a group who
switched to a healthier diet and followed a regimen of moderate aerobic
exercise, yoga and meditation were able to lower their PSA levels
over a one-year period, while those who didn't make those lifestyle changes saw
their levels rise.
Seventy
percent of the exercisers who ate right also saw the growth of their tumors
inhibited, versus 8 percent of the control group.
None
of the lifestyle-change subjects had any other treatment for cancer, while some
members of the control group needed surgery, radiation or
chemotheraphy because their disease had progressed.
Patients
in the lifestyle-change group also reported marked improvements in quality of
life, according to researchers [source: University of California-San Francisco].
It's
not clear exactly how much more aerobic exercise helps to improve prostate
health. The Mayo Clinic, however, notes that doing aerobics is an important
tool in controlling weight problems, and weight problems may stimulate hormone
production that causes prostate woes [source: Mayo Clinic].
Yoga and meditation, however, seem to
be beneficial because they help reduce stress; stress can trigger production of
hormones that harm the prostate.
2 Take Aspirin
You've
already heard that regular use of aspirin can help protect you against heart problems.
But
a study published in 2008 by Vanderbilt University researchers also suggests
that aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) lower PSA
levels, especially among men who have prostate cancer.
The
study, in which the researchers looked at 1,277 patients and referred to
urologists for prostate biosies, found that those who used aspirin had PSA
levels that were 9 percent lower than those who didn't use the over-the-counter
pain reliever.
The
researchers found that aspirin didn't seem to have an effect on prostate
enlargement, but instead apparently did something to hinder development of the
cancer [source: Science Daily].
Previous
studies also show that use of aspirin and other NSAIDs is linked to a lower
risk of developing prostate cancer.
A
study published in 2003 by Mayo Clinic researchers, who followed 1,362 men
between ages 50 and 79 over a 66-month period, found that those who used NSAIDs
regularly had half as much likelihood of developing prostate cancer as those
who did not.
The
benefits seemed to be the greatest for the oldest patients in the study. The
researchers could not explain why NSAIDs seemed to reduce prostate cancer risk,
but their findings give men who are considering taking aspirin to protect their
hearts an additional incentive [source: Reuters].
1 Drink Pomegranate Juice
It's
unfortunate that the pomegranate isn't a diet staple of the typical American
man because an increasing amount of research suggests that pomegranate juice
may help fight prostate cancer.
The
deep-red, sweet drink is rich in phytochemicals; in laboratory studies,
phytochemicals have been shown to inhibit cancer growth and spread [source: Harvard Men's Health Watch, National Cancer Institute].
According
to the National Cancer Institute's Web site, UCLA researchers currently are
studying pomegranate juice as a way to slow or reverse PSA levels in men who've
already been treated for prostate cancer and are trying to prevent its return.
A
phase II trial already has found that daily consumption of pomegranate juice
resulted in a significant lengthening of the PSA doubling time, a measure that
is a predictor of cancer progression and mortality. The scientists are now
conducting a large-scale, Phase III study to verify their early findings [source: National Cancer Institute].
A daily glass of the crimson stuff
may also be good for other things besides your prostate.
The Harvard Men's Health Watch
newsletter reported in 2007 that both animal and human studies suggest that
pomegranate juice may help fight cardiovascular disease by preventing LDL --
the "bad cholesterol" -- from damaging your blood vessels, and by
slowing the development of plaques in mice with atherosclerosis.
Clinical studies also suggest that it
may improve cardiac blood flow. But research also suggests that it may
interfere with certain medications, so be sure to talk about that with your
doctor [source: Harvard
Men's Health Watch].
Patrick Kiger
Patrick
J. Kiger has written for HowStuffWorks since 2008 covering a wide array of
topics, from history and politics to pop culture and technology. He worked as a
newspaper reporter for the Pittsburgh Press, and the Orange County Register in
California, where he covered one of the biggest serial murder cases in U.S.
history, and also as a staff writer at Baltimore Magazine. As a freelancer,
Patrick has written for print publications such as GQ, Mother Jones and the Los
Angeles Times, and on the web for National Geographic Channel, Discovery News,
Science Channel and Fast Company, among others. In recent years, he's become
increasingly interested in how technological advances are altering urban life
and the design of cities, and has written extensively on that subject for Urban
Land magazine. In his spare time, Patrick is a longtime martial arts student
and a fan of crime fiction, punk rock and classic Hollywood films.
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