Affecting 230,000 American men a year, prostate cancer is the second-most common and second-most deadly cancer among men. Nonetheless, it is a slow-growing disease and most patients die of some other cause before they succumb to the cancer.
One of those other causes: Bone fractures.
According to a study, hormone-suppressing drugs--used frequently to treat prostate cancer--make men so prone to broken bones that the treatment may negate any benefits in those whose cancer was caught early. A serious bone fracture (especially in the elderly) can lead to a downward spiral of slow-healing infections, various other complications and eventually death.
Researchers found that among men surviving five years after their cancer diagnosis and receiving hormone-suppression, the risk of a fracture requiring hospitalization doubled, compared to a group who did not receive the treatment. In addition, upon reviewing the health records of some 50,000 American men with prostate cancer, age 66 or older, researchers found hormone-suppressing drugs accounted for an estimated 3,000 fractures a year.
The Purpose of Hormone-Suppressing Drugs
Hormone-suppressing drugs restrain the production of male hormones like testosterone. This is because testosterone can provoke growth of prostate cancer cells. And, although these drugs, when combined with radiation, have been proven to save lives, receiving hormone-suppression treatment has been associated with a list of side effects (aside from bone fracture):
New England Journal of Medicine January 13, 2005;352(2):154-164
Although prostate cancer affects hundreds of thousands of men each year in the United States, not to mention thousands more in other countries around the world, it is a relatively slow-growing cancer and is easy to control if caught early enough.
The key: Understanding how to properly treat it.
For starters, I don't believe it is wise to implement aggressive, conventional medical strategies such as hormone-suppression. Instead, there are a number of safe, healthy techniques to treating prostate cancer that don't rely on the use of medications.
One of the most important ways to treat prostate cancer is to add a source of high-quality cod liver oil to your diet. This is because cod liver oil is the ideal source of EPA and DHA for prostate cancer prevention. It is loaded with vitamin D, which may be even more important than EPA and DHA in prevention and treatment of prostate cancer.
Other Techniques to Treat or Prevent Prostate Cancer
Increase your intake of vegetables. This is especially important in light of the recently revised government guidelines that now recommend 9 servings a day of vegetables and fruits. Remember not to count potatoes as vegetables, as they respond far more similar to grains in your body
Incorporate vitamin E into your diet
Get exposure to adequate sunlight
Eliminate sugar from your diet
Take selenium
Following these simple methods (along getting your PSA screening after you turn 40) will provide you with some excellent natural preventative and treatment tools against prostate cancer.
It is also interesting to note that a Harvard study including nearly 48,000 men found eating tomato sauce a couple of times a week may help.
Lycopene appears to be the active ingredient in tomatoes that is responsible for this effect. (Hearing this may motivate some people to run out and stock up on lycopene supplements, however this would not be advisable as lycopene is more effective when it is combined with other chemicals in the tomatoes.) If taken in excess, though, tomatoes can adversely influence one's insulin levels.
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