Prevent aggressive prostate cancer....

Today's Post: Thursday, 5-19-2011

To do that, you need to do three things.

Do the things that prevent all cancers.

Do the things that prevent prostate cancer.

Do the things that prevent aggressive prostate cancer.

This post reviews some of the more effective ways to do the first two of these.

Then, for those of you who don’t know yet, we’ll review a way to cut aggressive prostate cancer in half that we’ve already posted on.

But what’s new is that there is a now a second way known to prevent aggressive prostate cancer. So, we’ll cover that last.

1. Do the things that prevent all cancers.

a) Stay as close to completely away from tobacco smoke as you possibly can!

Cancer is the LITTLE problem from tobacco smoke! -- because all exposure whether from smoking or second hand smoke adds to your level of cardiovascular disease. Plus tobacco smoke also triggers heart attacks that people might have otherwise escaped. And, every exposure damages you at least some every time! Ouch !! (Even first time smokers and very light smokers are harmed. No exceptions, unfortunately.)

That said, tobacco smoke exposure causes about 30% of ALL cancers. So, if you’d rather not get prostate cancer, always avoid tobacco smoke!

(There is also some evidence because of its effect on causing aggressive breast cancer in women at above average risk for it, that tobacco smoke might cause aggressive prostate cancer too.)

b) Few people today work as lifeguards in sunny weather every week. But our bodies will use at least 3,000 iu a day or more of vitamin D3. Vitamin D3 is necessary to arm your immune system’s killer cells. And, most people with functioning immune systems kill off potential cancers before they grow into actual cancer.

To make sure this works for you, we now know you need to take 4,000 iu to 8,000 iu a day of vitamin D3. (More than 25,000 iu a day on a sustained basis may be too much; and Wikipedia says 100,000 a day definitely is. But your body can make over 20,000 iu a day in sunny weather, so taking 10,000 iu a day or a bit less of vitamin D3 is safe.)

People who do this are less likely to get most cancers.

c) Eat an abundance of protective foods such as minced raw garlic and both cooked and raw onions; many kinds of orange or dark green vegetables for a mixed carotene intake; and many kinds of cruciferous vegetables. Eating each of these three kinds tends to cut your chances of getting cancers.

(Except for also eating cooked tomatoes, which we cover later, eating these foods raw tends to prevent cancer better.)

Also, when you can, eat the orange and dark green vegetables with nuts or extra virgin olive oil as your body gets more access to the carotenes in them.

(As a side benefit, you will be less fat and less likely to die from ANY cause by doing this! That’s a great extra!)

d) Do the 3 things that prevent chronic inflammation. The average person today eats more than 10 times as much omega 6 oil as omega 3. But your body is harmed by doing this. The amounts of those should be about equal. When the omega 6 is so high, it directly causes high levels of chronic inflammation.

But high levels of chronic inflammation increase your level of aches and pains, directly cause heart disease, and also help cause cancer.

So, avoid virtually all the junky foods people eat that give them the excessive omega 6 oils. Avoid, corn oil, soy oil, safflower oil, and to the extent you can, canola oil. Extra virgin olive oil is neutral as it is an omega 9 plus it has multiple other health benefits. So almost always use that instead. Refined grains are also high in omega 6 and tend to make you fat. So virtually eliminate eating foods made from them.

Unfortunately, meat from grain fed animals produces meat with very high levels of omega 6 in its fat. So eat meat less. Eat most of it from animals fed only grass. And, when you do eat meat from grain fed animals, make it as lean and fat trimmed as you can.

Also boost the levels of omega 3 oils you take in. Eating wild caught fish with high levels works. Sardines, herring, small mackerel, and salmon that have been wild caught all work. And/or take omega 3 or DHA supplements from purified fish oil.

This step also has extra health benefits as it also helps prevent heart disease.

And, a way to reduce chronic inflammation even more and to help prevent Alzheimer’s disease in addition to cancer is to eat curried foods that contain turmeric a few times each week and take curcumin supplements derived from turmeric each day.

In Anticancer, A New Way of Life, New Edition by Dr David Servan-Schreiber he says that eating curried foods or taking curcumin supplements may cut inflammation and prevent cancer as much as 200 times better by combining them with some black pepper.

2. Do the things that prevent prostate cancer.

I’ve read that taking a bit of extra zinc each day helps do this. But avoid taking more than 45 mg a day of it and unless you are unable to do so take at least 2 or 3 mg a day of copper to balance it.

Dr Al Sears says that taking boron cuts your risk of prostate cancer in half. The boron supplement I take and started since it also enhances alertness has 3 mg a day. So it was very good to hear it also helps prevent prostate cancer.

Taking 30 mg a day of lycopene as a supplement was once in Time magazine as cutting the risk of prostate cancer and lowering PSA levels.

Eating cooked tomato sauce with extra virgin olive oil several times a week has a similar track record of preventing prostate cancer. And it may work better than the supplement because of other carotenes in the tomatoes. Plus this goes well with minced raw garlic which also helps prevent cancer.

3. Do the things that prevent aggressive prostate cancer.

We just posted this today in this post.: (There is also some evidence because of its effect on causing aggressive breast cancer in women at above average risk for it, that tobacco smoke might cause aggressive prostate cancer too.)

But a way that cuts the risk of aggressive prostate cancer in half is also known!

The research has not yet been done to show that eating these two vegetables more often increases the effect. But men who eat either raw broccoli florets or raw cauliflower at least once each week, cut their risk of getting aggressive prostate cancers in half! That’s very good to know. And, for those who dislike broccoli or overtaste its bitter flavors, it’s great news that cauliflower also works!

(Since I read this one, I’ve eaten raw broccoli florets each weekday for lunch!)

Here’s what’s new. Drinking coffee, drinking decaf coffee, or taking a coffee bean supplement also cuts your risk of aggressive prostate cancer.

Since decaf works, it’s apparently the antioxidants or other phytonutrients in coffee that do the job—not the caffeine.

NPR online news and others reported earlier this week on a study done at Harvard

This study found a 60 percent reduction in risk of aggressive prostate cancer in people who drink six cups a day or more. And, men who drank one to three cups a day had a 30 percent lower chance of getting aggressive prostate cancer also.

A woman quote in the NPR story said, "Whether they drank regular coffee or only decaffeinated coffee, there was the same lower risk of lethal prostate cancer," she says. "It's really the coffee; it's not the caffeine."

(I was very pleased to read that because my reflux acts up if I drink regular coffee every day.)

They also found that it didn't take 20 years to get this effect, the research found what was important was how much coffee the men drank in the previous eight years.

The Harvard researcher also said the this coffee effect persisted even after the researchers allowed for the effect of exercise, obesity, smoking & other factors that either raise or lower the risk of prostate cancer.

What happens if you take all three of these steps?

You’ll be likely not to get any kind of cancer and will also likely not get aggressive prostate cancer.