By Dr. Mercola
Part 2
The Neem trees are plentiful and grow wild in Montserrat – Always discuss with your doctor
Lifestyle and Prostate Cancer
Treating and preventing prostate cancer (and other cancers) requires more than taking a supplement. Your diet is a vital part of the healing equation and exercise is another important metabolic optimizer.
Previous research suggests losing weight can reduce your risk of prostate, breast and colon cancer by as much as 20 percent, and this effect is thought to be due to reductions in these proteins and other inflammatory compounds stored in fat cells.11
According to a 2011 study published in PLoS One,12 aggressive prostate cancer was associated with obesity.
Another cohort study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention13 in 2013 found that men who were overweight or obese increased their risk of prostate cancer by 57 percent.
Here, the association between obesity and prostate cancer held for all cases — low-grade and high-grade, early stage and late, nonaggressive and aggressive prostate cancer.
When it comes to exercise, research suggests maintaining a high level of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in middle age helps cut men’s chances of dying from prostate cancer by nearly one-third (32 percent).14,15
Exercise reduction of cancer is most likely related to improving insulin receptor sensitivity and PGC 1-alpha that increases mitochondrial biogenesis.
Optimizing your vitamin D level, which is ideally done through sensible sun exposure, is another key ingredient for cancer prevention. Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to several common cancers, including cancers of the breast, colon and prostate.
Researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine recently discovered that men diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer tend to have vitamin D levels below 23 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml). According to this study, vitamin D may actually be used as a biomarker to predict cancer:
“[B]ecause vitamin D is a biomarker for bone health and aggressiveness of other diseases, all men should check their levels, [lead investigator Dr. Adam] Murphy said. ‘All men should be replenishing their vitamin D to normal levels,’ Murphy said. ‘It’s smart preventive health care.'”
You can also improve your benefit from vitamin D by increasing your healthy levels through sensible sun exposure and not by swallowing it.
Other Important Anti-Cancer Nutrients
In addition to vitamin D, vitamin K2 appears to be a noteworthy player in prostate cancer.
German doctors evaluating the effect of vitamins K1 and K2 on the development and treatment of prostate cancer found that those who consumed the greatest amount of K2 had a 63 percent reduced incidence of advanced prostate cancer.16,17
Vitamin K1 intake did not offer any prostate benefits. Other nutrients and foods shown to influence your prostate cancer risk include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Foods rich in omega-3 fats have been shown to prevent prostate cancer from spreading.
One clinical study18 published in 2006 found that while omega-6 fats (the kind found in most vegetable oils) increased the spread of prostatic tumor cells into bone marrow, the spread of cancer cells was BLOCKED by omega-3 fats, suggesting that a diet rich in omega-3 fats could potentially inhibit the disease in men with early stage prostate cancer.
A more recent meta-analysis19 of available research, published in 2010, found that fish consumption was associated with a 63 percent reduction in prostate cancer-specific mortality, even though no association between fish consumption and a significant reduction in prostate cancer incidence could be found. This is related to the fact that toxin-free seafood is the ideal source of DHA, not omega-3 fats from plants that are poorly converted to DHA.
- Sulforaphane found in cruciferous vegetables like broccoli has been shown to cause apoptosis (programmed cell death) in prostate cancer cells.20 Three servings of broccoli per week may reduce your risk of prostate cancer by more than 60 percent.21
For more information, please see my previous article, “How to Survive Prostate Cancer Without Surgery, Drugs or Radiation.”
