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Prostate cancer is currently the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men in much of the Western world. Men have one in five chances of being diagnosed with prostate cancer, while women have one in eight chances of breast cancer. Yet people are much more aware of the symptoms, signs and treatment of breast cancer. Maybe because government funding for breast cancer research tends to exceed the amount spent on prostate cancer!
We still don’t know why prostate cancer develops or what exactly causes it. Age seems to be a major factor (your risk increases significantly with age), but diet, genetics and environmental factors also play a role.
Age: Prostate cancer is rare before the age of 50. The number of cases in men over the age of 70 is increasing dramatically. It follows that as we live longer, more people fall into this risk group.
Diet: We know that a high-fat diet combined with a lack of exercise leads to obesity. It also increases the risk of developing cancer. Prostate cancer, like breast cancer, is much less common in countries like Japan. You may think that this is the result of genetics. But when Japanese men move to the United States and change their diet to our predominantly high-fat diet, their incidence of this disease increases significantly. In Japanese second- and third-generation families, men are slightly less likely to contract the disease than their European counterparts.
Did you know that not only men get prostate cancer, but also domestic dogs. Some medics believe that this proves that diet is a factor, as dogs can eat the same food as their human owners.
Race: Some races are more at risk for this type of cancer, but it remains to be determined whether it depends on race or inadequate screening. In the United States, the risk for African Americans is almost twice as high as for their neighbors.
Swedish men have a higher risk than German men, who in turn have a higher risk than Israelis of developing the disease. Why? No one is sure, but it seems that diet, sun exposure and soil content may be some of the factors involved.
Summary: Age, diet and race play a role in your risk of developing prostate cancer. In fact, some people will make you believe that every man will eventually get this form of cancer if he lives long enough. This way of thinking is potentially very dangerous, as it can prevent people from seeking and benefiting from cancer screening.
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Source by Andrei Valentin