While there’s no proven prostate cancer prevention strategy your urologist Des Moines Dr. Fawad Zafar advises that you can reduce your risk of prostate cancer by making healthier choices, such as diet and exercise.
There’s no definite way to prevent prostate cancer. Study results often disagree with each other, and no sure ways to prevent prostate cancer have emerged. In general, your urologist Des Moines recommends that men with even an average risk of prostate cancer make choices that benefit their overall health.
Choose a healthier diet. There is evidence that choosing a healthy diet that’s lower in fat and higher in fruits and vegetables may reduce your risk of prostate cancer. This includes:
- Choose a low-fat diet by limiting fatty foods and/or choosing low-fat varieties. For example, reduce the amount of fat you add to foods when cooking, choose leaner cuts of meat and choose lower-fat or reduced-fat dairy products.
- Eat more fat from plants than from animals. In studies that examined fat and prostate cancer risk, animal fat was most likely to be associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer.
- Eat more fruits and vegetables each day. These foods are full of vitamins and nutrients that are believed to reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Eating more fruits and vegetables also reduces the room for other foods, such as high-fat foods.
- Eat fatty fish such as salmon, sardines, tuna and trout, which contain omega-3 that has been linked to a reduced risk of prostate cancer.
- Reduce your intake of dairy products. Your urologist Des Moines has found that men who consumed the most dairy products such as milk, cheese and yogurt each day suffered the highest risk of prostate cancer.
- Drink green tea or take green tea extract as a supplement for a reduced risk of prostate cancer.
- Try adding soy to your diet in the form of tofu, kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils and peanuts.
- If you drink alcohol, limit yourself to no more than a drink or two each day.
Maintain a healthy weight Men with a BMI of 30 or more are considered to be obese, which increases your risk of prostate cancer. If you are just overweight or are obese, work to lose weight by reducing the number of calories you consume each day and increasing the amount of exercise you do.
Exercise most days of the week. Studies of exercise and prostate cancer risk have indicated that men who exercise on a normal basis may have a reduced risk of prostate cancer. Your urologist Des Moines advises that exercise has many other health benefits and may reduce your risk of heart disease and other cancers.
Talk to your urologist Des Moines about your risk of prostate cancer. Some men have an increased risk of prostate cancer; for those with a very high risk of prostate cancer, there may be other options such as medications.
If you think you have a high risk of prostate cancer, discuss it with your urologist Des Moines. Des Moines residents trust Dr. Fawad Zafar for prostate cancer treatment options.