Preventing Prostate Cancer and BPH: Prostate-Health Expert Available (National Men's Health Week Is ...( SEATTLE May 9 -- The risk of the...),Health

SEATTLE, May 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The risk of the two major prostate diseases, cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), can be reduced by changes in lifestyle, such as avoiding smoking, maintaining a normal weight and eating a healthy diet. Alan Kristal, Dr.P.H., associate head of the Cancer Prevention Program at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, has conducted many studies that suggest men need not feel helpless against prostate cancer or BPH.

For example, Kristal and colleagues have found that:

-- Eating cruciferous vegetables, especially broccoli, at least three times

a week may reduce a man's risk of prostate cancer by nearly half.

Scientists believe that these vegetables protect against cancer because

they contain isothiocianates, which increase the activity of enzymes

that can both detoxify cancer-promoting compounds and decrease the

concentration of active androgens (steroid hormones) in the prostate.

-- Dietary supplementation with selenium and vitamin E may significantly

reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Kristal and colleagues found that

men who take a daily vitamin E supplement lower their risk of aggressive

prostate cancer by nearly half. Kristal and colleagues are now engaged

in a clinical trial with more than 35,000 men testing whether selenium

and/or vitamin E can prevent prostate cancer.

-- Men who eat a diet low in fat and red meat, moderate in alcohol, and

high in vegetables and lean protein have a significantly lower risk of

developing symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH, a condition

associated with frequent and painful urination that affects nearly all

men by age 70. Kristal and colleague found that a high-fat diet

increased the risk of BPH by 31 percent, and that daily consumption of