Preventing Prostate Cancer and BPH: Prostate-Health Expert Available (National Men's Health Week Is ...(s compared to men of normal weigh...),Health

men of normal weight at the time of diagnosis. "If a man is obese

at the time of diagnosis, he faces a 2.6-times greater risk of dying as

compared to a normal-weight man with the same diagnostic profile,

regardless of whether he has a radical prostatectomy or radiation

therapy, whether or not he gets androgen-deprivation therapy, whether he

has low- or high-grade disease or whether he has localized, regional or

distant disease," Kristal said.

-- Heavy smokers who are diagnosed with prostate cancer have twice the risk

of dying from their disease. Smoking may promote prostate cancer growth

through several mechanisms. One is that it can increase the amount of

circulating androgens, which fuels the growth of malignant prostate

cells. Another theory is related to tobacco as a source of cadmium, a

heavy metal that has been linked to prostate cancer in several

occupational-health studies. This known human carcinogen inhibits DNA

repair, which allows cancer cells to mutate and multiply.

-- African-American men are known to have a higher risk of prostate cancer

than white men. Kristal and colleagues also found that African-American

men have a 50 percent higher risk of developing symptomatic BPH than

white men.

-- The excitement about lycopene (the pigment that puts the red in

tomatoes) and prostate-cancer prevention is probably a mistake, Kristal

says. Most large and well-designed human studies, and most animal

studies, have failed to find convincing associations between lycopene

and reduced prostate-cancer risk. Men should be wary of quick fixes like

lycopene supplements, vegetable-juice powders or other agents promoted

for prostate-cancer prevention.

The take-away messag
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