The foods you eat can make a difference in your prostate health. After years of experience treating prostate enlargement and inflammation, we have seen that an active lifestyle and a healthy diet support overall health, and research suggests they may help reduce the likelihood of prostate cancer and abnormal growth.
What Are The Best Foods For Prostate Health?
The prostate gland plays an important role in the male reproductive system. Maintaining prostate health should be of maximum importance to all men if they want to lead a long and healthy life. What you eat can make a difference in your prostate’s health. If you’re going to take care of the health of your prostate, 1Prostate in New York, NY recommends the following nutrition guidelines. The following foods have been associated with a lower risk of an enlarged prostate or prostate cancer, although the evidence comes mainly from observational studies:
1. Cruciferous Vegetables: This vegetable class includes foods like cabbage, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, and brussels sprouts. Cruciferous vegetables have high levels of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals.
2. Berries: Antioxidants play a major role in the body as they prevent damage from free radicals, molecules that attack healthy cells and can contribute to cancer risk. Antioxidants help to neutralize and remove free radicals from the body. Berries are a great source, particularly strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries. Berries are particularly high in vitamin C.
3. Healthy fats: Salmon, sardines, and trout provide healthy fat that does not trigger inflammation the same way as saturated animal fats.
4. Flax and nuts. Antioxidant-rich flaxseeds have cancer-fighting properties that may protect against prostate cancer. Nuts such as walnuts, Brazil nuts, and almonds contain healthy fats and nutrients that are beneficial for heart health, but vitamin E and selenium supplements do not prevent prostate cancer, and vitamin E supplements increased prostate cancer risk in a large trial.
5. Fruits: Fruits are high in antioxidants, which play an essential role in protecting the body from harmful molecules that can damage cells and may help prevent cancer.
6. Legumes. Beans, lentils, peanuts, and soybeans are full of essential nutrients such as iron, fiber, folate, magnesium, and potassium. Some studies have linked soy and legume intake to a lower risk of prostate cancer, but the findings are inconsistent.
7. Cooked tomatoes. Tomatoes contain an antioxidant that may protect against cell damage and prostate cancer. Lycopene is found in the skin of tomatoes and is more easily absorbed by the body when you eat cooked tomatoes. For this reason, tomato juice, tomato sauce, and stewed tomatoes are the best way to ensure you consume adequate amounts of lycopene.
What Are Foods You Should Avoid For Prostate Health?
1. Dairy products : American men consume milk, cheese, yogurt, and other dairy foods in high amounts. In observational studies, high intake of dairy products and dietary calcium has been modestly associated with a higher risk of prostate cancer, so moderation is reasonable.
2. Spicy foods : Spicy foods may irritate the bladder in some men and can intensify urinary symptoms, but there is no evidence that they cause inflammation of the prostate or benign prostate disease.
3 . Fried food : Frequent consumption of deep-fried foods has been linked to a higher risk of prostate cancer in some studies.
4. Excess salt: A high sodium intake can sometimes increase the urinary tract symptoms that are typical of BPH. Following a reduced-sodium diet by avoiding processed foods and not sprinkling the salt shaker over meals may therefore be helpful for some men.
5. Alcohol: Excessive drinking can increase the risk of advanced cancer.
6. Excess saturated fat: Excessive amounts of saturated fat are what constitute a threat to your prostate health.
Calcium: High calcium intake, particularly from dairy foods, has been associated with a modestly higher risk of prostate cancer.
What Other Lifestyle Changes Can You Make For Your Prostate Health?
Your lifestyle is one of the controllable factors of getting BPH as you age. Even if you eat unhealthy foods for your prostate you can do the following:
- Manage your stress level
- Increase your physical activity level
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Do not smoke
- If you have a sedentary job take breaks and walk for a few minutes,
When Should I Seek Professional Help?
Eating a prostate health-friendly diet may help lower the risk of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), or an enlarged prostate. However, there are other factors such as genetics and aging that people can not control. If any of the following symptoms are affecting your quality of life, contact our team:
- An urgent need to urinate
- Increased frequency of urination
- Inability to urinate or straining while urinating
- Weak urine stream
- A urine stream that starts and stops
- Unable to empty your bladder completely
- Dribbling at the end of urinating
1Prostate center is one of the most experienced centers in the Tristate area for Prostate Artery Embolization (PAE) treatment to treat Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH). Our veteran Urology and Interventional Radiology team have treated hundreds of BPH patients with excellent outcomes. If you are suffering from the symptoms of an enlarged prostate or have questions about prostate health, call (212) 991-9991 to speak with an experienced healthcare team.
Sources
- Dairy products, calcium, and prostate cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies. Am J Clin Nutr, 2015.
- Diet, nutrition, physical activity and prostate cancer. World Cancer Research Fund / American Institute for Cancer Research (Continuous Update Project), 2018.
- Prostate Cancer Prevention (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version. National Cancer Institute.
- Increased dietary and circulating lycopene are associated with reduced prostate cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis, 2017.
- Cruciferous vegetables intake and risk of prostate cancer: a meta-analysis. Int J Urol, 2012.
- Dietary patterns, supplement use, and the risk of symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia: results from the prostate cancer prevention trial. Am J Epidemiol, 2008.
- Vitamin E and the risk of prostate cancer: the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT). JAMA, 2011.
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