healing ways
from the plant world,” says Cohen, the author of Anticancer Living: Transform Your Life and Health with the Mix of Six. Antioxidants and plant nutrients
counterbalance oxidative stress and dam- age, adds Cohen. “Cruciferous and bracken vegetables—raw kale, broccoli, Swiss chard, dark leafy greens and soy—invigorate the prostate. Also, a couple of Brazil nuts per day give a healthy dose of selenium to decrease risk factors.” Jim Occhiogrosso, a Fort Myers,
Nature’s Toolbox The Key to Prostate Health
by Melanie Laporte T
he prostate is about the size of a walnut, yet this tiny gland can be the source of major problems for
many men. Most potential health risks are preventable and treatable with proper diet, lifestyle changes—and a new array of natural approaches. Holistic and integrative practitioners
are looking beyond traditional supplements like saw palmetto, lycopene, pygeum and green tea extract to treat common condi- tions such as enlargement of the prostate or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), which can develop as men grow older. Rob Raponi, a naturopathic doctor in
Vaughan, Ontario, sees men struggling with nocturia, an effect of BPH that wakes them during the night with the urge to urinate. “It interrupts your sleep, which accumu- lates and starts to interrupt your day,” says Raponi, who uses zinc-rich ground flax and pumpkin seeds to ease BPH urinary symp- toms and inflammation. He’s also achieving positive results by utilizing combinations of rye grass pollen extract. He says, “It seems to work wonders.”
Confronting Cancer According to the American Cancer Society, about one in nine men will be diagnosed
with prostate cancer, the second-leading cause of male deaths in U.S. However, it’s also one of the most preventable cancers. “Te key is to make our body inhos-
pitable to mutating cells which could form cancer that ultimately threatens your life,” says Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., director of the Integrative Medicine Program at Te University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston. Part of the answer may lie in the human gut, which makes diet central to addressing prostate issues. According to a recent review of
research published in Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases, the microbiome—a com- munity of microbes that supports digestion and the immune system—may influence prostate inflammation and the develop- ment of prostate cancer. “Te microbiome’s ability to affect systemic hormone levels may also be important, particularly in a disease such as prostate cancer that is dually affected by estrogen and androgen levels,” it concludes.
Te Nutritional Factor “A plant-centered diet with low-glycemic- load foods feeds your microbiome, which is at its healthiest and will thrive when it’s fed healthy soluble fibers provided exclusively
Florida-based natural health practitioner and author of Your Prostate, Your Libido, Your Life, notes that most incidences of prostate cancer are slow growing and not aggressive. “One of my first clients was in his early 80s, was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and treated it with only herbs. Fiſteen years later, in his mid-90s, he still has prostate cancer. He’s still doing fine and getting around, albeit slowly.” Occhiogrosso says he uses herbal
mixtures of saw palmetto, “which is a good supplement for beefing up the immune sys- tem—also solar berry, mushroom extracts, vitamin C and full-fraction vitamin E.” Mark Stengler, a naturopathic doctor
and co-author of Outside Te Box Cancer Terapies: Alternative Terapies Tat Treat and Prevent Cancer, recommends a blend of five grams of modified citrus pectin, 200 milligrams of reishi mushroom and 1,000 milligrams of green tea extract taken two to three times per day, plus vitamin D. Te five-year survival rate for men
diagnosed with prostate cancer is about 98 percent, and it’s been rising for the last few years. Early diagnosis is critical, says Raponi. “If you stop prostate cancer when it’s still in stage one or early on, the five-year survival rate is 100 percent, but if it’s later on, it starts to drop into the 70s.” Te same measures employed to pre-
vent prostate issues—whole foods, natural herbs and regular exercise—should still be pursued, but more aggressively if cancer should develop. “Te intensity becomes more salient aſter diagnosis,” says Cohen, “but we don’t need a diagnosis to up our game with healthy living.”
Melanie Laporte is a licensed massage thera- pist and health writer based in Austin, Texas. 21
June 2019
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