Be Prostate Healthy
*Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the W.T. Rawleigh. Assumptions made within the article are not reflective of the position of W.T. Rawleigh.
Be Prostate Healthy Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men. In the UK over 46,000 men are diagnosed with the disease every year. Last year the Lancet (a peer-reviewed medical journal) published a study introducing a scanner which helps streamline the diagnosis of the disease. Instead of prostate biopsies which can be painful these would be simple scans. Further, in pursuit of reducing the deaths caused by prostate cancer, scientists have developed a blood test that could choose which men (already diagnosed) with prostate cancer would benefit from the targeted drug treatment. The precision drug appears to be the future of cancer medicine; but the drug is less likely to work for everyone with cancer, because the medicine is used for a targeted treatment. With regards to screening or testing for prostate cancer, there are two ways to go about it: digital rectal exam, and prostate –specific antigen test. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test helps measure the level of PSA in a man’s blood. PSA is a protein produced by normal and malignant cells of the prostate gland. The test is conducted by collecting a small sample of blood, and then further sent to laboratory for analyzing. Many studies point out that PSA levels of 4.0ng/mL and below are normal. Although prostate health is often neglected, awareness around it has been growing more and more. Increasingly, preventative and natural options are being tried. Some studies have found that saw palmetto inhibits the growth of prostatic cancer cells and may destroy dangerous cells. One of the studies conducted at Beijing found that saw palmetto caused a halt in the growth prostate cancer. Other trials show that saw palmetto has anti-inflammatory and anti-androgen properties that reduce levels of DHT (dihydrotestosterone), a condition which adds to benign prostatic prostatic hyperplasia. In addition to reducing the risk of prostate cancer, saw palmetto seems to help hair growth and retain testosterone levels. References: https://www.health.harvard.edu/mens-health/testosterone-prostate-cancer-and-balding-is-there-a-link-thefamilyhealth-guide http://www.bbc.com/news/health-40302692 https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/herbs/saw-palmetto