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Prostate Cancer Prevention
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Avoiding risk factors and increasing protective factors may
help prevent cancer.
Avoiding cancer risk factors such as smoking, being overweight, and lack of exercise may help prevent certain cancers. Increasing protective factors such as quitting smoking, eating a healthy diet, and exercising may also help prevent some cancers. Talk to your doctor or other health care professional about how you might lower your risk of cancer.
The following risk factors may increase
the risk of prostate cancer:
Age
Prostate cancer is rare in men younger than 50 years of age.
The chance of developing prostate cancer increases as men get older.
Family history of prostate cancer
A man whose father, brother, or son has had prostate cancer has a
higher-than-average risk of prostate cancer.
Race
African-American men are more likely than white men to develop prostate cancer
and die from it.
Hormones
The prostate needs male hormones to work the way it should. The main
male sex hormone is testosterone. Testosterone helps the body develop and maintain male sex characteristics.
Testosterone is changed into dihydrotestosterone (DHT) by an enzyme in the
body. DHT is important for normal prostate growth but can also cause the
prostate to get bigger and may play a part in the development of prostate cancer.
Folic acid
A 10-year study showed that the risk of prostate cancer was increased in men who took supplements of folic acid (a nutrient in the vitamin B complex).
Dairy and calcium
A diet high in dairy foods and calcium may cause a small increase in the risk of prostate cancer.
The following protective factors may
decrease the risk of prostate cancer:
Folate
A 10-year study showed that prostate cancer risk was lowered in men who had enough folate in their diets.
Finasteride
The Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT) studied
whether the drug finasteride can prevent prostate cancer in healthy men 55
years of age and older. Finasteride is a drug that blocks the enzyme that changes testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT may play a part in the development of prostate cancer.
The prevention study showed there were fewer prostate cancers in the group of men who took finasteride compared to the group that did not take it. However, the men in the finasteride group who did have prostate cancer had more aggressive tumors. The number of deaths from prostate cancer was the same in both groups.
The following have been proven not to affect the risk of prostate cancer, or
their effects on prostate cancer risk are not known:
Selenium and vitamin E
The Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT)
studied whether taking vitamin E and selenium (a mineral) will prevent prostate cancer. The selenium and vitamin E were taken separately or together by healthy men 55 years of age and older
(50 years of age and older for African-American men). The study showed that selenium and vitamin E did not decrease the risk of prostate cancer.
Diet
It is not known if decreasing fat or increasing fruits and vegetables in the diet helps decrease the risk of prostate cancer or death from prostate cancer.
Multivitamins
Regular use of multivitamins has not been proven to increase the risk of early or localized prostate cancer.
Lycopene
Some studies have shown that a diet high in lycopene may be linked to a decreased risk of prostate cancer, but other studies have not. It has not been proven that taking lycopene supplements decreases the risk of prostate cancer.
Cancer prevention clinical trials are used to study ways
to prevent cancer.
Cancer prevention clinical trials are used to study ways to
lower the risk of developing certain types of cancer. Some
cancer prevention trials are conducted with healthy people who
have not had cancer but who have an increased risk for cancer.
Other prevention trials are conducted with people who have had
cancer and are trying to prevent another cancer of the same type
or to lower their chance of developing a new type of cancer.
Other trials are done with healthy volunteers who are not known
to have any risk factors for cancer.
The purpose of some cancer prevention clinical trials is to
find out whether actions people take can prevent cancer. These
may include eating fruits and vegetables, exercising, quitting
smoking, or taking certain medicines, vitamins, minerals, or
food supplements.
New ways to prevent prostate cancer are being studied in clinical
trials.
Clinical trials are taking place in many parts of the country.
Information about clinical trials can be found in the Clinical
Trials section of the
NCI Web
site.
Check for clinical trials in NCI's PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials
Registry
for prostate cancer prevention trials
that are accepting patients.
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