If you're taking an lively monitoring approach to your assessment, there's quite a bit you may do to enhance your results.
Photo: © Nastasik/Getty Images
About 90 percent of men diagnosed with prostate cancer are localized, meaning the cancer is confined to the prostate gland. And for a lot of, an affordable approach is lively surveillance, through which men select to watch their cancer moderately than go on to invasive treatments, akin to surgery or radiation therapy.
Active surveillance involves a visit to the doctor every six months, often with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test and a digital rectal exam.
A repeat prostate biopsy is normally done throughout the first 12 months and should be repeated periodically in the longer term. If your test results change, your doctor will discuss treatment options with you.
When faced with news like a cancer diagnosis, it may well be difficult to just accept what may feel like a passive wait-and-see approach. But that doesn't mean you may't be lively.
So what are you able to do? Quitting smoking is step one, says Dr. Garnick. Then – not surprisingly – it boils right down to two areas: weight loss plan and exercise.
Diet: Go Mediterranean.
There is not any specific prostate cancer weight loss plan, and the jury continues to be out on whether certain dietary habits, akin to increasing your intake of omega-3 fatty acids, can affect the event of prostate cancer.
“A better approach would be to take a holistic look at your diet and make sure you eat a diet that's low in red meat and sugar, which can increase inflammation. Instead, Lots of fruits and vegetables, beans, fatty fish, and whole grains,” says Dr. Garnick.
The Mediterranean weight loss plan follows these guidelines and is extremely regarded for its heart-healthy advantages. In addition, an observational study was published within the February 2018 issue. Journal of Urology suggested that it might also be helpful for men with prostate cancer.
Researchers compared three varieties of dietary patterns in nearly 2,000 men, men with a mean age of 66, who either had prostate cancer or were healthy.
The Western weight loss plan included high-fat dairy products, refined grains, processed meats, high-calorie beverages, sweets, fast food, and sauces. A careful weight loss plan included low-fat dairy products, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and juices. And the Mediterranean weight loss plan included fatty fish (high in healthy omega-3 fatty acids), fruits, vegetables, legumes, and olive oil, and fewer juice.
After five years, the researchers found that men who strictly followed the Mediterranean weight loss plan had a significantly lower risk of aggressive prostate cancer, while men who ate the opposite two diets didn’t see the identical profit. .
According to researchers, the Mediterranean weight loss plan can have several advantages for prostate cancer. For example, its staple foods, akin to fruit and olive oil, can assist reduce inflammation, which might reduce the probabilities of cancer growing or spreading.
High risk of prostate cancerOverweight men usually tend to develop aggressive prostate cancer, and this may increasingly be as a result of higher insulin levels. Insulin has the potential to speed up the expansion of cancer. Being obese causes resistance to insulin's ability to maneuver sugar (glucose) out of our blood and into our cells, referred to as insulin resistance. Blood glucose levels rise and the pancreas must secrete more insulin in response. “A healthy weight can also have a domino effect,” says urologic cancer specialist Dr. Mark Garnick. It may keep blood pressure and levels of cholesterol under control, and each hypertension and high cholesterol are linked to more aggressive prostate cancer. |
Exercise: Intensity matters.
Researchers have long suspected that physical activity — given its effect on a big selection of biological processes, including the anti-inflammatory and insulin pathways — could also be linked to a lower risk of prostate cancer. Now, a study published online on October 6, 2018, by European Urology It seems that vigorous activity can offer the most important advantages.
The men also answered biannual questionnaires that included questions on weight loss plan, health and physical activity. Of the participants, 6,411 developed prostate cancer and 888 had aggressive prostate cancer — cancer that spread or caused death throughout the study period.
The results showed that men who engaged in frequent vigorous activity had a 25 percent lower risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer than men who exercised less. And you don't even need to do much. On average, men in the very best category of vigorous activity ran about 25 minutes per day. (Other activities that might be similar in duration and intensity include cycling, swimming, heavy outdoor work, and playing sports akin to tennis or racquetball.)
Why is activity level necessary? In addition to helping with weight management, which might further reduce your risk (see “Higher risk of prostate cancer”), it may well affect prostate cancer on the cellular level. The study also discovered that exercise had an effect on a standard molecular change in prostate tumors called TMPRSS2:ERG, a gene fusion that happens within the tumors of about half of prostate cancer patients.
The results showed that long-term vigorous physical activity was significantly related to a lower risk of developing TMPRSS2:ERG.