> EAT TO KEEP PROSTRATE AWAY > > One of the best ways men can keep their prostates healthy - and reduce > their risk of prostate cancer - is by eating the right foods. Movember > (the month formerly known as November) is almost upon us, and with it > all sorts of moustache-based tomfoolery to highlight men's health > issues, most notably prostate cancer. Now, if you're under 40 you may > think prostate cancer isn't something you have to worry about right > now, and to a large degree you'd be right. But now is the time you can > be putting in place the lifestyle choices that can help make sure you > avoid prostate cancer in the future. One thing you can do is to learn > about the foods that actively promote a healthy prostate and those > that do the opposite. Here are the main ones. > > Garlic > Garlic is an allium vegetable, as are onions, shallots, leeks and > chives. It's been suggested that men who eat a lot of allium > vegetables are less likely to develop prostate cancer. One small study > conducted in Turkey found a reduction in PSA (a protein associated > with prostate cancer) of more than half of a group of nine men who had > the cancer and who took a liquid garlic extract for a month. > A larger study in China found that men who ate more than 10g of allium > vegetables a day were 49% less likely to develop prostate cancer than > those who ate less than 2.2g a day. > > Spring onion > Another allium vegetable with prostate cancer fighting properties is > spring onion. In the Chinese study, men who ate more than 2.1g of > spring onion a day reduced their prostate cancer risk by a whopping > 70% compared to those who ate none at all. Garlic and spring onion are > often eaten with other prostate friendly ingredients like tomatoes, so > a combination may be more effective than individual vegetables. > Tomato > So what is it about the tomato that helps prevent prostate cancer > (along with other illnesses)? It seems to be an ingredient called > lycopene, the chemical that gives tomatoes their red colour, and the > really great thing is that cooked and concentrated tomatoes are just > as good in this regard - or even better - than fresh ones. So > everything from ketchup and soup to the tomato sauce on pizzas may > help to keep prostate cancer at bay. How do we know? Well, one study > from 2002 looked at the eating habits of more than 47,000 men. The men > who ate tomato sauce or other preparations of cooked tomatoes two or > more times per week had 20% less chance of developing prostate cancer. > A study published last year in the journal of Cancer Prevention > Research suggested that a daily serving of tomatoes (fresh, cooked or > in sauces) could protect against prostate cancer and slow the growth > of tumours in existing sufferers.
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