Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)
.About 50% of males eventually suffer from BPH (Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, or prostate enlargement), which causes problems with urine flow or the urinary tract addressed in urology. BPH may be treated and prostate cancer prevented by applying:
saw palmetto
nettle root extract
flax lignans
Norway spruce lignans
boswellia extract
Pygeum Africanum
cernitin
boron
lycopene
in combination or singly. Saw Palmetto, which includes beta-sitosterol and inhibits the production of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) from testosterone by inhibiting the enzyme 5-alpha-reductase, also interferes with DHT cell surface receptors.
Green tea inhibits DHT (Jerry Brainum, Iron Man, March 2010). Saw Palmetto is often combined with nettle root extract and Pygeum Africanum to protect the prostate. Other 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors reducing the expression of DHT competitive with saw palmetto include Finasteride and Dutasteride, which are also used to prevent the falling out of hair. One in six men will eventually develop prostate cancer, a leading disease of old age. Eating meat rich in arachidonic acid, or saturated fats, or omega-6 fatty acids (converted by the body into arachidonic acid), tends to the production of the enzyme 5-Lipoxygenase (5-LOX, which stimulates prostate cancer cell proliferation . 5-LOX also metabolizes arachidonic acid to leukotriene B5 [Links], a proinflammatory agent. Fish oil lowers 5-LOX activity in the body, and 5-LOX is also suppressed by lycopene [Links], saw palmetto extract, and Boswellia extract (See 5-LOXIN). Lycopene reduces PSA (prostate-specific antigen), decreases cancer risk, and induces apoptosis in prostate cancer cells and their metastases away from the primary tumor. Loss of glutathione S-transferase precedes prostate cancer [Links], so Ashwagandha, which elevates endogenous antioxidants, might help with this. Otherwise, sulforaphane [Wikipedia, Images, Video] from broccoli sprouts typically does a good job of preventing prostate cancer [Books, Papers]. I note that aging record holder Jeanne Calment put olive oil on her food. Also see Niki Chondrogianni, Ioannis P. Trougakos, Dimitris Kletsas, Qin M. Chen and Efstathios S. Gonos, Partial proteasome inhibition in human fibroblasts triggers accelerated M1 senescence or M2 crisis depending on p53 and Rb status, Aging Cell, Volume 7 Issue 5, Pages 717 - 732. Enterolactone(s) [LifeExtension, Links, Books] from plant lignans are also useful in preventing prostate cancer and may be obtained from flax or Norway Spruce. See Lignans Protect Against Prostate Cancer By William Faloon, and Julius Goepp MD, Optimal Prostate Defense requires a Multi-Modal Strategy, Life Extension Magazine, Feb 2010. Also, according to Jerry Brainum (Iron Man, March 2010), pomegranate prevents IGF-1 from inducing prostate cancer. Vitamin D (a telomerase inhibitor and an anti-inflammatory agent) also inhibits IGF-1 from causing cancer. Obese men, those with a BMI higher than 30, were 1.6 times more likely to die from their disease, according to a recent report in the journal Cancer.
