Prostate Health: 4 Tips to Reduce Your Risk of Prostate Cancer
There’s no way to eliminate your prostate cancer risk, but you can reduce your chances of acquiring it.
We don’t know the exact causes of prostate cancer, but many factors—including age, family history, and race—are outside our control. (1) But while there’s no way to eliminate your risk of prostate cancer, there are ways to improve your chances of living prostate cancer-free. (2)
Understanding Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is a slow-moving cancer with over one million new diagnoses each year. Many men don’t know that they have prostate cancer until it’s in a later stage, with symptoms like trouble urinating, fatigue, and bone pain prompting a trip to the doctor.
Scientists don’t know the exact causes of prostate cancer, but genes, environment, lifestyle, and age appear to play a role. And while you can’t control your genes or turn back the years, there are changes in how you live and what you eat that lessen your chances of acquiring prostate cancer.
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4 Ways to Reduce Your Prostate Cancer Risk
1. Get Moving
We all know that exercise is good for us. A sedentary lifestyle increases your risk of almost every chronic condition, including prostate cancer. (2) There’s no singular exercise plan that’s thought to be better than another when it comes to health. Instead, find activities that you enjoy so that you stick with them. This can be as simple as daily walks with your dog, gardening, or hitting the gym.
2. Drink Less Milk
Diets high in calcium, milk, and saturated fats are associated with a higher risk of developing prostate cancer. (2) In fact, drinking lots of whole milk is linked to an increased risk of cancer recurrence in men who’ve had prostate cancer.
If you drink a lot of milk, you might want to consider trying a cow’s milk alternative. There’s a huge selection of milk-like products made from nuts, legumes, oats, and coconut. Don’t give up if you don’t like the first one you try; these products vary in their taste and thickness, so it can take time to find one you enjoy.
3. Take a Vitamin D Supplement
Vitamin D is a hormone that our bodies produce when exposed to sunlight. Like plants make energy when sunlight touches them, we create vitamin D when sunlight penetrates our skin.
Because of how much time we spend indoors combined with our latitude, most adults in the United States are deficient in vitamin D. This deficiency may increase your chances of prostate cancer, so add in a daily vitamin D supplement, especially during the winter or if you don’t spend much time outdoors. (3)
4. Make Small Changes to Your Diet
There’s no conclusive evidence as to the best diet to lessen prostate cancer risk, but there’s a variety of correlations that can help guide what you eat.
- Eating fish may reduce the risk of dying from prostate cancer (4)
- High meat consumption is associated with a higher probability of prostate cancer (5)
- A vegetarian diet might lower your chances of getting prostate cancer (6)
In general, a typical Western diet seems to make it more likely that you’ll get prostate cancer. So try eating a little bit less meat, more fruits, veggies, and other plant foods, and add in more fish—especially wild-caught salmon.
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