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Prostate Articles
Prostate Articles Below:
Prostate Protection Born in the U.S.A. - Saw Palmetto
by Steven Foster, Contributing Writer, Better Nutrition
August 1997
If you're a male, or have a man in your life, you know that
when age creeps up over 40, as mine did this year, it is
important to begin to think about the health of your
prostate. Over 50 percent of men over 50 years of age may
experience prostate problems.
A common problem often treatable with herbal preparations is
benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), characterized by a
benign (non-cancerous) hyperplasia (enlargement) of the
prostate. While this is not life-threatening, it can affect
the quality of one's life, in particular, the number of
times in which a man may feel the urge to urinate during the
night - as many as three or four times, or more. The
prostate enlargement resulting from BPH narrows the urethra,
thus producing poor urinary flow. This can also lead to a
host of other urinary symptoms, including hesitancy or
straining to urinate, painful urination, dripping after
urination, increased urinary frequency, and a feeling that
the bladder is not quite empty.
BPH is a rather poorly understood condition in terms of what
is at work in the body to produce it. It is estimated that
this condition costs American men over $1 billion per year.
Herbal remedies versus conventional drugs for BPH
A number of conventional drugs are used in the treatment of
BPH, most notable finasteride. Several clinical studies have
shown that, over a placebo, it produces moderate
improvement. In Europe, up to 90 percent of BPH patients are
treated with phytopharmaceuticals, or plant-derived
medicinal products, some of which are herbs.
A survey of German urologists also indicated that as many as
50 percent of these physicians prefer natural plant-based
treatments to those including chemical drugs.
The four primary plant materials used in Germany and other
European countries (and progressively in the United States)
for the treatment of BPH include: Pygeum extracts, pumpkin
seed oil, and extracts of saw palmetto fruits. Our primary
focus will be on saw palmetto, but let's take a brief look
at the others, too.
Four phytomedicinals that show promise in the treatment
of BPH
Pygeum comes from an African tree (Prunus africana),
sometimes referred to by its now-obsolete botanical name,
Pygeum africana. Root extracts of the stinging nettle plant
(Urtica dioica) are of increasing interest in the treatment
of BPH, as is pumpkin seed oil. Extracts of the fruits
(berries) of saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) are the best
known herbal treatments for BPH.
Over 100 years of known benefit
By the 1890's, the effect of the fruit preparation on the
male reproductive organs became known. An "original
communication" in the July 1892 issue of The New Idea stated
that "It also exerts a great influence over the organs of
reproduction, mammoa, ovarium, prostate, testes, etc. Its
action on them is a vitalizer, and is said to be the
greatest known, tending to increase their activity [...]."
Largely used Eclectic physicians in the United States into
the 1920's, an interesting comment in the 21st edition of
the United States Dispensatory, published in 1926, suggested
saw palmetto's use for the future. The author's note: "It
has been especially recommended in cases of enlarged
prostate of old men."
A large multi-center study involving dozens of researchers
in France, Scotland, England, Italy, Portugal, the Czech
Republic, Slovakia, Greece, Switzerland, and the United
States compared the use of an extract of saw palmetto with
the conventional drug, finasteride, in the treatment of
1,098 patients for 26 weeks at a supplement level of 160 mg
(2 times a day, morning and evening). Finasteride was given
at a dose of 5 mg per day in the morning (following
manufacturer's stated dosage).
This study confirms that saw palmetto is as effective as
conventional drugs in relieving symptoms of benign prostatic
hyperplasia, while producing fewer side effects.
Prostate Symptoms To Be
Aware Of
Do you have any of the symptoms listed below? The use of
Prostate Care Cream can help to eliminate these symptoms of
prostate problems.
- Signs and Symptoms of
Prostate Problems
- Enlarged Prostate
- Difficulty Urinating
- Urge to Urinate Many
Times During the Night
- Straining To Urinate
- Pain During Urination
- Dripping After
Urination
- A Feeling That The
Bladder Is Not Empty
Although Prostate Care is
able to help in treating a problem prostate, a better way to
use the cream is as a preventative. If you're over 40 years
old, you should make Prostate Care a part of your daily
routine. In addition, the natural progesterone found in
Prostate Care has the nice benefit of increasing the libido.
Also, older men with rheumatoid arthritis have gotten relief
from the pain and swelling after rubbing the cream on their
joints.
Let's Revisit the Prostate Cancer
Debate
Courtesy of John R.Lee, M.D. Medical Letter
Conventional treatments clearly aren't working - what's a
guy to do?
Prostate problems are the fastest-growing health concern
among men in Westernized countries, and the rate of prostate
cancer is increasing steadily. I receive plenty of mail on
the subject, and I'm afraid my response isn't always welcome
news. I have to tell them that prostate cancer becomes
progressively more common with age, and that conventional
treatments (surgical or chemical castration, radiation, or
surgical removal of the prostate) don't do much good and in
fact are likely to cause rather undesirable side effects.
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) of
June 28, 2000, carried an article comparing treatment
recommendations by radiation oncologists and urologists for
men with moderately well differentiated, localized prostate
cancer and greater than a 10-year life expectancy based on
age. In such cases, 92 percent of urologists recommend
radical prostatectomy (removal of the prostate gland),
whereas 72 percent of radiation oncologists recommend
radiation treatments. An accompanying editorial points out
that the treatment advice is determined by the services the
doctor provides rather than by any clear-cut evidence of the
superiority of either treatment, or even whether or not
either treatment is any better than watchful waiting. And I
find it interesting that none of them recommended any
nutritional or hormonal alternative management.
Worse than Doing Nothing
The value of PSA (prostate specific antigen) testing to
detect prostate cancer, though touted as a proven strategy
for early detection, is also questionable. IN Sweden, for
example, physicians rarely screen for prostate cancer or use
radical therapies, choosing watchful waiting instead.
Despite this, mortality rates for prostate cancer have
declined in Sweden. In the U.K., prostate cancer mortality
rates are similar to the U.S. even though PSA screening is
not routinely performed. In older men, when prostate cancer
occurs, the cancer is slow-growing and early intervention
may be of little consequence.
A Better Way to Treat Prostate Cancer
If radical treatments such as castration, radiation or
prostatectomy are no better than watchful waiting, I believe
it is time to reanalyze our underlying hypotheses concerning
prostate cancer. The present treatments are based on a war
metaphor - find the abnormal cells and obliterate them by
radiation or surgical removal. Little thought is given to
the underlying metabolic causes that change normal cells
into cancer cells. As with any disease, once the cause is
identified, successful prevention and treatment strategies
emerge.
Conventional medicine has fixated, despite lack of credible
evidence, on testosterone as a presumed cause of prostate
cancer. When looking at the many studies that compared
hormone levels with the occurrence of prostate cancer, there
is no correlation with elevated testosterone levels. If high
testosterone levels caused prostate cancer, why don't 18
year-old men get it? The fact that some evidence shows a
modest survival benefit from orchiectomy (castration) does
not mean that testosterone reduction was the operative
factor. The testes make other hormones as well, and the
observed prostate benefit of castration may stem from
reducing one or another of them.
The role of estrogen dominance provides a more probable
hypothesis. Estrogen dominance is the only known cause of
endometrial (uterine) cancer. The prostate is the male
equivalent of the uterus; they both developed from the same
embryonic cells. They both contain the oncogene, Bcl-2, and
the cancer-protective gene, p53. And it has been shown that
estradiol "turns on" p53 which blocks Bcl-2 in both breast
cells and prostate cells. This suggests that if the ration
of testosterone to estradiol in men changes so that the
estradiol effect becomes dominant, prostate cancer cells
develop. Recent studies no find that this correlation is
fact.
What's Happening with Men's Hormones?
Estrogen levels are rising in the general population in
Westernized countries due to pervasive pollution of the
environment by chemicals that are estrogen mimics (aka
xenoestrogens), such as pesticides, plastic residues and
dozens of industrial chemicals such as dioxins and PCBs.
This is partially why most postmenopausal women need
progesterone (to oppose or balance the estrogen), and it's
no doubt one reason that the incidence of prostate problems
is increasing so rapidly in men.
Estrogen levels increase in aging men who are overweight
because fat cells convert the male hormone androstenedione
into estrogens, which then stimulates prostate growth. Thus,
the more fat a man carries on his body, the higher his
estradiol levels are likely to be. Regular exposure to
pesticides through spraying in the home or garden only adds
to the problem. Even if a middle-aged man's testosterone
levels are normal, if his estradiol levels are high he can
have estrogen dominance symptoms such as weight gain,
larger-than-normal breasts, gall bladder problems, anxiety
and insomnia, and prostate enlargement that leads to urinary
problems.
The crux of the present confusion about men's hormones is
the matter of achieving hormone balance. Hormone balance
refers not to absolute concentrations of any given hormone,
but to the ration of one hormone with another. It is the
ratio of salivary concentrations of testosterone to
estradiol that best reflects the hormone-related risk of
prostate cancer.
To sum up, as men age, their testosterone concentrations
decline but their estradiol concentrations do not; those
commonly rise a bit, and the ration of testosterone to
estradiol falls. Testosterone is a potent antagonist of
estradiol and its effects on the body. When testosterone
levels decrease, estradiol becomes dominant. Estradiol not
only stimulates prostate cell proliferation but also
activates the oncogene Bcl-2. One by one, normal prostate
cells become cancerous prostate cells.
This fits with findings of ultra-scans and prostate biopsies
- the cancer cells are found in various small clusters here
and there throughout the prostate, and not as a single
prostate cancer mass.
Treatment of Hormone Imbalance in Men
Hormonal treatment should correct the estrogen dominance by
supplemental testosterone. If saliva tests find progesterone
deficiency, progesterone supplementation is also indicated
since it inhibits 5 alpha-reductase, the enzyme that
converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT). High
levels of DHT are correlated with prostate cancer.
Conventional treatments such as surgical or chemical (e.g.,
Lupron) castration stop the testes from making all sex
hormones. The observed cancer benefit is not due to
testosterone reduction, but is more likely due to the
decrease in estradiol production. However, this approach
sacrifices the potential benefits of testosterone and
progesterone (men make small amounts of progesterone in
their testes and adrenal glands). Restoring physiologic
levels of testosterone and progesterone to prevent estrogen
dominance is a happier solution to the problem.
The clinicians I've spoken to who are working successfully
with men who have prostate problems prescribe 4 to 6 mg of
testosterone daily, preferably delivered by a patch or
cream. The high dose of testosterone often prescribed by
conventional physicians (as much as 300 mg daily!) is an
invitation to hormone imbalance in the other direction and a
wide range of physical and emotional side effects. It is
absolutely not necessary to take high doses of testosterone
to achieve hormone balance.
My friend David Wastchak, R.Ph., Ph.D. is a pharmacist and
biochemist who specializes in compounding hormone creams,
and he has quite a bit of experience in putting together
progesterone and testosterone creams for me. You can have
your doctor call him for a consultation and prescription at
(602) 271-9577.
Up to this point the discussion has concerned the treatment
of prostate cancer, but prevention is your best bet. In
addition to maintaining a healthy hormone balance as
mentioned above, prevention of prostate cancer undoubtedly
involves other factors such as diet, specific nutrients,
essential fatty acids, stress managements, and antioxidants.
Whole foods such as broccoli and cabbage are attracting
great interest as cancer fighters. The nutritional advice on
cancer that I give to women in the chapter in my "PREmenopause"
book also applies to men.
In conclusion, the conventional testosterone hypothesis is a
60 year-old mistake. Present treatments are fraught with
undesirable side effects and their purported benefits are
little different than that of watchful waiting. Extensive
usage of PSA tests has done little to change prostate cancer
mortality rates. Fortunately, new studies teach us that
estrogen dominance (a falling testosterone to estradiol
ratio) may have a great deal to do with getting prostate
cancer. This is where we need to start.
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