Pine Pollen and Coffee to Reduce Prostate Cancer Risk?

As I mentioned last week, June sees the start of The Everyman Campaign to raise awareness and funds for research into prostate and testicular cancer. I thought these two ideas from Alex Malinsky, one of the leading experts in the field of raw food, would help men minimize their risk.

Chewing on a pine cone may not be that attractive, but don’t worry it comes in supplement form as well! Raw pine pollen is the richest seedbed of testosterone derived from plants; since it is the male sperm of pine trees, it fosters plush growth in all living creatures, from trees and plants, to animals, to humans. Some experts claim that pine pollen is an ingredient in certain pharmaceuticals designed to treat low testosterone levels in both men and women.

Low testosterone in either men or women may cause an increase in cholesterol levels, premature aging, tissue and bone loss, highs and lows in blood sugar levels, decreased levels of aerobic energy, weight gain, and sexual dysfunction. In men, low testosterone may increase their chances for developing prostate cancer due to the simultaneous increase in estradiol in the body.

The reasons for low testosterone in either sex are varied. For men, the largest contributing factors are nutritional intake and age. In their 30s and 40s, males typically experience andropause, a term coined in the late 1960s, meaning male menopause, or a decline in the synthesis of androgenic hormones, especially testosterone. Nutrition-related onset of lower testosterone levels in both men and women is typically due to an over consumption of foods with too much phyto-estrogen for the body.

Pine pollen can provide the opportunity for endocrine hormonal balance, i.e. the ratio of testosterone to estrogen, within humans, thus reversing the troubling effects associated with the imbalances that cause quality of life to decrease. This is done mainly through the phyto-androgens in pine pollen, including androstenedione, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and androsterone. The conditions of diabetes, high cholesterol and fatigue have all been improved through the biological and nutritional mechanisms provided by routine consumption of pine pollen.

Pine pollen is easily absorbed by the body when taken in powder or tincture form. If the powder taste is not palatable, pine pollen can be mixed in drinks. The tincture form is considered more potent and uses organic grape alcohol as its liquid base. For more information on raw food and pine pollen visit Alex’s website at: www.RawGuru.com

Another cup of coffee?
Coffee is good for men, according to research released from the Harvard School of Public Health, and even better news is that it doesn’t matter whether it is regular or decaffeinated because regular consumption is now linked to having the least risk for prostate cancer.

For men this is the deadliest forms of the disease and this 12-year study of almost 48,000 male health professionals found that men who drank the most coffee, six cups or more daily, had a 60 percent lower risk of developing lethal prostate cancer — and 20 percent lower risk of developing any form of the disease, according to the study published in the online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Not a big coffee drinker? Even lighter consumption — up to three cups daily — was associated with a 30 percent lower risk of lethal prostate cancer.

As too much caffeing is not good for the heart by switching to water (not chemical) decaffeinated coffee you get all of the benefit of the antioxidants, that reduce inflammation and regulate insulin.

If you want to know more about male cancer visit www.everyman-campaign.org

Prostate Cancer and Nitro-glycerine

If you are suffering from angina, you may well carry a drug containing nitro-glycerine to put under the tongue in the event of an attack. Nitro-glycerine is used because it dilates the vessels to lower the blood pressure and dilates the coronary arteries to bring rapid relief from symptoms such as heaviness in the chest and shortness of breath.

Now it is also being suggested it could also slow and even halt the progression of the disease without the severe side effects of current treatments. Researchers at Queen’s University, Belfast have been conducting the first ever clinical trial of nitro-glycerine to treat prostate cancer. Their two year study was conducted on 29 men with increasing levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) following prostate surgery or radiation.

What they found that the PSA levels (a key predictor of cancer progression) showed a significant slowing in the progression of the disease when given very low doses of a slow-release nitro-glycerine in a skin patch. This is good news as safe and effective treatments for men with rising PSA levels following surgery or radiation are limited.

Obviously this is a small study but it is encouraging news as of the 17 patients who completed the study, all but one showed a stabilization or decrease in the rate of cancer progression, as measured by their PSA Doubling Time. Of men who have undergone radical prostatectomy and/or radiation treatment, it is estimated that 30 to 50 percent will experience a recurrence of cancer so anything that can slow its progress, or halt it has the potential to offer prostate cancer patients a new non-invasive treatment option.

Broader clinical trials will be undertaken this year to confirm and expand these results

Going For Gold To Detect Prostate Cancer

Scientists from the USA’s Northwestern University have developed gold and magnetic nanoparticles that has a 300% better chance of detecting prostate cancer than conventional methods and could also track a wide variety of diseases.

The nanoparticles can detect prostate specific antigens (PSA – a protein produced by the prostate), and these are the leading indicator of prostate cancer, at far lower levels than is possible with existing blood tests. The new technology could not only save the lives of millions of men but also be adapted to detect or monitor a wide variety of diseases, from HIV to CJD.

When a man has had a cancerous prostate removed his PSA level drops to below what is currently detectable. At the moment prostate cancer testing is done using two methods: a manual examination of the prostate or/and a blood test. The blood is tested for the presence of PSA, and men with prostate cancer typically have a higher level of PSA in their blood than normal.

The old test directly measured the amount of PSA in the blood, but this new test will indirectly measure PSA levels by adding two types of nanoparticles to the blood sample. First, spherical gold nanoparticles tipped with antibodies bind to one side of the PSA proteins. Next, magnetic nanoparticles bind to the other side, basically sandwiching the PSA.

A magnet then draws the PSA and nanoparticle sandwich out of the blood. The nanoparticles then separate, which in turn can spur the release of thousands of DNA strands.

Since every single PSA particle can result in thousands of DNA pieces, even the tiniest amounts of PSA can be easily detected. Compared with the existing PSA blood tests, this new method is 300 percent more sensitive.

The bonus here is that usually a man who has had prostate surgery may have to wait up to seven years before he definitively knows whether he is cancer free. The new test would shave years off that wait.

Also, by changing the antibodies that coat gold and magnetic nanoparticles, this technology can be easily adapted to detect or monitor virtually any other disease.

Men only – Pass it on!

Men’s Health Week aims to get men more aware of their own health, and to take action when it’s needed. These health stories could make a difference to you, or someone you know, so pass them on:

Increased health risks for men with chronic insomnia

A ten year study of over 1,700 men and women followed found that men with insomnia and short sleep duration were almost five times more likely to die than men who had normal sleep. Short sleep duration was defined as less than six hours uninterrupted sleep per night, chronic insomnia as lasting more than one year and poor sleep as difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up excessively early in the morning.

Promoting prostate health

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in England, causing about one in four of all new cases. Unlike many cancers, prostate cancer can grow slowly and show no symptoms, however a minority are fast-growing and have to be treated quickly and aggressively. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to tell which is which so that the key factor lies in monitoring your own health and having regular check ups.

Known risk factors are being over 50, a family history of it, being of African-Caribbean or West African descent, being overweight and having a high-fat and high-dairy diet.

Top 3 Tips for a healthy prostate:

1) Dietary sense. Research suggests that diets containing foods with antioxidants may reduce the risk of prostate cancer as well keeping your diet low in red meat, dairy products and saturated fats as these all can increase the risk. To lower your risk eat more tomatoes, soy foods and fish. Include green tea as it contains compounds that can block the actions of an enzyme that promotes prostate cancer. Include a daily multivitamin with good levels of antioxidants, particularly selenium, and vitamin D.

2) Exercise sense. To reduce your risk, start some form of regular aerobic exercise that you enjoy and will maintain.

3) Screen sense. To get early detection it is essential to have regular screening, particularly once over 50.

Prostate problems are the number one concern for men’s health and there have been some positive anecdotal reports on men with prostate cancer who have used natural progesterone cream. There is no clinical evidence, or trial, but much of John Lee’s work was based on his own patients’ responses so it might be worth investigating if you have concerns about your prostate health.

Laptops Linked To Male Infertility

Young men and computers are almost synonymous, but there is a hidden danger in frequent laptop use. Being a father might not be an immediate priority, but if it is a hope for your future then as well as avoiding hot tubs and wearing boxers instead of briefs you might want to limit your laptop use. These three factors all can reduce male fertility, but the laptop link is a new problem according to Dr Kavic, who is a reproductive specialist in Chicago.

The problem is that the heat generated from laptops can damage both sperm count and motility and therefore has an impact on fertility. Dr Kavic recommends placing laptops on desktops and I suggest if it has to be on your lap you need some barrier between you and it such as a cushion or what I use, which is a lap tray with a rigid top and beanbag base to provide a ‘safe zone’.

Prostate and pomegranates

There’s new hope for men with prostate cancer when their disease doesn’t respond adequately to standard medical care. According to the results of a six year study just published in the Journal of Urology, pomegranate juice can lower PSA levels and slow down the progress of prostate cancer.

This was a two-stage clinical trial where each research subject had a rising prostate specific antigen (PSA) level after surgery or radiation therapy greater than 0.2 ng/ml and less than 5 ng/ml. The study participants were given eight ounces of pomegranate juice to drink daily for several years. Then patients who remained in the study and drinking pomegranate juice were compared to those no longer participating in the juice regimen.

Though both these groups of men with prostate cancer had demonstrated similar mean PSA doubling times at baseline when the study began, there was a clear and important difference in the groups after 56 months. The researchers are cautious about suggesting pomegranate juice could prevent prostate cancer, but anyone receiving treatment could add it to their diet and be getting a range of other health benefits.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK and over the last 30 years rates in Great Britain have almost tripled, although much of the increase is due to increased detection through widespread use of the PSA test. Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in UK men, after lung cancer, though happily the survival rate has more than doubled. Around 7 in 10 newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients now survive beyond five years whereas in the 1970s it was only 3 in 10.

Pomegranate juice benefits for everyone As it has very good antioxidant properties, it has been evaluated for its usefulness in fighting certain forms of cancer and been tentatively shown to reduce incidence of breast and skin cancer. It has many health benefits particularly for heart disease, heart attacks and stroke.

These include:

• it works well as a blood thinner
• is an agent for promoting blood flow to the heart
• reduces plaque in the arteries
• raises “good” levels of cholesterol
• helps lower “bad” cholesterol

80 % increased prostate cancer risk with artificial light

In the west, we take for granted that we can have light all day and night – and in our cities we are never away from artificial light. Now, a new study at the University of Haifa, reported on 4 February, 2009, has discovered that countries with the highest levels of artificial light at night also have the highest rates of prostate cancer. This is found worldwide, and confirms previous studies at Haifa that found a connection between exposure to artificial light at night and the incidence of breast cancer.

They studied a database on cancer incidence in men in 164 countries and even at the early stage of the study it was apparent that there is a marked link between the incidence of prostate cancer and levels of artificial illumination at night. Countries with low exposure to such light showed an incidence of prostate cancer of 66.77 patients to 100,000 inhabitants. An increase of 30% was found in those countries with medium exposure, and those countries with the highest level of exposure to artificial light at night shoed a huge leap of 80%: with 157 patients per 100,000 inhabitants.

There could be many reasons for this increase; with high levels of light melatonin production is reduced and this affects our immune system and our own internal biological body clock gets affected as it cannot distinguish between night and day.

It’s not just health that is affected by artificial lighting either. The World Health Organization regards it as a serious source of environmental pollution, so our city planners may need to take this into account in future. On a personal level, turn the lights out at night, and don’t have electronic devices in the bedroom which use lighting such as clocks, televisions and video games.

Natural progesterone and prostate cancer

When I was running the Natural Progesterone Advisory Service I would hear many reports of the cream being used for other purposes than the recommended use for osteoporosis or hormone management. Most of these claims were anecdotal, and interesting but not verifiable. Over the years there has been research on the benefits of natural progesterone, but the most powerful advocates are still its users.

I was always particularly interested in its use for men, and the late Dr John Lee – the pioneer of natural progesterone usage – told me he often prescribed it for men with osteoporosis as, although there had been no research done, his patients showed consistently good results and higher bone density.

A similar situation has now come to my attention, with men using natural progesterone cream as part of their own treatment/self help programme for prostate cancer. Trevor Taylor runs Wellspring, a company that imports natural progesterone, and I am passing on information he gave me and which I think will be of interest to anyone with a family member at risk. I stress this is an anecdotal story, not medically verified, and I have let Trevor tell it in his own words:

I want to tell you about the experiences of a personal friend who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2007. He has had a poor medical history and is 70 years old and in 1996 was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus; which was operated on in 1996, 2000 and 2003. In 2003 he also had a double hip replacement operation. He then learned of his prostate cancer diagnosis in 2007.

Over the years we have had several women customers who have recounted to us how natural progesterone had helped their husbands or partners who were suffering from prostate cancer. I of course was aware of this but was reticent to publicise these reports, but when my friend told me of his diagnosis I asked him if he would like to try it as well as his prescribed treatment, on the basis that it would do him no harm and might well help.

He was first diagnosed in October 2007 and eight sample biopsies showed a PSA level of over 4000. The ideal is less than one. His treatment is 3 monthly Zoladex injections and he used natural progesterone cream daily. In January 2008 his PSA level was checked and had dropped from 4,000 to 100. At the next check in April 2008 it had dropped from 100 to 20. The next check in August 2008 showed a drop from 20 to 6. Checks and treatment have been extended to 4 monthly and I am pleased to say that my friend looks in good health, is very active; married in August 2008, and is thoroughly enjoying life.

Now Trevor Taylor does not claim that this remarkable drop in PSA levels from over 4000 to just 6 in just eleven months is due entirely or in part to his friend’s using natural progesterone, but it is certainly food for thought. If you want to know more about using natural progesterone you can contact Wellsprings for a free booklet and more information on 01481 233370 or via their website at www.progesterone.co.uk

Prostate health and Zinc

As I am a great believer in pro-active health care, there is another story about prostate health that came up this week that I thought might prove revealing. The risk of prostate cancer is increased if a man is exposed to enough cadmium, a toxic heavy metal that many people are regularly exposed to. It is present in cigarette smoke, so anyone exposed to that – even secondhand – is at risk.

Cadmium is also an environmental pollutant, pumped into the air by various industries and the burning of coal and household wastes. Once airborne, cadmium can travel long distances, eventually falling to ground or into water. We can then ingest it through our diet; particularly from fish and shellfish or vegetables grown in soil that has absorbed cadmium from the air water. According to the Department of Health and Human Resources, “Cadmium stays in the body a very long time and can build up from many years of exposure to low levels. However, it is not all doom and gloom because just adding a little of the mineral zinc to your diet can counteract its effects as US researchers at Rochester have found. Apparently, zinc prompts the production of a protein that binds cadmium to help move the toxin out of the body. Plus, zinc enhances your immune system, helps repair damaged tissues, inhibits the abnormal clotting that contributes to cardiovascular disease, assists in maintaining healthy vision, and is one of the key elements required for DNA reproduction and repair. Sounds like it’s worth increasing in your diet doesn’t it? Good dietary sources of zinc include cabbage, red meat, poultry, beans, nuts, whole grains, and dairy products.

Prostate cancer treatment risk

What we all want, with any form of medical treatment and certainly with cancer, is the certainty that it will cure our condition. What we don’t look for is that it might cause us even further problems. This seems to be indicated in the treatment of prostate cancer, according to a study conducted at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and published in the journal ‘Cancer Research’.

Androgen deprivation therapy, which commonly used in the treatment of prostate cancer, may actually make cancer more likely to spread to other parts of the body. This sounds like scare mongering, but the logic behind it is certainly real. Because prostate tumour growth is generally stimulated by male sex hormones, androgen deprivation therapy, in which those hormones are suppressed, is often given to patients in order to slow down the tumour growth.

Earlier research has demonstrated that a protein called nestin tends to be produced by prostate cancer cells that have metastasized to other parts of the body. Nestin does not appear to be produced by cancer cells, however, in cases where the cancer has not spread. In this latest study, researchers experimented on androgen-dependent prostate cancer cells in the laboratory. When they cut off the cells’ access to androgens, the cells increased their production of nestin.

While this does suggest that nestin levels increased when prostate cancer cells are deprived of androgens and may encourage the cells to metastasise, the lead researcher, David Berman, warned that there is not yet enough evidence to advise the abandonment of androgen deprivation therapy as a treatment. The study, which was funded by the Evensen Family Foundation, the German Cancer Foundation, the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health will continue to be ongoing and I will report on any progress.

Prostate Cancer and Diet

There has been recent research reporting that advanced cases of prostate cancer have been helped by lycopene (a phyto-chemical and a member of the carotenoid family) which is found in high amounts in tomatoes and watermelon. But it is not just those two fruits that can have an impact, as the latest findings into the disease have revealed that eating a low-fat and plant-based diet could reduce the risk of prostate cancer or slow the onset of the disease. It is obviously important that anyone at risk pays real attention to their diet and eats as naturally as possible. Not wishing to state the obvious, but the benefits of such a diet which is high in fibre, vitamins and minerals and low in fat and saturated fat will not only help the health of prostate cancer patients but anyone who has a conventional western diet.

Sadly, the highest incidences of the disease do occur in the West, particularly in the USA and Sweden, while the eastern countries like China and India have the lowest. We might be complacent in the UK as our figures for prostate cancer show we have half the number of cases reported in the USA, but that may be because they have much higher rates of testing for the disease.