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How vitamin D can help prevent prostate cancer
Doctors across the country who provide naturopathic treatments are working diligently to educate their male patients about prostate cancer. This should be taken as seriously as breast cancer by the female population. As with breast cancer, your chances of survival improve if you get regular screenings. Unfortunately, many men do not do this, putting men at risk of dying from this preventable disease. Quick Breakdown If you're unfamiliar with the prostate, it's a walnut-sized organ located in the male reproductive system. A sign of tumor growth is when the prostate becomes abnormally large. However, at this point the disease is...
How vitamin D can help prevent prostate cancer
Doctors across the country who provide naturopathic treatments are working diligently to educate their male patients about prostate cancer. This should be taken as seriously as breast cancer by the female population. As with breast cancer, your chances of survival improve if you get regular screenings. Unfortunately, many men do not do this, putting men at risk of dying from this preventable disease.
Quick breakdown
If you're unfamiliar with the prostate, it's a walnut-sized organ located in the male reproductive system. A sign of tumor growth is when the prostate becomes abnormally large. However, by this point the disease has progressed significantly. It's best to have regular checkups to catch the cancer before it becomes life-threatening.
To date, there is no actual evidence as to the cause of prostate cancer. However, naturopaths believe that a healthy lifestyle and eating whole foods are the key to keeping it at bay. Some have even managed to reverse the negative effects of this disease by combining diet and lifestyle changes with conventional medicine. Alternative cancer treatments have proven to be very effective for patients.
What is known so far about this type of cancer is that it has something to do with genetics, environmental and hormonal factors. Androgens are a hormone that plays an important role in its development. This hormone promotes tumor growth. Androgen deprivation therapy, also known as ADT, may be used to lower levels. Hormone replacement therapy is also an option for people struggling with imbalances.
Who is susceptible to prostate cancer?
This is a very common disease that usually affects men over the age of 50, especially if you are of African descent. Men who have close relatives diagnosed with this disease, such as a father, son or brother, are at particular risk of this disease.
Research shows that African American men are 2.5 times more likely to die from this type of cancer than Caucasian men. In the United States, it is the second leading cause of cancer death in the male population.
What symptoms should you look out for?
It is difficult to detect prostate cancer early without being examined by a doctor. This can be done in a variety of ways, such as a digital rectal scan or a blood test to measure prostate-specific antigens, or PSA. If you have a high PSA level, it likely means you have an infected prostate, caused by either inflammation or cancer.
Can vitamin D help?
There are studies showing the positive effects of vitamin D on prostate cancer. Prostate cancer patients tend to be vitamin D deficient, while healthy men with adequate vitamin D levels are less likely to die from prostate cancer. These people also have fewer cases of aggressive cancers.
The recommended dose of vitamin D is less than 10,000 IU daily. You can receive intravenous vitamin therapy at an alternative cancer treatment center. There is still no concrete evidence that the links between prostate cancer and vitamin D are widespread, so further research is needed.
What we know so far
You can find vitamin D receptors along the surface of your cells. When vitamin D is consumed, it binds to these receptors. Once bound, chemical signals are sent by vitamin D that tell cells what to do, like die or divide.
The same receptors are found in the prostate tissue, so vitamin D also binds to them. This is thought to cause cancer cells to die, stop growing, or stop spreading to other areas of the system. It is also the reason why vitamin D is considered helpful against prostate cancer.
The prostate cells are able to convert inactive forms of vitamin D into active ones. Many of the cancer cells lose this ability but still have receptors. For this reason, vitamin D supplementation slows the growth of cancer cells.
Prostate cancer prevention
The highest cases of prostate cancer are in the United States, likely due to the fact that Americans are not exposed to sunlight. Most people today spend a majority of their time indoors, whether at work or at home. You can talk to a naturopathic doctor about lifestyle and dietary changes you can make to reduce your risk of prostate cancer. You should also inquire about your vitamin D levels to determine whether IV vitamin therapy is right for you.