December 8, 2015
There's a debate going on within conventional medicine. It concerns regular prostate testing for men under the age of 55. One side says the testing "may not have any benefit" for those under 55. The other side says, "Nearly half of all deaths from prostate cancer can be predicted before age 50." So which side is correct? And what should you do to keep your prostate healthy?
Both sides of this debate have valid arguments. But, as you'll see, their conclusions are basically two sides of the same coin. Here's what I mean.
The side that says there may not be much benefit to screening has substantial evidence on its side. One study, for instance, looked at outcomes from 6,822 men in the Rotterdam arm of the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC). The researchers followed these participants from the their late 50s (55-59) until they reached 75. At the start of the study, screening indicated that 189 men had prostate cancer. At the end of the study, 19 of the 189 had died of prostate cancer or developed metastases. Another 21 men were showing biochemical signs of prostate cancer. Of the 6,822 participants, the researchers said these 40 men were the only ones that may have benefitted from early screening. That's a rate of only .6%.
The other side looked at the Malmo cohort study. This study followed 21,277 men between the ages of 27 and 52. The study ran between 1974 and 1984, when all of these men gave a blood sample. Six years later, the researchers took another blood sample of 4,922 of these men. These men were in three different groups: men close to age 40, mid-to-late 40s (45-49), and early-to-mid 50s (51-55). Here's what they found: "Within 25 to 30 years, 44% of deaths from prostate cancer occurred in those with the top 10% of PSA levels at age 45-49, a PSA of about 1.5 ng/ml or more. The risk of prostate cancer death was more than 10 times greater in this group compared to men with the lowest 25% of PSA levels."
Obviously, there is some benefit to screening. But only for some men. Both of these studies agree on one thing. They both reveal that men who are at high risk of developing prostate cancer should have screening in their 40s. So how do you know if you're at high risk? All you have to do is have your doctor check your PSA periodically. That's all for now. And here's how to evaluate your PSA score.
If your score is below 4.0, don't submit to a biopsy. If it is above 4.0, delay getting a biopsy, change your diet (mainly vegetables and other high-fiber foods) and take Advanced Prostate Formula. Then have your PSA checked again in a few months. Most prostate cancers are very slow-growing so delaying the biopsy shouldn't be a problem. If your doctor suspects you may have a faster-growing cancer, you may have to go ahead and submit to the biopsy.
If your PSA score begins to come down after changing your diet, you can continue the program above and evaluate your PSA annually (or whenever your doctor recommends). The PSA test is NOT an accurate cancer test. But it IS an accurate test for inflammation. If your score is coming down, your inflammation is coming down and your risk for cancer is decreasing.
If your score is going up, that's when you need to take notice. You need to evaluate your PSA velocity. This is a term that describes how high your PSA test increases in one year. For example, if you have a PSA test and it's 1.0 higher than it was the year before, you have a PSA velocity score of 1.0. However, if your score over five years goes up 1.0 points, then your PSA velocity is 0.2 (1.0 divided by five years). Regardless, both of these scores could mean trouble.
The ideal PSA velocity is 0.03 or less. The value may vary slightly from year to year. But you want the score as close to 0.03 as you can get. If it's 0.15 ng/ml over three consecutive years, you likely have a latent cancer. I'll show you in a future issue how to treat this cancer. For now, focus on keeping your PSA scores down. The lower the better. Remember, diet (high veggies, high fiber, and low animal fat) and taking Advanced Prostate Formula should keep your PSA scores down.
If you can do this, you likely don't need any other routine screening.
http://www.advancedbionutritionals.com/Nutrient-Insider/View-Archive/458/How-to-know-if-you-need-regular-prostate-screening.htm
