Early Testing

• Prostate cancer is easier to treat when detected early, which is possible through screening with a digital rectal examination (DRE) and PSA blood test. A DRE is a doctor's insertion of a lubricated finger into your rectum to feel for lumps on your prostate. A PSA blood test measures levels of prostate-specific antigen, which can indicate the presence of prostate cancer. The American Cancer Society recommends annual early screening tests for prostate cancer for all men age 50 or older. If you're a black man or have a family history of prostate cancer, begin tests even earlier.
  
  

Healthy Diet

• Following a vegetarian, low-fat diet may lower your risk of getting prostate cancer. According to Dr. Andrew Weil, "Diets high in red meat and saturated fat have been correlated with an increased risk for prostate cancer" (Resource 2). He also says that consuming high amounts of calcium from dairy foods may increase your risk of prostate cancer (calcium might use up vitamin D, which can protect you from prostate cancer). He recommends keeping your daily intake of calcium below 700 mg. from all sources and taking 1,000 IU a day of vitamin D3. Weil says in his article "Nutrition & Prostate Cancer: Top 10 Risk Reducers" (Reference 1) that the top 10 risk reducers are cooked tomatoes, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts, soy products like tofu and soy nuts, oily fish like wild Alaskan salmon and sardines, flax seed, chili peppers, green tea, red wine, pomegranate juice, and vitamins D, E and selenium.
  
  

Exercise

• Regular exercise strengthens your immune system, improves circulation and speeds the digestion of food. These may play a role in overall cancer and prostate cancer prevention. Being overweight is a risk factor for prostate cancer. Regular exercise may also minimize symptoms in men who already have prostate cancer. Men who exercise regularly usually have less-severe symptoms than those who do not exercise.
  
  

Drugs

• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and naproxen may help prevent prostate cancer. When you take NSAIDs, they inhibit an enzyme called COX-2, which is found in prostate cancer cells (Resource 3).
  
  

Red Wine

• A study published in the June 2007 issue of "Harvard Men's Health Watch" showed that men who drink four to seven glasses of red wine a week are only 52 percent as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer as those who don't drink red wine (Reference 2). Researchers from Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center did this study on 1,456 men between ages 40 and 64. Red wine had more of a benefit than white wine. But the study noted that men who drank 35 or more beers a week for eight years or longer were at greater risk of getting prostate cancer.
  
  

Don't Smoke

• Smoking may cause the spread of prostate cancer. A 2003 study from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (Reference 3) discovered that men below 55 years of age who already had prostate cancer and who smoked or were former smokers were 66 percent more likely to have the cancer spread to other parts of their bodies.