Prostate Cancer Prevention

Prostate cancer can't be prevented, but you can take measures to reduce your risk or possibly slow the disease's development.

• Eat well. High-fat diets have been linked to prostate cancer. Therefore, limiting your intake of high-fat foods and emphasizing fruits, vegetables and whole fibers may help you reduce your risk. Foods rich in lycopene, an antioxidant, also may help lower your prostate cancer risk. These foods include raw or cooked tomatoes, tomato products, grapefruit and watermelon. Garlic and some vegetables such as arugula, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower also may help fight cancer. Vitamin E has shown promise in reducing the risk of prostate cancer among smokers. More research is needed, however, to see whether vitamin E might be effective.
• Get regular exercise. Regular exercise can help prevent a heart attack and conditions such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol. When it comes to cancer, the data aren't as clear-cut, but studies do indicate that regular exercise may reduce your cancer risk, including your risk of prostate cancer. Exercise has been shown to strengthen your immune system, improve circulation and speed digestion — all of which may play a role in cancer prevention. Exercise also helps to prevent obesity, another potential risk factor for some cancers. Regular exercise may also minimize your symptoms and reduce your risk of prostate gland enlargement, or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Men who are physically active usually have less-severe symptoms than do men who get little exercise.
• Ask your doctor about taking an NSAID. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) might prevent prostate cancer. These drugs include ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, others) and naproxen (Aleve). NSAIDs inhibit an enzyme called COX-2, which is found in prostate cancer cells. More studies are needed to confirm whether NSAID use actually results in lower rates of prostate cancer or reduced deaths from the disease.

Research on prostate cancer prevention has shown that the drug finasteride (Proscar, Propecia) may prevent or delay the onset of prostate cancer in men 55 years and older. This drug is currently used to control prostate gland enlargement and hair loss in men. However, finasteride has also been shown to contribute to increasing sexual side effects and to slightly raise the risk of developing higher grade prostate cancer. At this time, this drug isn't routinely recommended to prevent prostate cancer.