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Prostate Cancer Prevention
- What is prevention?
- General Information About Prostate Cancer
- Prostate Cancer Prevention
- Changes to This Summary (09/23/2009)
- Questions or Comments About This Summary
What is prevention?
Cancer prevention is action taken to lower the chance of getting cancer. By preventing cancer, the number of new cases of cancer in a group or population is lowered. Hopefully, this will lower the number of deaths caused by cancer.
To prevent new cancers from starting, scientists look at risk factors and protective factors. Anything that increases your chance of developing cancer is called a cancer risk factor; anything that decreases your chance of developing cancer is called a cancer protective factor.
Some risk factors for cancer can be avoided, but many cannot. For example, both smoking and inheriting certain genes are risk factors for some types of cancer, but only smoking can be avoided. Regular exercise and a healthy diet may be protective factors for some types of cancer. Avoiding risk factors and increasing protective factors may lower your risk but it does not mean that you will not get cancer.
Different ways to prevent cancer are being studied, including:
- Changing lifestyle or eating habits.
- Avoiding things known to cause cancer.
- Taking medicines to treat a precancerous condition or to keep cancer from starting.
General Information About Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in the tissues of the prostate.
The prostate is a
gland in the male
reproductive system. The prostate is just
below the bladder (the organ that
collects and empties urine) and in
front of the rectum (the lower part
of the intestine). It is about the
size of a walnut and surrounds part of the urethra (the tube that empties urine from the
bladder). The prostate gland produces fluid that makes up part of the semen.
Anatomy of the male reproductive and urinary systems, showing the prostate, testicles, bladder, and other organs.
As men age, the prostate may get bigger. A bigger prostate may block the flow of urine from the bladder and cause problems with sexual function. This condition is called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). BPH is not cancer, but surgery may be
needed to correct it. The symptoms
of BPH or of other problems in the prostate may be
like symptoms of prostate cancer. 
Normal prostate and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). A normal prostate does not block the flow of urine from the bladder. An enlarged prostate presses on the bladder and urethra and blocks the flow of urine.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men in the United States.
Prostate cancer is most common in older men. In the U.S., about one out of five men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not die of it.
See the following PDQ summaries for more information about prostate cancer:
Prostate Cancer Prevention
Avoiding risk factors and increasing protective factors may help prevent cancer.
Avoiding cancer risk factors such as smoking, being overweight, and lack of exercise may help prevent certain cancers. Increasing protective factors such as quitting smoking, eating a healthy diet, and exercising may also help prevent some cancers. Talk to your doctor or other health care professional about how you might lower your risk of cancer.
The following risk factors may increase the risk of prostate cancer:
Age
Prostate cancer is rare in men younger than 50 years of age. The chance of developing prostate cancer increases as men get older.
Family history of prostate cancer
A man whose father, brother, or son has had prostate cancer has a higher-than-average risk of prostate cancer.
Race
African-American men are more likely than white men to develop prostate cancer and die from it.
Hormones
The prostate needs male hormones to work the way it should. The main male sex hormone is testosterone. Testosterone helps the body develop and maintain male sex characteristics.
Testosterone is changed into dihydrotestosterone (DHT) by an enzyme in the body. DHT is important for normal prostate growth but can also cause the prostate to get bigger and may play a part in the development of prostate cancer.
Folic acid
A 10-year study showed that the risk of prostate cancer was increased in men who took supplements of folic acid (a nutrient in the vitamin B complex).
Dairy and calcium
A diet high in dairy foods and calcium may cause a small increase in the risk of prostate cancer.
The following protective factors may decrease the risk of prostate cancer:
Folate
A 10-year study showed that prostate cancer risk was lowered in men who had enough folate in their diets.
Finasteride
The Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT) studied whether the drug finasteride can prevent prostate cancer in healthy men 55 years of age and older. Finasteride is a drug that blocks the enzyme that changes testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT may play a part in the development of prostate cancer.
The prevention study showed there were fewer prostate cancers in the group of men who took finasteride compared to the group that did not take it. However, the men in the finasteride group who did have prostate cancer had more aggressive tumors. The number of deaths from prostate cancer was the same in both groups.
The following have been proven not to affect the risk of prostate cancer, or their effects on prostate cancer risk are not known:
Selenium and vitamin E
The Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) studied whether taking vitamin E and selenium (a mineral) will prevent prostate cancer. The selenium and vitamin E were taken separately or together by healthy men 55 years of age and older (50 years of age and older for African-American men). The study showed that selenium and vitamin E did not decrease the risk of prostate cancer.
Diet
It is not known if decreasing fat or increasing fruits and vegetables in the diet helps decrease the risk of prostate cancer or death from prostate cancer.
Multivitamins
Regular use of multivitamins has not been proven to increase the risk of early or localized prostate cancer.
Lycopene
Some studies have shown that a diet high in lycopene may be linked to a decreased risk of prostate cancer, but other studies have not. It has not been proven that taking lycopene supplements decreases the risk of prostate cancer.
Cancer prevention clinical trials are used to study ways to prevent cancer.
Cancer prevention clinical trials are used to study ways to lower the risk of developing certain types of cancer. Some cancer prevention trials are conducted with healthy people who have not had cancer but who have an increased risk for cancer. Other prevention trials are conducted with people who have had cancer and are trying to prevent another cancer of the same type or to lower their chance of developing a new type of cancer. Other trials are done with healthy volunteers who are not known to have any risk factors for cancer.
The purpose of some cancer prevention clinical trials is to find out whether actions people take can prevent cancer. These may include eating fruits and vegetables, exercising, quitting smoking, or taking certain medicines, vitamins, minerals, or food supplements.
New ways to prevent prostate cancer are being studied in clinical trials.
Clinical trials are taking place in many parts of the country. Information about clinical trials can be found in the Clinical Trials section of the NCI Web site (see also: clinical trials at the Masonic Cancer Center) . Check for clinical trials in NCI's PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials Registry for prostate cancer prevention trials (see also: clinical trials at the Masonic Cancer Center) that are accepting patients.
Changes to This Summary (09/23/2009)
The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.
This summary was completely reformatted. Images and some content were added.
Questions or Comments About This Summary
If you have questions or comments about this summary, please send them to Cancer.gov through the Web site's Contact Form. We can respond only to email messages written in English.
Date last modified: 2009-09-23