What causes prostate cancer?

DEAR Dr. Fritz,

Please call me Julio. I wanted to know what causes prostate cancer. I am so concerned about this as my father was diagnosed with this disease early this year and, just recently, he passed away. What really causes it? Are there jobs related to it? Can diet be possibly related to it?

Thank you very much. God bless.

Julio Lax

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Dear Julio Lax,

Let me send my heartfelt condolences to you.

Now, let’s get to your questions. What causes prostate cancer? The truth is, it is uncertain what really causes prostate cancer.

However, diets have been shown to contribute to the risk, such that it has been shown that men who eat a lot of fat from red meat have greater chances of getting the disease. And cooking meat at high temperatures will produce cancer-causing substances that may affect the prostate. This disease is also more common in places where people used to eat meat and dairy products than those countries where the diet consists of rice, soybean products and vegetables. So the question now is, does meat and dairy products play a role? Well, probably. Let us take a look at some studies.

In international and interregional correlational studies, dairy product consumption has been consistently associated with prostate cancer mortality. The largest and most recent of these, based on World Health Organization mortality figures for 1985-1989 from 59 countries and United Nations food balance data for 1979-1981, reported a strong correlation between per capita milk consumption and prostate cancer mortality.

Oops. We are losing space this time. Let me continue this by the next issue. Until then!

Dr. Fritz

(Dr. Fritz Legarde Espedilla is an aesthetic dermatologist and surgeon and a clinical sexologist. She is also trained in hypnotherapy and Medical Acupuncture. She is the anchor of Secrets of Dr. Fritz, of Hugyaw.com. She has been in the broadcast media for more than a decade and has written a book based on her 15 year stint with her radio program, “Healthy is Sexy Secrets ni Dr. Fritz.”. For your questions, you may e-mail them to dokfritz@yahoo.com. If you don’t wish your letter to be published, we regret that we can not answer them. Thank you for your understanding.)