Four Foods to Avoid to Protect Your Prostate Health

It may sound like an old wife’s tale, but the saying “you are what you eat” is scientifically proven. Studies have shown that foods improve health through the human body’s phytochemicals and other bioactive molecules. Health supplements like Prostate911 can also add benefits to the human body. In particular, science touts the phenols in red fruits and vegetables are beneficial. 

Phytochemicals can also have adverse effects on specific organs when ingested. In addition to antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins, certain plants produce phytohormones. These molecules interact with glands in the body. The prostate is sensitive to many ingested bioactive compounds in good and bad ways. 

What’s the Worst Thing That Can Happen?

There are a range of conditions that can be affected by ingested biomolecules. For example, the prostate sits below and presses against the bladder. When enlarged from Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy (BPH), infection, or cancer, it can cause frequent urination. 

The trigone is a triangular-shaped structure on the bottom front of the bladder. The trigone senses pressure from urine accumulation within the bladder and tells you when to urinate. Compressed from an enlarged prostate below sends a false message to the brain. It feels like you have to go, but there is little or no urine. 

The prostate gland surrounds the ureter. The ureter carries urine from the bladder through the penis. Consequently, when the prostate swells inside, it can compress the ureter. 

When the trigone tells you to pee, you have difficulty starting urine flow from the compressed ureter. In addition, you may have a feeble stream and not empty your bladder fully. It can block urine flow altogether, requiring an emergency urinary catheter to relieve urinary retention. 

The seminal vesicles that hold sperm sit on the top of each side of the prostate. During ejaculation, the sperm mixes with the seminal fluid the prostate makes. Therefore, any change in the prostate gland’s shape or size impedes the seminal vesicles’ normal functioning. This can, in turn, put pressure down the vas deferens (tube between the testes and the seminal vesicles that transport sperm cells) and produce testicular symptoms like pain and swelling. 

Cancer of the prostate occurs in 13% of all men. It kills 2-3%. Bioactive food compounds can play a role in preventing or encouraging prostate cancer.

Many men know the benefit of supplementing saw palmetto for an enlarged prostate. However, few men can name any plant-based supplement or other food that hurts the prostate. Remember the adage “all things in moderation.” Here are four foods to avoid to protect your prostate’s health. 

• Red Meat

Red meats, specifically cooked red meats, can contribute to the risk of prostate cancer. Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) form when you cook red meat. Research suggests that these compounds are carcinogenic. 

The more well done you cook the meat, the more HCAs and PAHs are formed. Consequently, a well-done steak is potentially more dangerous than a rare one. However, it is not just the cancer risk that red meat poses. 

Scientific studies have revealed a direct correlation between red meat consumption and benign prostatic hypertrophy. In fact, men who ingest red meat daily are three times more likely to develop an enlarged prostate. The research suggests that red meat is a food to avoid to protect your prostate health. 

• Caffeine

Coffee, tea, sodas, and chocolate all contain caffeine. Caffeine is chemically related to sympathetic amines. Sympathetic amines are drugs like stimulants and adrenaline. This class of compounds causes increased heart rate and blood pressure and is responsible for the ‘fight or flight” response. 

Caffeine constricts the bladder and neck muscles just above the prostate. This is so you don’t urinate when under stress. So, caffeine consumption can produce or accentuate urinary symptoms if you have benign prostatic hypertrophy or borderline prostate enlargement.

That doesn’t mean you can never have a candy bar or have to give up Starbucks. Try to limit your total daily caffeine intake. Do not try to withdraw caffeine abruptly. You may get a significant headache.

• Salt

Anyone with high blood pressure or heart disease knows they should avoid salt. The reason is that salt causes swelling in the feet and legs, and increased blood pressure can also make the prostate gland swell. Salt is hydrophobic and osmotic; it attracts fluid. 

Salt alone should not cause the prostate to swell enough to produce symptoms. However, if the gland is already enlarged due to age or other factors, it can precipitate or worsen symptoms. Therefore, limiting salt intake is recommended for anyone with BPH. 

Many need to realize the salt content of everyday foods. Limiting adding salt from the shaker is an excellent first step, but consider limiting processed foods, salted snacks like chips and salted nuts, and meats preserved or made with salt like bacon and sausage.

• Alcohol

It may be painful for some to realize that alcohol is one of the foods to avoid to protect your prostate health. Do you consider alcohol a “food?” Technically alcohol is a food because it supplies calories, although they are what nutritionists call “empty calories.” Alcohol produces negative actions in several places that affect prostate health.

Alcohol suppresses antidiuretic hormone (ADH) in the body. That means it acts like a diuretic, producing more urine. Of course, anyone with any prostate issue would prefer to urinate less, not more. 

In addition to urinary frequency, alcohol, like caffeine, constricts the bladder’s neck muscles. Consequently, take a little BPH and add alcohol, and suddenly it becomes symptomatic. 

One study showed that excessive alcohol suppressed prostate-specific antigen (PSA). This could lead to a delayed diagnosis of prostate cancer. Having a cancer diagnosis as early as possible is preferable, so there is time to perform treatment before the situation worsens.

Practice Moderation

The Roman playwright Plautus wrote 200 years before the common era, “observe due measure; moderation is best in all things.” This advice is salient today when considering foods to avoid to protect your prostate health. It is never too late to start viewing how your diet affects your prostate health. Adding in exercise and getting the best treadmill desk will help along the journey.