Nutrition and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Overview

Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, which leads to an enlargement of the prostate, often is referred to as BPH. BPH is very common in adult men and becomes more common with age. Many health experts say, “All men will have an enlarged prostate if they live long enough.” Some minor prostate enlargement occurs in a significant number of men over age 40. By age 80, over 90 percent of men have prostate enlargement!

Fortunately, less than half of all men with an enlarged prostate due to BPH have any symptoms from this condition. For those who do, more and better medications are becoming available to address these symptoms. If you have been diagnosed with BPH and you do have symptoms, be sure to talk to your doctor about treatment options that may be right for you.

In addition to medical treatment options, there are other things you can do to improve your overall health. This in turn may help manage your BPH.

Can Nutrition Help With BPH?

Researchers are only just beginning to understand the possible connections between diet and risk of BPH. As well, researchers are starting to study how diet may affect the likelihood of BPH getting worse in men who already have it. From what we know so far, it appears that a diet that promotes good overall heart health is ideal for men with BPH. This type of diet may reduce the likelihood of getting this condition in the first place as well.

Certainly, there is no reason not to follow a heart healthy diet if you have BPH. Heart disease is the number one killer of men in the U.S. For this reason, all men should be concerned about heart health. In addition to lowering you risk for heart disease, following a heart-healthy diet may be just what the doctor ordered for managing BPH.

Healthy Heart = Healthy Prostate

One idea that is gaining attention among healthcare providers who manage prostate disease is that a heart-healthy diet and lifestyle also may protect against prostate diseases. This includes BPH and prostate cancer.

In particular, researchers have noticed that men who have conditions that increase heart disease risk also have a higher risk of being diagnosed with BPH. As well, these conditions seem to make it more likely that BPH will get worse in men who already have it. This means that these men have faster and more aggressive prostate enlargement (growth) as compared to men who do not have these same heart disease risk factors. And more prostate enlargement means more symptoms of BPH, which is something you want to avoid.

The conditions that seem to increase risk of both heart disease and BPH include being overweight or obese; having a large waist measurement or “carrying your weight in your belly”; diabetes; low levels of HDL or “good” cholesterol; high levels of LDL or “bad” cholesterol; high blood pressure; and high levels of insulin in the body, even in men without diabetes.

Obesity & Diabetes

It appears that being significantly overweight or obese raises the risk of BPH. Obesity raises the risk of BPH getting worse in men who already have it too. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of diabetes and diabetes seems to increase the risk of BPH.

For all of these reasons, you’ll want to make a healthy body weight one of your top priorities to ensure optimal prostate health. This is doubly important if you carry your extra weight around your belly, which is where most men store excess fat.

Also keep in mind that maintaining a healthy body weight can help manage diabetes if you have it. Staying at a healthy weight can help prevent diabetes if you are at risk of this disease too. And anyone who is obese, which is about 30 to 40 pounds or more over a healthy body weight, is at risk of diabetes.

If you have diabetes, keeping you blood sugar in a healthy range is important for protecting your overall health and the health of your prostate. Work with your doctor to keep your blood sugar numbers under control. Take your medications as prescribed. Follow your healthcare provider’s advice on diet and exercise. These steps are crucial to maintaining good health.

In addition to these steps, focus on a healthy body weight. Remember, getting your weight into a healthy range can help prevent and manage diabetes! For more information and details on this important topic, please see our article Healthy Approaches to Weight Management.

Cholesterol

Most everyone has heard the news that cholesterol levels are important when it comes to heart disease. Did you know that the latest research shows that cholesterol levels may play an important role in prostate health too? It’s true.

Recent medical research suggests that having low levels of HDL or “good” cholesterol is linked with a higher risk of being diagnosed with BPH (enlarged prostate). Even more interesting is that low HDL (good) cholesterol levels are linked with BPH getting worse in men who already have it! Having high levels of LDL or “bad” cholesterol and high levels of total cholesterol also may spur the development of BPH.

If you have low levels of HDL or “good” cholesterol and high levels of total and LDL or “bad” cholesterol, talk to your doctor about medication options that may be right for you. There are many excellent cholesterol-lowering medications available today. In addition to this, try a few of the many diet tips which can improve cholesterol levels:

• Focus on Fiber: Fiber is very helpful for keeping cholesterol in check. Fiber-rich foods that have a particularly good track record for lowering cholesterol include oats and oatmeal; barley; fruit, including apples, pears, oranges, apricots, and raisins; starchy beans such as kidney beans, navy beans, chickpeas, pinto beans, red beans, black beans and lentils; nuts, especially walnuts and almonds; fatty fish, such as wild salmon; and avocados. This is just a sampling of the many healthy foods you can include in your cholesterol-lowering eating plan.
• Try Soy: When included in the diet regularly, traditional soy foods such as tofu, tempeh, and edamame (Japanese style soy beans served in the shell) have been shown to lower cholesterol significantly. 
• Learn The Flax Facts: Flaxseeds come from flax. Flax is an oilseed just like canola and sunflower are oilseeds. It just happens that the seeds that come from flax provide excellent health benefits, including better heart health. Flaxseeds are a rich source of fiber and other nutrients that are known to help lower cholesterol when eaten regularly. 
• Include Psyllium: Psyllium (pronounced “silly-um”) is a food product that has terrific cholesterol-lowering benefits. While it’s not easy to “eat” psyllium, you can add it into the diet in the form of a fiber supplement, such as MetamucilÒor a whole psyllium husk product. Always talk to your doctor before you begin taking any new dietary supplement products, including fiber supplements.
• Exercise Regularly: There aren’t many things that can raise HDL or “good” cholesterol in the body, but exercise certainly can. Aim to get regular aerobic exercise about 5 times each week. Activities such as brisk walking, swimming, jogging, bicycling, or using cardio equipment at a gym all count toward regular aerobic exercise. Always talk to your doctor before you begin any new exercise plan. This is especially important if you have not been physically active in recent years.
• Limit Saturated Fat: Saturated fat increases LDL or “bad” cholesterol. If you eat less of this type of fat, it is better for your health. Foods high in saturated fat that should be limited include fast food; fried foods; fatty cuts of red meat, dark meat chicken, and fatty cuts of pork; processed foods such as crackers, cookies, chips, ready-to-eat and microwave meals, and baked goods; skin on meat, such as chicken skin; high fat dairy foods such as ice cream, mayonnaise, sour cream, whole milk, cheese, and butter; tropical oils such as coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, and cocoa butter oil; and lard and tallow.

High Blood Pressure

If you have high blood pressure, and one out of four American adults does, it is very important that you follow your doctor’s advice. Take your blood pressure medications as prescribed and keep your blood pressure in a healthy range. Also, keep in mind that if you are overweight or obese losing weight can reduce your blood pressure. Losing just 5 or 10% of your current body weight can be an effective way to control high blood pressure.

For example, if you weigh 200 pounds, losing just 10 to 20 pounds can be enough to lower blood pressure.

In addition to medications, exercise, and maintaining a healthy body weight, what you eat can have a big impact on your blood pressure. A healthy diet can dramatically lower blood pressure. One particular diet that has research-proven ability to lower blood pressure is the DASH diet. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.

If you are ready to make your health a priority by reducing risk of high blood pressure or controlling it if you already have this condition, please see our article on Diet Tips for Lowering Blood Pressure.

Insulin Levels in the Body

Even if you do not have diabetes, how much insulin your body produces can be affected by things like your body weight, what you eat, and whether you exercise regularly. This is important for several reasons. Even for people who do not have diabetes, higher insulin levels are not good for health and may increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer. As well, higher insulin levels can be a signal that you are at increased risk for diabetes. Finally, when it comes to prostate health, higher insulin levels are not helpful!

The latest research shows that for men, the higher your insulin levels, the more likely you are to be diagnosed with BPH. Additionally, higher insulin levels seem to worsen BPH in men who have it. This means prostate enlargement (growth) is faster and more aggressive in men with higher insulin levels in the body.

For optimal health, it is important to follow the type of healthy diet and lifestyle that keep insulin levels in a healthy range. What is the best way to keep your insulin levels in check? In short, everything you’ve just read!

To keep your insulin levels in a healthy range you need to maintain a healthy weight; eat a good diet that contains plenty of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and beans; get plenty of fiber which not only helps manage cholesterol but can help balance out insulin levels too; exercise regularly; and follow your doctor’s advice on medications to manage high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

It’s easy to see how all of these issues are connected to one another and to the health of your prostate. By taking control of your overall health, with a focus on taking care of your heart, you’ll automatically be taking care of your prostate!

References:

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