In the United States alone prostate cancer kills 45,000 men every year, with about 250,000 new cases of the disease being diagnosed annually.

There are some basic facts you should know about prostate cancer.

1. Your risk increases dramatically after age 60.
2. Most men over 80 have it already but will likely die of some other cause.
3. Prostate cancer seems to follow hereditary patterns. If it runs in your family, you are at a much greater risk.

Even with these guidelines, prostate cancer has been elusive simply because it has few early warning signs. Unlike BPH or other prostate problems, cancer offers no significant discomfort, especially in the early stages. Since cancer forms on the outside of the prostate, you do not usually experience the typical problems with urination and inflammation.

Early detection is still the best treatment for prostate cancer. This means that regular prostate exams, especially after the age of 55 or 60, are very important.

The real danger of prostate cancer is not the disease itself but its ability to spread to the bones. Once this has occurred, we are dealing with a much more severe disease condition.

Conventional methods of treating prostate cancer are much the same as for all other forms of cancer. Surgery is probably near the top of the list of prostate cancer treatments. Yet, despite this popularity, there is no evidence that the radical prostatectomy is an effective therapy for prostate cancer! Radiation and chemotherapy treatments haven't changed much in decades and their success rate is also poor. Further, these invasive chemical treatments weaken the immune system, which is the reason we get most cancers in the first place.

Mandated radiation and/or chemotherapy should always be promptly followed by an aggressive nutritional supplementation program designed to rebuild the immune system.

I think it is interesting to note that recent data indicates that men 70 years old and older who elected to have the prostatectomy, on average, lived only a month or two longer than men with the same disease who did not have the operation!

Furthermore, the prostatectomy leaves about 85% of its patients impotent and 25% of them incontinent. Due to these serious side effects, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (May 1993) concluded that men 75 years of age or older are damaged more by radiation and surgical procedures to the prostate than by simply watching the disease passively. They further concluded that men of this age group were at greater risk from the treatment of their cancer than from doing nothing at all!

Since we all agree that early detection and careful observation of prostate cancer is important, how can we go about doing that? The most common test performed is a blood test for the presence of a protein produced by the prostate called prostate specific antigen (PSA). Generally speaking, the higher the PSA level in your blood, the greater your chances of having prostate cancer. Normal PSA levels are 0 to 4, while a moderately elevated reading would be somewhere in the 4 to 10 range. Any reading over 10 is considered high.

It is important for you to understand that just because your PSA reading is high, it doesn't necessarily mean you have prostate cancer. Furthermore, the PSA test fails to detect almost one third of all prostate cancers.

Rather than rush hastily into invasive treatments just because of an elevated PSA, we recommend a digital rectal exam, to detect physical changes to the outside of the prostate gland.

If you have prostate cancer, consider using the following recommendations for a few months and then have another exam and PSA test. You may be surprised to find that things are looking much better in that short a time.

Following are recommendations of what we routinely use in the prevention and management of prostate cancer. Refer to the protocol section in the back of this book for additional information regarding formulation and product suggestion.

1.) If the cancer is isolated in your prostate, you should only consider radiation, chemotherapy and especially surgery under very unique circumstances. These procedures will likely do more harm than good at this stage.

2.) Follow the BPH protocol.

3.) Watch your diet. Reduce the amount of animal fats you consume. This does not mean you should avoid quality protein, but be sure to trim fat and eat lean cuts. Add soy protein and soy products such as tofu to your diet. Soy supplements have been shown to increase the concentration of isoflavonoids in your blood. According to studies published in Lancet (a highly respected British medical journal), isoflavonoids help regulate hormones in the body; prostate cancer is directly related to hormone balance.

4.) Essential fatty acids should be increased to at least 6 capsules per day.

5.) Increase your dosage of Saw Palmetto (Serenoa repens) to at least 400 mg per day. Also increase Pygeum africanum intake.

6.) Vitamin C should be increased to 6 to 12 grams per day.

7.) Start a program of shark cartilage. Buy the 750-mg capsules (standard) and take between 8 to 10 capsules per day.

8.) Reduce, or eliminate, the consumption of all alcoholic beverages.

Prostate cancer need not strike terror in your heart. Prostate cancer is not a death sentence if it is properly watched and the gland is supported with an aggressive nutrient therapy program. You should consider invasive therapies such as radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery only when absolutely necessary.

Newspaper, magazines, and televised 'special reports' paint a rather dismal picture of prostate problems. Remember, however, that all the horror stories about impotence, retrograde ejaculation, and incontinence ONLY OCCUR WHEN INVASIVE PROCEDURES SUCH AS RADIATION, CHEMOTHERAPY, AND ESPECIALLY SURGERY OCCUR. Remember, too, that prevention is far better than attempting a cure, but if you already have a prostate condition, there is still a great deal you can do to manage and even reverse many of the most common problems.

Find consolation in the fact that you do not have to look forward to impotence or erectile dysfunction in later years of life. The latest "global research" indicates that you have all the hope in the world for a satisfactory solution to prostate problems.

But, and it is a big BUT... you have to act! You must take responsibility for your condition and aggressively act in a non-invasive manner to provide the body with what it needs.

It is our belief that all disease begins with stress either physical, emotional or most often, both. Stress destroys a tremendous amount of nutrients; nutrients vital to the delicate balance of your internal biochemistry. When that chemistry is out of balance for long periods of time, disease and disorder are the inevitable result.

We all have the ability to return to a healthier and more balanced life. It is an undeniable fact of nature. The decision to make positive lifestyle changes will initiate a metamorphosis within our bodies, enabling us to maintain or regain our optimal health.