Enlarged Prostate

I am now in the 50+ club and something that has been in the back of my mind for awhile seems to magically become more important when you turn 50 – and that is prostate health. The truth is a person can have prostate problems well before the age of 50, but having made it this far without problems the looming potential of having issues with the prostate becomes more real.

The key is to not wait until you are 50 to start thinking about your prostate. Start early to take steps to keep your prostate healthy. If my encouragement is not enough, read the facts that should give you motivation to start thinking about your prostate health:
- Benign Prostate Hypertrophy, or BPH, also known as enlarged prostate, is the most common complaint about the prostate. This is probably the condition you have heard “war stories” about.
- By the age of 50, three-out-of-four men already have or have experienced enlarged prostates. Some men have problems with their prostate as early as their 30’s so it is not just an old man’s disease.
- Prostate cancer is the leading form of male cancer and is the leading cause of cancer death among non-smoking American men. By the age of 50, one-in-three men have cancer cells in their prostates. By the age of 75, three-out-of-four American men have prostate cancer. Approximately 80 percent of all prostate cancer cases occur in men over the age of sixty-five and by the age of eighty, 80 percent of all men have prostate cancer to some degree. This is incredible when you think about it isn’t it.
- Many experts feel that every man will eventually develop prostate cancer if he lives long enough.
- The chance of getting prostate cancer is one in three if you have just one close relative (father, brother) with the disease. The risk is five fold if you have two close relatives. With three, it is almost certain (97%) that you'll get prostate cancer.
- African-American men are 2 ½ times more likely to get the disease than any other ethnic group in the world. In fact, one of every eight African-American men will develop the disease in his lifetime

Hope I got your attention!

For goodness sakes if you have any concerns about your prostate get it checked out by a medical professional!

Stay tuned for more information that can help you keep your prostate healthy.

Mark