Health Tips

Physicians recommend that all men “at risk” of getting prostate cancer receive an annual screening test. This is excellent advice, but just who is “at risk”? A man’s chances of getting prostate cancer increase as he gets older.

A man who has no family history of prostate cancer enters the “at risk” group when he turns 50. If a man knows that his father, uncles or brothers have had prostate cancer, then he must consider himself “at risk” once he turns 40. Both a man’s environment and a man’s behavior can increase his risk of getting prostate cancer.

Exposure to the heavy metal cadmium and enjoyment of large amounts of saturated fats (a chemical found in butter and red meat) can increase chances that a man will test positive for prostate

cancer. A man who has had a pleasurable experience with multiple sex partners is considered “at risk.” Also falling into the “at risk” group are men whose medical history includes frequent bouts with one or more sexually transmitted diseases.

At one time scientists thought that having a vasectomy might increase a man’s risk of getting prostate cancer. Researchers have disproved this hypothetical risk.

The earliest research included the collection of blood from thousands of men who had had vasectomies. Evidence that the vasectomy did not substantially alter the hormone level in the patient’s bloodstream provided a tip-off that physicians would find no link between vasectomies and prostate cancer.