PROSTATE CANCER: THE BURDEN OF MEN, PART 3.

A man does not require a functioning prostate to live, but it is important for fertility. 

The primary function of the prostate is to contribute prostatic fluid to semen. 

The prostate contributes 20 – 30% of fluid to the total semen volume. The remainder comes from the seminal vesicles (50- 60%) and the testicles (5%).

The prostatic fluid contains components that make an ideal substance for sperm cells to live in, including enzymes, zinc, and citric acid. 

One important enzyme is Prostate-specific antigen (PSA), which helps make the semen thinner and more fluid. 

The fluid in semen helps the sperm travel down the urethra and survive the journey towards an egg, which is essential for reproduction. 

Prostatic fluid is slightly acidic, but other components of semen make it alkaline overall. 

This counteracts the acidity of the vagina and protects the sperm from damage. 

An enlarged prostate, also known as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), is the most common prostate problem in males over 50.

In my article, I dwelt on the role of aging in BPH ( I strongly recommend you read it) 

In this article, I will discuss the role of family history. 

Aging and family history are the two common most important factors in the development of BPH. 

What do we mean by family history? 

If you visit your doctor with a complaint of any chronic disease,

The first question a good doctor will ask you is this. 

“Do you have anyone in your family who is or has suffered from this disease? “

He is simply asking about your family history. 

Another word for your family history is your GENETICS. 

So your genetics is what you inherited from your parents. 

To be specific, we are talking about your genes.

To be more specific, we mean your DNA. 

Of course, you know that your genes (DNA) are a blueprint you got from your parents. 

Well, I hear you saying, but what about genes? 

Your DNA is your DNA, and you can’t fight your genetic inheritance. 

No, you can’t, but “inherited ” does not mean “inevitable “.

Certainly, genes are important in influencing our health, but there is simply no such thing as chronic -disease genes, as we once assumed. 

What we have are genes that encode our uniqueness in how we respond to the circumstances of our environment and to our individual behaviors. 

The term for it is “genetic expression “.

Our genes get messages from our interactions with our environment and with how we choose to behave, and they translate those messages into cellular instructions: these instructions are what then control our health and disease patterns. 

You might say our environment and behaviors talk to our genes, and what they say can change the way our book of life is read in the process of genetic expression – that is, through the translation our genes make. 

What does it mean? 

For one thing, it means we are not hardwired to come down with the disease that undermined the later years of our parents or grandparents. 

Your mother or father may have suffered from diabetes and you figure you will too? 

Not if that encoded of diabetes gets a totally different message. 

Your doctor tells you, you’re in danger of succumbing to the hereditary heart disease that killed your father? 

The good news is that you have time to deactivate that fatal legacy by changing the messages your genes receive. 

Maria is not doomed to become a brittle-boned old lady just because that’s what happened to her mother. 

She can make changes to her lifestyle, her diet, and her exercise habits and thereby bring the needle back from osteoporosis. 

Do you know about the BRCA gene, the feared mutation that prompts so many women found to possess it to submit to radical double mastectomy (surgical removal of breast) to save their lives? 

It’s actually a prime example of this reality about changing the message our genes receive. 

Before 1940, the incidence of breast cancer developing in women with the BRCA mutation was 24%.

By 2013, the incidence was greater than 85%.

What changed to cause that extraordinary leap in the occurrence of the disease from this mutation? 

Not the genes: genes can’t and don’t change. 

It was the environment influencing the gene’s expression that changed:

Diet, exercise, and other lifestyle behaviors. 

Alter the environment and you alter the way genes express themselves in response – and the health outcome. 

It all depends on the message the gene receives. 

The bottom line is that genetic inheritance is not fate!!!!!!?. 

Your lifetime health was not predetermined at your conception. 

On the contrary :

You have the opportunity – and the power – to shape your pattern of health and longevity. 

It’s what personalized health management is all about. 

The next time your doctor asks you about your family history, I want to know that it does not matter. 

What matters is the message you and you alone are giving your genes. 

Prostate enlargement is simply your genes responding and giving you back the massages you sent to it over the years. 

The good news is that even if you are suffering from an enlarged prostate, it can be fixed. 

In my next article, I will switch gears, we will be talking about PROSTATE CANCER