How to Keep the Prostate Healthy

 ✅Maintain a Balanced Diet

They’re probably not your favorite part of any meal, but green, leafy vegetables are a good first step toward a healthy prostate. These vegetables are full of important vitamins and antioxidants that keep you — and specifically, your prostate — healthy.

So look for some healthy recipes that have lettuce, spinach, and broccoli to make your prostate-healthy dinner delicious.

While you’re filling your plate with these leafy greens, avoid charred meats. There is believed to be a link between PhIP, a chemical compound released when meat is charred, and an increased risk of cancer.

✅Get Some Sun

Don’t ditch the sunscreen, but don’t hide from the sun either. Too little sun exposure can actually increase your risk of getting prostate cancer. We get a lot of valuable vitamin D from the sun, and this is a great way to reduce your risk of prostate cancer.

Vitamin D also helps keep us healthy in other ways. It’s good for heart health, and it keeps your kidneys and pancreas healthy.

✅Get Screened

Prostate cancer screening recommendations are different depending on whether you’re in a high-risk or an average-risk group. If you are in a high-risk group, you should consider getting screened for prostate cancer starting at age 40. Men who are at normal risk are encouraged to consider screenings starting at age 55.

Men with a higher risk of developing prostate cancer include:

African-Americans

People of Scandinavian descent

Anyone who has two or more family members who were diagnosed with prostate cancer

Screenings can include a digital rectal exam and a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test. If your PSA test indicates an above-normal result and you’ve had a normal digital rectal exam, you may be a candidate for the prostate health index test. This blood test is similar to the PSA test, but it provides results with a higher specificity