Video: How to Prevent Prostate Cancer | Ask a Prostate Expert, Mark Scholz, MD

Ask a Prostate Expert, Mark Scholz, MD | Transcription

Alex: So, Dr. Scholz. Our last question is actually one of the most Googled questions that I've seen in prostate cancer and that [is], basically, patients want to know, "How do you reduce your risk of getting prostate cancer?" And I think that this is a not only a major topic for men themselves, but for their sons and their family members and so I think that this is something on a bigger scale that we want to address, right?

Dr. Scholz: Yeah, I mean, prostate cancer isn't the scourge that it used to be now that people are diagnosing it earlier and the cure rates are excellent in men that are diagnosed at an early stage. But, the sensible approaches that reduce the risk for heart disease, as Dr. Mark Moyad who has done moderation at a lot of our conferences over and over says, "that which is heart-healthy is prostate healthy." So, heart-healthy diets back in—I can't remember—the 60's or 70's a guy named Dr. Pritikin came out and said that you can improve and reverse heart disease with low-fat diets and that was a shocking concept back then. Of course, now it has become very mainstream. The same reality exists for prostate cancer and it's not only true in terms of preventing prostate cancer and lowering the incidence of prostate cancer—staying away from, you know, meat and milk products, things like that—it's also useful for men who already have cancer and want to inhibit its progression. So, the simplistic concept is, "don't feed it and it won't grow as well." So, vegetarian diets are the way to go in terms of reducing the risk of heart disease, reducing the risk of prostate cancer, reducing the risk of other cancers, and also for preventing the progression of existing cancers.

Alex: Wow, so that's all just with the vegetarian diet? And does it matter what type of vegetarian diet? There's a lot of different diets out there. Is it really just whatever cuts out, you know, animal protein and dairy?

Dr. Scholz: I think that's the best way to look at it. There are certain refinements. So when you look at the extreme vegetarian diets like the macrobiotic type diets, they are pretty radical. People lose a lot of weight. Sometimes families get frightened by the intensity of these diets, but they are certainly effective. Not necessarily easy to implement, but for those who are motivated, I think it's a useful measure. 

Alex: I think that's a really important point because we at PCRI really agree with Dr. Mark Moyad. You have to find a diet that you can stick to. If it's something you're just torturing yourself over and you don't really feel like you're living that's not really the way that we want you to go. So it's not a hard set. If you can do a vegetarian diet, that absolutely is best, but, you know, make sure you find something that is sustainable for you because your lifestyle and your quality of life is very important in this process and something we really believe we want you to think about.

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