my dad was dx'ed with pca and for many, years as part of my diet - i ate
carrots, tomatoes, tomato sauce and a lot of the other foods that are
known to be good for you, plus a took my daily vitamins.

i was dx'ed with prostate cancer at age 56 - almost 30 years before my
dad did.  

did the foods help?  you'll have to be the judge

~ curtis

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional    
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."

Nothing has been proved definitively about these things.  There is a
long term study underway to see if Vitamin E (400 units) and Selenium
(200 micrograms) daily can help prevent prostate cancer, but the results
won't be in for many years.  So your guess is as good as anyone's about
just how to do it.  In any case, even if it turns out to be true that
dietary factors are important,  they will most likely only change the
odds by a modest amount.  There are two major predisposing factors that
you wouldn't want to change: being a man and getting older.

There is some evidence, still not completely definitive, that too much
calcium in the diet can predispose towards prostate cancer.  It might be
wise to limit one's calcium intake to not much more than the equivalent
of two glasses of milk daily.  Also, fruit may tend to counteract the
effect of calcium, so a lot of fruit in your diet may be helpful.  In
any case, you wouldn't want to try to eliminate calcium entirely because
that could lead to other health problems.

 Sorry it knows no favorites, despite claims about diet, environment, sex
life, supplements, religion, and voodoo. Keep checking your PSA and good
luck!

...

...

I have no suggestions for prevention, but one thing you should
do is get regular PSA tests.  Don't settle for pass/fail reporting.
Get the actual numbers and keep your own chart.  The
reason for that is that many general practitioners don't
understand the significance of PSA testing and will tell
you that everything is okay when it is not.

If your PSA rises, and especially if the rate of increase
rises (it is normal for older men to have higher PSA
just because the prostate enlarges with age and
produces more), then you need to follow up with
more testing.

Even if you can't prevent it, if it does happen to you
you can catch it early and get it treated while it's still
easy to treat.

  Alan

In response to the part about eating lots of tomatoe sauce-lycopene,
etc. I worked in an Italian restaurant(ate fresh tomatoe sauce almost
daily) for 12 years and later lived in Mexico for 4 years and ate
gigantes contidades de salsa de jitomate(huge amounts of tomatoe
sauce)There was never any prostate cancer diagnosed in either side of
my family until my father was diagnosed at age 68 or so. He had the
seed implants and is still alive and healthy. I was diagnosed at age
49 and opted for RRP. That was 2 years ago. I guess you can make the
argument that if I hadn't eaten so much tomatoe sauce I would been
diagnosed sooner?

I've finally reached the point that I don't care what I eat, if it
tastes good I eat it and a lot of it. But I also exercise enough to
keep the weight off.

I don't know of any studies that substantiate any dietary connections
to prostate cancer. But one would have to think that the Western
high-fat carniverous diet has something to do with it.

just a thought.

Tom

I drink 3 cups of green tea a day, have switched from skim milk to lite
vanilla soy milk, and drink a glass of V8 every day. I take a Selenium and
Vit. E supplement as well as Ocuvite, B-100, 500 mg of C and a baby aspirin.
Will these keep me from having a recurrence of PCa ( I had an RP on 5/1/02
with positive margins and a Gleason of 3+4)?  No guarantee.  But some
studies indicate they *might* help.  Heart disease studies indicate that the
above plus a low fat diet also might keep the heart and arteries healthy
(I'm more likely to die of a heart attack or stroke than PCa).  But still no
guarantee.  They *may* help, and the important thing for me is that none of
them are onerous or interfere with my life style.  So why not take them?

See your Urologist, and get a PSA, and follow with the info from that.
You can eat tomatoes, hang magnets on yourself, do yoga, be a vegetarian,
but get the PSA test.
That will keep you in touch with your concern and will give the Dr. a head
start in helping you "if" you develop PC.
John Loomis

Nothing can guarantee prevention, but many things can improve the odds.  I was
not taking this stuff before I was diagnosed, and I have advanced prostate
cancer.  I take lycopene, selenium, vitamin E, and vitamin C, as well  as
casodex and 4-month Lupron depot.  

 Lycopene is lycopene- but there seems to be more of it in cooked rather than
raw tomatoes.

Vitamin E works against developing cancer because it is an anti-oxident, it
removes free radicals.  For the same reason, you should not use it during
radiation therapy for cancer, because radiation therapy enlists free radicals
to kill cancer- confusing, isn't it.

My bottle of selenium tablets says "selenium yeast".  You should have about 200
mcg a day, but not much more, it can become toxic.  Anything that dissolves
enough to get into your bloodstream is good enough.

 Yes, more than enough.  As long as you get "enough", don't worry- you can't
get too much.

PCa is a scary som'bitch!  But, the chances of you getting it just because
your dad got it at 74 are nil.  Eat right and exercise and you will stave
off several maladies for several years more than you would have otherwise.