Odd as it might seem, pumpkin seeds have a variety of healing properties and they appear to be particularly effective for for a lot of men with an enlarged prostate. Pumpkin seed have 3 properties in particular which are useful in this case.
The first is that pumpkin seeds contain fatty oil which acts as a natural diuretic and assists in improving the flow of urine and counteract the restrictive effect that a swollen prostate gland has on the urethra.
The second property of pumpkin seeds is that they have extremely high levels of zinc which means that a half a cup of seeds contains about eight milligrams of zinc. It has been clearly shown that taking zinc can literally reduce the size of an enlarged prostate and a lot of physicians recommend taking sixty milligrams o zinc every day. You need to take care however and it is wise to talk to your doctor before raising your zinc intake to this level as it is considerably higher than the normally recommended daily dose.
The third property of pumpkin seeds is that they are high in amimo acids such as alanine, glutamic acid and glycerine, all of which have once more been shown to provide significant symptomatic relief.
Saw palmetto is also widely used for prostrate problems. Found in the southeastern states, saw palmetto is a small palm tree the seeds from which formed an important part of the diet of Seminole Indians.
Saw palmetto acts by turning testosterone into dihyrotestosterone and this is the same process used in Proscar, which is one of only a handful of non-prescription treatments which have been approved for prostate problems by the Food and Drug Administration. Its essential benefit is that it raises urine flow, minimizes the difficulty of residual urine and reduces the frequency of urination.
As is the case with most natural treatments views vary widely over the effectiveness of saw palmetto, but we have seen various studies in recent years that have clearly shown that it does produce a sizable benefit. In one study, a clinical study looking at more than 2,000 German men with benign prostatic hypertrophy, a daily dose of only one or two grams of saw palmetto seeds produced a substantial reduction in symptoms.
Of course these are merely two of the many natural treatments available but there is no doubt that they can and indeed do work. By way of a further example, it is believed that roughly thirty percent of American men have undiagnosed prostate cancer by the time they reach the age of sixty against a mereone percent of Arctic Inuit men at the same age. Of course there might be various reasons for this enormous difference, but one difference which many doctors consider to be very significant is the fact the diet of Arctic Inuit men is high in fish oil.
As a result, if you are suffering from an enlarged prostate then, before turning to your physician for treatment, you might find that simply adjusting your diet and taking some vitamins and minerals might be all that you need to do.
Benign prostatic hyperplasia, benign prostatic hypertrophy or BPH, to give it its proper medical names, is an extremely common and treatable problem seen in many men over the age of 65 and is suffered by as many as half of all men in their sixties and ninety percent of men in their seventies and eighties.
But what causes this condition which is a simple part of the natural aging process and is as common as your hair turning grey with age?
The simple answer is that, despite all the advances in modern medicine, we don't know. We do, however, have enough evidence to start to unravel the mystery.
Men are more likely to suffer from BPH if their father, or a brother, has suffered from an enlarged prostate. This suggests that there is, at least in part, a genetic component to the problem.
One theory here is that genetic instructions given to the cells of the prostate to control its growth during puberty are again activated in later life and either cause further growth in their own right or make the cells of the prostate more sensitive to hormones which promote growth.
We also know that men who have their testes removed at an early age (before puberty) do not suffer from BHP. There is therefore a link between the aging of the testes and the development of an enlarged prostate.
Although the exact role played by the testes is not clear we know that men produce both the male hormone testosterone and small quantities of the female hormone estrogen throughout life. With increasing age however the quantity of testosterone present in the blood decreases although the level of estrogen does not fall in the same proportion. The theory, supported to some extent by research carried out on animals, is that the higher proportion of estrogen present in the prostate promotes the activity of other hormones which are responsible for cell growth.
Although this theory has been around for some time now researchers have found it somewhat difficult to explain satisfactorily the link between the theory and the fact that the removal of the testes before puberty results in a failure to develop the problem of an enlarged prostate.
The final, and perhaps at present most credible, theory is that an enlarged prostate is caused by the presence of a hormone known as dihydrotestosterone (DHT).
We know that DHT plays a crucial role in the development of the sex organs during pregnancy and that it is also largely responsible for the development of facial hair, the deepening of the voice and the development of the prostate during puberty.
DHT is derived from testosterone and is found in the prostate where it is believed to play a role in the growth of the prostate gland. However, as testosterone levels drop with age the body's ability to produce DHT does not appear to diminish and indeed DHT accumulates in the prostate and continues to promote growth. It is also interesting to note that men who lose their ability to produce this hormone derived from testosterone do not develop enlarged prostate glands.
Although it may be some years yet before researchers uncover the exact cause of BPH. While it is almost certainly the result of hormonal changes resulting from the aging process, the precise nature of these changes and the effects which they trigger remain something of a mystery today.
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