Over the years there has been a great deal of argument about prostate cancer and the subject of preventing prostate cancer specifically is still rather controversial. Although, as is the case with many cancers, men do not themselves cause their own prostate cancer, there are clearly a variety of risk factors for developing the disease and there is a lot which can be done, if not to prevent it, then without doubt to lower your risk of developing it.

The initial step in preventing prostate cancer is to understand that you are at risk of developing the condition and also to know exactly what the different risk factors are.

There can be no question that men who have a family history of prostate cancer are at higher risk and that the risk for a man with a close relative suffering from prostate cancer is approximately twice that of a man without any family history. With two close relatives the risk rises to about five times that of someone without any family history and with three close relatives the risk reaches an almost incredible ninety-seven percent.

One difficulties here is that a lot of men do not know their family history, frequently because a lot of fathers, grandfathers or brothers have died from other illnesses without even being aware of the fact that they had prostate cancer. This happens because prostate cancer will frequently develop late in life and can be a very slow growing form of cancer. As a result there is a fair chance of individuals developing other conditions alongside their prostate cancer and it is these other conditions which ultimately cause their death.

Accordingly, if you do not know your family history, then a good starting point is to try to check things out if at all possible. If this is not possible, then it is probably best to err on the side of caution and to believe that you could be at risk rather than assume that you are in the clear.

Another important factor is race. African American men for instance are at greater risk than Hispanic men who, in turn, are at higher risk than Caucasian men. For an African American man the risk is approximately sixty percent higher than that for a Caucasian man.

Yet another risk factor is diet and men who are living in Western countries such as the United Kingdom or the United States are at higher risk because of the high levels of fat in most Western diets. Here at last we have a risk factor which you can do something about and lowering the fat in your diet and eating things like more vegetables and fresh fruit can reduce your risk quite dramatically.

At this point we start to run into difficulty because, beyond the basic principle of reducing fat in the diet, opinions begin to differ when it comes to looking at other aspects of the diet which could be helpful in preventing prostate cancer.

There is very little doubt that levels of things like minerals and vitamins in your diet can have a dramatic affect on your health generally and will without question have a role to play when it comes to your prostate health. But, determining exactly which minerals and vitamins have a part to play is a difficult matter and is certainly a subject all of its own.