Prostate cancer, developed from cells within the prostate gland, is the most common cancer in UK men and kills one man an hour in the UK with 32,000 cases diagnosed every year.
The lifetime risk for contracting the disease is one in four.
Symptoms of prostate cancer include:
- the need to urinate more frequently, especially at night
- an urgent need to urinate, and difficulty in starting
- taking a long time to finish
- a weak flow of urine
- pain at urination
- pain at ejaculation
- genital pain
- lower back pain
- blood in the urine
Prostate Screening Kits for home use are now available.
A study by US researchers says that eating broccoli and cauliflower regularly, reduces the risk of deadly prostate cancer.
The study involving 1,300 men found that these vegetables were better than any other at protecting against aggressive tumours.
The researchers said broccoli and cauliflower were known to contain anti-cancer compounds.
Several studies have shown a link between eating vegetables and a reduced risk of prostate cancer, but results have not been consistent and many have not specifically looked at deadly forms of the disease.
Experts have shown that the best way to reduce your risk of many cancers is to eat a healthy balanced diet.
A food questionnaire was carried out within a group of patients diagnosed with prostate cancer in a large screening trial.
It found that eating fruits and vegetables was not associated with decreased prostate cancer risk.
But greater consumption of dark green and cruciferous vegetables, especially broccoli and cauliflower, was associated with a decreased risk of aggressive prostate cancer.
A weekly serving of cauliflower was associated with 52%-decreased risk of aggressive disease and similar amounts of broccoli cut the risk by 45%.
However, men that eat a lot of broccoli and cauliflower may be healthier in general.
Broccoli and cauliflower have appeared in other studies as being potentially important in defences against prostate cancer.
Whilst waiting for definitive evidence it's clear that men should be eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
