Prostate Cancer and Natural Supplements – What is the Evidence?

Prostate Cancer is a large issue amongst men – nearly 242,000 new cases will be diagnosed in the United States alone.  It is the second leading cancer-caused death amongst men, behind lung cancer. Luckily, most men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer do not die from it, because Prostate Cancer(PC) doesn’t always grow at a rate that is life threatening, and because several treatment options are available.

With regards to treatment, natural supplements have gained increasing popularity in the treatment of prostate cancer and the maintenance of prostate health in general. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Most chemotherapeutic drugs are derived from natural, plant-based compounds, thus it makes sense that the natural compounds themselves may also have healing properties.

Unfortunately, many claims about the power of supplements are based on circumstantial evidence, with not enough support from rigorous clinical studies. Luckily, some supplements have been vetted for their benefits through clinical studies, and in this blog, I intend to provide summaries of research behind popular prostate health supplements. Here we go!

Saw Palmetto Berry-

Saw Palmetto

The supposed benefits? Saw Palmetto Berry is supposed to help mitigate the symptoms of an enlarged prostate by improving urinary flow and relieving strain. Another benefit is that Saw Palmetto has anabolic properties, meaning it helps strengthen and build body tissue.

What does the research say? A comprehensive analysis of 18 viable studies on Saw Palmetto included around 3000 participants. When taken together, men consuming Saw Palmetto experienced a 28% improvement in urinary tract symptoms, a 25% improvement in nocturia symptoms (the need to urinate at night), and a 28% improvement in urine flow when compared to groups of men not consuming Saw Palmetto. Overall, enlarged prostate patients were twice as likely to show improvement when consuming Saw Palmetto compared to placebo.

Tried Saw Palmetto? Share your experience.

Selenium-

The supposed benefits? Selenium is said to increase the rate at which PC cells die (apoptosis), and also may increase the sensitivity of PC cells to chemotherapy overall. This finding lends credence to the concept of supplementing traditional cancer treatments with natural supplements.

What does the research say? Studies have resulted in a wide variety of outcomes. The largest study had thousands of men take selenium daily for about 5 years, and another group take a placebo supplement daily. After 5 years, selenium did not correlate with a lower prostate cancer risk. On the other hand, a Health Professionals Study determined that when comparing toenail selenium concentrations, men in the top 20% had a 60% reduction in advanced prostate cancer when compared to men in the bottom 20%. A study that analyzed several selenium studies concluded that ‘the relation of selenium and prostate cancer support a modest to moderate beneficial effect.” See study.

Tried Selenium? Share your experience.

Zinc-

The supposed benefits? Zinc concentrations in the prostate are 10 times higher than other soft tissues in the body, which indicates that zinc may play an important role in prostate health. Zinc has been shown to inhibit growth of prostate cell lines, which suggests that higher zinc levels would be inversely associated with prostate cancer risk.

What does the research say? The majority of research does not support the idea that zinc has a positive impact on prostate health. For a full report on the dubious data, see the study.

Tried Zinc? Share your experience.

Vitamin E-

Excellent sources of Vitamin E

The supposed benefits? Due to the vitamin’s antioxidant activity and tendency to suppress testosterone levels, Vitamin E has been explored as a natural prevention supplement against prostate cancer. Testosterone stimulates growth of PC cells, so by traditional logic, the suppression of testosterone with Vitamin E would suppress PC cell growth. Additionally, Vitamin E has been shown to add a power boost to other supplements such as Vitamin C, selenium, and zinc.

What does the research say? Studies have shown wide disparities in their results. A large-scale study of 5,141 men showed that nutritional doses of Vitamin E daily for 8 years caused a statistically significant reduction in prostate cancer risk. See study. Promising studies like this prompted a massive study to be done of 35,533 men. Vitamin E was given daily to about 1/8th of that group, and when compared to the placebo group after 5 or so years, there was no reduction in prostate cancer risk amongst those taking Vitamin E. See study. Thus, the jury is still out in terms of Vitamin E’s benefit on Prostate Cancer, though this latest study suggests that there is not a benefit.

Tried Vitamin E? Share your experience.

See Part 1 of this blog: Men’s Prostate Health, Virility, and Energy.