Why Us?

@smoore4 "A comprehensive global analysis published in Nature Health reviewed hundreds of health studies and confirmed that alcohol consistently raises the risk of prostate cancer, with the danger rising steadily alongside lifetime consumption."

Or that excessive alcohol consumption and cancer risk share some common cause or origin (like ice cream consumption and shark attacks, which both peak during warm weather). We need to take correlations seriously — and there are lots of other good reasons to avoid heavy drinking anyway (liver damage, brain damage, and type 2 diabetes being high on the list) — but again, these are not simple control levers we can use to prevent cancer.

@smoore4 "A comprehensive global analysis published in Nature Health reviewed hundreds of health studies and confirmed that alcohol consistently raises the risk of prostate cancer, with the danger rising steadily alongside lifetime consumption."

Or that excessive alcohol consumption and cancer risk share some common cause or origin (like ice cream consumption and shark attacks, which both peak during warm weather). We need to take correlations seriously — and there are lots of other good reasons to avoid heavy drinking anyway (liver damage, brain damage, and type 2 diabetes being high on the list) — but again, these are not simple control levers we can use to prevent cancer.

Hard to know. I ate two eggs for breakfast daily for years, looking for low-calorie protein, and learned after diagnosis that Choline in eggs shows a bent toward encouraging prostate cancer. A former sister-in-law died at 61 recently after fighting stage IV breast cancer for 18 years by adding becoming "ultra vegan" to her radiation, chemotherapy, and surgeries. I'm just grateful prostate cancer is relatively treatable.

Apparently, alcohol consumption in your youth is a factor:

A prominent study published in Cancer Prevention Research tracked the lifetime drinking habits of men and found a striking correlation:

The Adolescent Risk: Men who consumed 7 or more drinks per week between the ages of 15 and 19 had more than triple the odds (3.2 times the risk) of being diagnosed with aggressive, high-grade prostate cancer compared to those who didn't drink.

The Young Adult Risk: This exact same triple-risk pattern held true for men who drank heavily during their 20s and 30s.

The Modern Consensus: A comprehensive global analysis published in Nature Health reviewed hundreds of health studies and confirmed that alcohol consistently raises the risk of prostate cancer, with the danger rising steadily alongside lifetime consumption.

This would certainly apply to me and most of my boomer buddies of the same age.

@smoore4 Those are interesting studies and statistics. I drank heavily as a teenager, and all through my 20s. However I quit drinking on Oct 16, 1984, clean and sober for 41 years. BUT, my father passed from esophageal cancer when he was 56, and between me and my 5 siblings, 4 of us have had cancer, 2 prostate, 1 colorectal and 1 breast cancer. So, perhaps my youthful alcohol consumption played a role in my prostate cancer, however I would wager my cancer is more likely from my genetics. Surprisingly, my mother passed only 3 years ago at the age of 94 from natural causes, never had any form of cancer. She was as sharp as a tack right up to her passing.

One in eight men get it. If over 70 it’s one in six.

If you have a genetic problem that may cause it to occur.

If your father or uncles or brothers, got it then your chances increased by over 100%.

I don’t think there’s anything people can do to prevent it from happening, Though some people say going on a completely vegetarian diet can Make a big difference.

@jeffmarc So true, my father had PC, and all three of his sons also. Last son currently undergoing treatment. I have told my two sons to start their annual psa testing, to find it early if possible. Urologist for my brother convinced him to have genetic testing done to better understand the risks I think?