How to support your prostate
Well today, I have a very interesting article on the prostate and the most important nutrient to maintain prostate health. Now, this topic was inspired by my new favorite book called soil grass and cancer. This is a book that I found. it was very expensive, it was basically $250. I couldn’t find it to use books, but it’s filled with nutritional information. That’s just fascinating. And each chapter is very, very different. So the last chapter was on insulin, which I did a post on that. And then this one that was on the relationship between zinc and the prostate gland. There’s some great data I want to share with you.
What is the prostate?
I think the first thing to talk about is this big confusion about what the prostate gland is. Very few people know what the prostate gland does. All they know is that as you get older in a largest, and then it affects your, nation 50% of men over the age of 60 start to get an enlargement of the prostate clan. So what we do know is as you age, the prostate gets larger and that can affect urination streamflow, libido, retention of urine, and your bladder back-up of urine in the kidney. And so I think it’s important to understand a little bit about the prostate in identifying why this occurs. I mean, it’s kind of weird that as men age, a high percentage of them start developing prostate problems. And then as it gets bigger, you’re more at risk of getting prostate cancers, but just because the prostate larges doesn’t mean that’s cancer. So let’s first start with where the prostate is located. There’s a little bone in the front part of your pelvis called the symphysis pubis and the prostate is right behind that bone. And then the prostate also is just underneath the bladder. And there’s a little tube that comes down from the bladder that this prostate wraps around and the size of the prostate would be about the equivalent to a Walnut size. So it’s not that big, but it can get quite big. And then you have the rectum, which is right behind that. So that’s where it’s located.
What does the prostate do?
The prostate is about 70% gland and 30% muscle. So it does two things. It helps you secrete a certain fluid, which I’m going to talk about. And it also acts as the pump during our Jacky collation. So it helps push this fluid through the tube, which is the same tube where your urine goes through. And then out of the body now sperm is created in the testicles. Okay. And it takes roughly about 60 to 70 days for sperm to develop. So the sperm travels through this little tube, up into the area of the prostate, where you have additional glands that produce fluid with the fluids of the prostate gland, all mixing together into what’s called semen. And so the purpose of semen is to fertilize, sperm and sperm is basically just the genetics of a male body, which is then going to join with the genetics of the ovary to form a human body. So to do that, you need, something to feed the sperm, which is fructose from the semen. You need certain enzymes to help penetrate into the uterus lining cause there’s mucus there. And a lot of other factors to keep this sperm fertile and the sperm outside the body can last roughly about five days. So on the other end in the female, you have this egg, which is inactive and it becomes active once a sperm penetrates. So that’s a summary of what the prostate does in relationship to these other factors.
The relation between zinc and the prostate
Now what’s interesting about the prostate gland in relation to nutrition is that it is the gland that has the highest concentration of zinc. So the prostate has a hundred times more concentration of zinc than your blood, because if you test your blood in this normal zinc, it might not tell you what’s going on inside the prostate gland. So in this book, I want to mention a couple of little points. He’s talking about the relationship between a zinc deficiency and what happens with the prostate gland but actually enlarges. There was a study done Okay. And the level of zinc that’s in it, it’s like 744 micrograms. And then you have mild hypertrophy or an enlarged prostate gland that had a lesser amount of zinc, which is 486 micrograms. Then they tested people with chronic prostatitis and that was at 470 micrograms. Now, remember, this is all compared to a normal prostate gland, which has 744 micrograms. And then he talks about prostate and cancer related to zinc. Apparently, that level was actually on average 273 micrograms of zinc. So we have this relationship between a zinc deficiency and inflammation in the prostate gland, enlargement of the prostate gland, and susceptibility to getting prostate cancer. Very, very interesting. The other point I want to bring up about this is that you have a very powerful form of testosterone called DHT. So testosterone can convert to DHT with a certain enzyme, okay? And that’s called five alpha-reductase
The most important nutrient for the prostate
So zinc is the most important trace mineral to make sure your testosterone is high. Make sure that the fertility of sperm is there and to make sure that the size of the prostate is maintained. Now it’s going to get more interesting.
What causes a zinc deficiency?
Why would someone be deficient in zinc? That’s the big question. Okay. I’m going to go through the reasons they don’t consume enough red meat. Now think about this. What is the big push now especially for men as they get up to 50 and don’t consume red meat? Red meat is bad. Well, they never differentiate the quality of red meat. They lumped red meat into one group. They don’t differentiate between processed meats and grass-fed organically. They just lump it into one big concept and tell you to get off red meat. And they tell you to lower your cholesterol and foods, which happen to be the building block of testosterone. And then what do they tell you to eat, eat plant base, make sure you’re eating enough whole grains, which are loaded with phytic acid. Probably the biggest thing that blocks your ability to absorb zinc. In fact, 2 billion people on this planet are deficient in zinc, probably because they’re consuming too much surreal and too many grains. Okay. Now the other interesting thing about aging is that when you age, you lose the concentration of stomach acids and we need stomach acid to be able to absorb this zinc. If you have low stomach acids, you’re not going to absorb zinc, not to mention if you’re taking an antacid, you’re going to be deficient in zinc. If you’re taking a diuretic, that medication will deplete your zinc. If you’re taking Statens, you’ll have significant zinc deficiencies. Alcohol is another common thing that will cause a zinc deficiency consuming. A lot of sugar will cause a zinc deficiency, eating frequent meals like snacking, late at night, while you’re watching the TV creates insulin resistance, which can also deplete zinc. And so I’m trying to prove a point here. If you’re not consuming enough zinc, that’s going to affect your libido. Your testosterone sperm count is the size of your prostate. And eventually, you’re in flow.
What is the best source of zinc?
One of the best sources of zinc is shellfish as wasters, but the second best source is red meat. And to be totally transparent, I do have the zinc product. It’s my trace minerals product, but I’m going to tell you right now, taking zinc is not going to guarantee any type of cure for enlarged prostate, lower testosterone, reducing your risk of prostate cancer or anything related to any medical condition, because there are a lot of other factors involved, your diet, how much alcohol you drink, how much stress you go through, and a lot of other factors related to your medications, Et cetera, et cetera…
