HHS HealthBeat (April 01, 2008)

Red or green

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Do real men eat lots of red meat? Perhaps, but it may not be good for the prostate.  A study finds eating red meat daily, along with other high-fat foods, increases the risk of benign prostate hyperplasia.  The study looked at almost 900 cases.

Also known as BPH, the prostate enlargement affects half of men over age 50, and 80 percent of men over 70.

To reduce the chance of developing BPH, researcher Alan Kristal of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle suggests eating more vegetables, and maybe having a couple of drinks a day.

Kristal says:

“There’s a certain level of certainty that if you make these kinds of dietary changes, you actually will improve your quality of life.”  (7 seconds)

The study in the American Journal of Epidemiology was supported by The National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: March, 31 2008