Men's Health

"Most men die of their drugs not their illness" (old French proverb)

DAILY ASPIRIN MAY PUT MEN AT RISK
95,000 patients' records were analysed in this study. Millions of men who are told by their doctor to take an aspirin a day could be increasing their risk of suffering a certain type of stroke.
The American Heart Assoc's annual conference heard yesterday that a daily aspirin increases men's chances of having haemorrhagic strokes by
69%. Aspirin also can impair thyroid function which may cause heart health and other problems.

Impotence may be related to high cholesterol and high fat diets: try giving up those Big Macs.

Low levels of vitamin B 12 may lead to impotence.

"Nearly 20 million men in the United States have some form of Erectile Dysfunction". So stated a national organization of urologists. While most men experience erectile failure at one time or another due to stress or other external factors, erectile dysfunction or impotence is defined as "the consistent inability to achieve and maintain an erection sufficiently to permit satisfactory sexual intercourse."

Men's health experts indicate that impotence is usually a symptom or side effect of something else. In up to 90% of the cases, it's related to medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease, or as a side effect of certain medications (at least 200 prescription drugs can cause temporary impotence!) Consequently, it is extremely important that men and their partners discuss the underlying cause with their health care provider.

Try more C and Zinc - At least 6,000 milligrams a day, and as much as 20,000 mg/day guarantees very high sperm production. Divide the dose throughout the day for maximum effect. And that effect is what, exactly? More sperm, stronger sperm, and better swimming sperm all occurred, at even lower daily C doses, in a University of Texas study (Medical Tribune, May 11, 1983). Vitamin C for fertility even works on trout. Take more C and you'll make vast quantities of super sperm.

Zinc and plenty of it helps the prostate and increases seminal fluid production. There is a scientific literature a mile long about zinc and male fertility. About five to ten times the RDA will do it. That is approximately 50 to 100 mg of zinc daily. For best absorption and best results, divide the dose into two, or better yet, four doses. Zinc gluconate is well absorbed. Zinc monomethionine offers enhanced absorption.

"Older Father's Warned" Tests showed older men had more sperm with highly damaged DNA than younger ones, said a report in "Fertility & Sterility" journal. It may not be age alone that affects sperm quality but environmental damage said U. Washington, Seattle. Previous French research suggested men over 40 are 3 x more likely to father a baby with Downs.

Phthalate exposure from drugs?
Science News Online, Week of April 3, 2004; Vol. 165, No. 14 , p. 221

A regimen of prescription pills may explain the highest blood concentration of a phthalate ever observed, medical researchers say. Phthalates are used as solvents, in plastics formulations, and for other purposes.

Last year, Russ Hauser of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and his colleagues found that men with high exposures to certain phthalates are likely to have sperm abnormalities.

Phthalates are common in people's urine, but how these chemicals get into the body has remained unclear. Contact with phthalate-containing plastics and cosmetics is one likely path of exposure. Oral medications, which are sometimes coated with phthalates to control when the pills dissolve, could be another.

One volunteer in Hauser's study had a concentration of mono-butyl phthalate in his urine several hundred times higher than average in the United States. In a report in an upcoming Environmental Health Perspectives, Hauser and his team suggest that the man's primary exposure to the phthalate was from a drug, Asacol, that he had been taking 12 times daily for ulcerative colitis.

Asacol's coating contains dibutyl phthalate, which the body converts into mono-butyl phthalate, but not three other phthalates the researchers studied. These three chemicals showed up in unremarkable concentrations in the patient's urine. Long-term use of phthalate-coated pills may be an underrated route of phthalate exposure, the researchers suggest.

Men: Caution - The Federal Communications Commission reports that the first thing affected by EMR exposure are the eyes and the testicles. A report from the University of Minnesota finds that cell phones may make you grumpy and lower your testosterone levels. more...

from You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay

Prostate problems - Mental fears weaken the masculinity. Giving up. Sexual pressure and guilt. Belief in aging.

Affirmation - I love and approve of myself. I accept my own power. I am forever young in spirit.

How Diet Change Cured Prostate Cancer

More on men's health Infertility

*** SPORTS FOCUS ***

May 2005 - Current reports claim vision problems and blindness from Viagra. "Vital Nature" formula from the leaflady (see below) has been used safely and effectively for decades.

"TAKING VIAGRA COULD IMPAIR MEN'S FERTILITY" (from the UK 4-1-04)
Men who are given the anti-impotence drug could be impairing their fertility, new research suggests.
Lab experiments indicate it can damage sperm. It raises questions for fertility clinics, some of which give the drug to men to help them provide semen samples, & to women to thicken the womb lining, making it easier to implant embryos.
Scientists from Queen's University, Belfast, say sperm exposed to Viagra became more active. However, a mechanism used by sperm to penetrate the egg wall during fertilisation was greatly speeded up. Known as the "acrosome reaction", it involves firing enzymes at the egg.
If the sperm releases the enzymes too early, before reaching the egg, they are rendered infertile. Scientists say this was more likely to happen to sperm exposed to Viagra.
The team, who presented their findings at the British Fertility Society's annual conference in Cheltenham, studied semen samples. Most of the untreated sperm released their acrosome enzymes after about 3 hours, but those exposed to Viagra released theirs after 1 hour - too fast to have allowed successful fertilization.

Flax Update for Men's Health: The most important information is this---to date there have been no, absolutely no, studies done with flax oil and prostate cancer. The negative info that we have all heard seems to all go back to one source—a study done some time ago that supposedly focused on ALA (the parent Omega 3 found in flax)—the study was not clinical—it was a questionnaire type study that sourced the ALA to the red meat that the men in the study ate. There is a tiny amount of ALA in red meat, granted, but once cooked it is destroyed. The study was not done with flax oil and there are no quantifying numbers—such as how much ALA was ingested, etc. We would love for a clinical study to be done with flax oil—we would even supply the oil for whomever would do the studies! By the way—lignan seems to be as good for the prostate as it is for women—all the gentlemen at Lignan Research take Brevail every day!

From: Natural Health Newsletter, Randall Neustaedter OMD -

There are seven studies that have shown an association between ALA and prostate cancer. These are not based on questionnaires. They are based on both intake of ALA and on blood tests for ALA levels. It is true that no studies have been done of flax seeds or flax oil and the prostate. Given this and the difficulty the body has converting ALA to a usable form of omega-3 fats, I do not recommend flax as the only source, and I do not recommend it for men.

Disheartening news about flax seeds. Although intake of the essential fatty acid ALA (alpha linolenic acid) contained in flax seeds and nuts helps to prevent heart disease, it also seems to stimulate the growth of prostate cancers. A groundbreaking study from Harvard in 1993 showed that men who consumed the most ALA were 3.4 times more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than men who had the lowest dietary intake. Since then at least five studies have shown an increased risk of prostate cancer from ALA.

A study from Uruguay published in 2000 showed that the two major risk factors associated with prostate cancer are a family history of prostate cancer and intake of ALA. That study showed a 3.9-fold increase in prostate cancer among the men who consumed the most ALA. These studies have shown an increased risk in men who consumed ALA and when ALA levels were measured in the blood. Just to confuse us, in a 1999 study from the Netherlands of over 58,000 men ALA was linked to a decreased risk of prostate cancer.

Some researchers have suggested that the lignans contained in the outer shell of flax seeds are responsible for their cancer
preventing effects, and flaxseed oil, which contains less lignans and more ALA that ground seeds, may promote prostate cancer.

These conflicting studies have convinced me that men should avoid supplementation with flax seeds and flax seed oil until we know much more. ALA is an essential fatty acid that we can get from eating nuts and other plants.

I recommend relying on EPA and DHA derived from fish oil, or DHA derived from algae, to get the benefit of Omega-3 fats without the risky effect of ALA on the prostate.

S T R E N G T H E N Y O U R S E X U AL M U S C L E S !

The ancient masters of lovemaking from India and China viewed the human body-mind "mechanism" as a bucket full of energy with holes in the bottom where life energy leaked out. These holes are the urethral opening and anal opening and, in the woman, the vaginal opening also. It was believed that when the sexual muscles were strengthened through special exercises they sealed the bottom of the bucket.

The Eastern sexual exercises that we are about to present in the following lines were developed in cultures that placed less emphasis on the genital orgasm. The development of sexual muscles represents a way to achieve, intensify, prolong and control the pleasure in both sexes and also contributes to your growth as a human being.

What kind of sexual muscle do you have to strengthen?

Before you start sexual muscle squeezing, it is most important that you locate the exact muscle involved. The anatomical name of this muscle is the pubococcygeus muscle. It's called the PC muscle.

How do you find your PC muscle?

It stretches between your legs, from your genitals and your anus. It is part of the pelvic floor in both sexes.

The standard way to find your PC muscle is to stop and start as you urinate. Do this several times. Women need to keep the legs open wide so that the muscles in the buttocks don't add confusing signals. Another way is to pretend to hold back a bowel movement and tighten anal muscles or you can try the direct approach. Insert a well-lubricated (use vegetable oil) finger into the anus and squeeze. You will feel the anal muscles as well as the PC muscle. Women can gently place their index finger or middle finger in the vagina and squeeze. The vagina will grasp the finger, perhaps quite firmly. It may even push them out. The PC muscle itself can be felt in the vagina as a ribbed muscle about one and a half inches in.

How do you strengthen your PC muscle?

Once you get the hang of it, you can do squeezes writing, reading, walking, sitting, working watching TV, listening to music and so on. You may find that a tightening of the muscles in the stomach and thighs happens no matter what you do at first. This is common. But after the first few days or weeks, when you have completely isolated the muscle, these extra contractions should be hardly noticeable.

Once you have definitely found the PC muscle, start with quick or short squeezes. Contract the muscle 30 times at about one a second or faster as one session. Do two sessions your first day. Gradually build up to 100 twice a day. When you can comfortably do 100 quickie contractions twice a day, add sustained or long movements.

Long squeezes are simple. Instead of holding the muscle contraction for a count of one, hold it for a count of three. Start with 30 of these per session, two sessions a day. Build up to 100 each session twice a day. Take your time. Avoid straining. The PC muscle is just like any other muscle. If you overdo it, it will become sore.

Make the contractions focused and concentrate on the physical sensations. You may find this easier if you close your eyes. Learn to relax between contractions. Relaxation is just as important to your control as the contraction itself. If a man learns how to relax the sexual muscles during intercourse, he can prolong the lovemaking as long as he wants. In other words, the man will control the sexual energy and he will be able to make love for hours without having ejaculatory orgasm.

Use the power of imagination

You can use precise mental images to guide the strengthening of your PC muscle. Mind, energy and body are intimately connected. So, use the power of your mind to strengthen the sexual muscles.

Women can imagine that their vagina is a tunnel made up of several muscular bands that can contract or expand at will. These circular bands of muscle are seen growing in size and strength with each contraction.

Men can imagine that the PC muscle is a steel cable running between their legs, which they can tighten or loosen at, will. The steel cable should be seen as growing thicker and stronger with each repetition.

Use positive affirmation

Don't be surprised if the exercises stimulate erotic feelings while you are doing them. The contractions of the sexual muscles produce the growth of sexual energy. This is the reason for which these exercises have to be accompanied by other methods for sublimating the sexual energy. Otherwise, you will become irritated, nervous and irascible. A simple method is to use positive affirmation during each contraction. With a quick PC muscle squeeze say a short positive affirmation such as "Love" or "Beauty". With a long PC muscle squeeze you can say a longer affirmation such as "Love is my religion".

Benefits of the PC muscle exercises:Make you get more in touch with your genitals and sexual feelings Improve the blood flow to these areas (which can be quite healing in itself) Make orgasm voluntary Eliminate frigidity.

Rectal Cancer risk for men receiving radiation treatment for prostate cancer is 70%.

Prostate Cancer on the rise - Are you aware that the rate of impotence after surgical treatment is 60 per cent, not the 15 per cent rate that misinformed doctors are advising?

Men eating the SAD (Standard American Diet) have a major increase in the incidence of prostate cancer.

In areas where water fluoridation is prominent, there is an increased prostate cancer rate. This may be linked to the presence in arsenic, a component of hydroflurosilicic acid (fertilizer waste) now used to fluoridate water.

Prostate cancer screen test flawed, experts say - By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

A screening test for prostate cancer taken by millions of men every year is not terribly accurate and not even the best result ensures that a man is cancer-free, experts said on Tuesday.

They found the standard prostate-specific antigen, or PSA test, produces many false positives and false negatives -- meaning some men who think they do not have cancer actually do, while others may undergo uncomfortable biopsies only to learn there is no tumor after all.

"Patients have assumed, 'My PSA is below 4. It's normal. I have no risk'," Dr. Ian Thompson of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, who led the study, told a news conference.

In fact, some men with PSA levels of 1 had prostate cancer, his study showed. Others with higher PSA levels did not have prostate cancer.

If all men got biopsies when PSA reached 1.1, more than 80 percent of all prostate cancers would be detected, Thompson said. But 61 percent of men who got biopsies would turn out not to have cancer.

A cutoff of 2.6 would detect only 40.5 percent of cancer cases.

This could explain why some men die of prostate cancer despite intensive screening programs, the researchers said.

"This is going to require a re-education not just of patients but of physicians," Thompson said. "What should men do? Our take home message ... they should consider the risk factors."

Men whose fathers or brothers had prostate cancer, black men and others have a higher risk than the general population, for instance, he said.

RANGE OF RISK

"PSA, like blood pressure, like cholesterol, like many other tests, shouldn't be considered to be 'normal' or 'abnormal' but should be considered as showing a range of risk," Thompson said.

For their study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Thompson and colleagues examined more than 5,000 men who took part in a larger study that showed the drug finasteride, sold by Merck and Co. under the brand name Proscar, could help prevent prostate cancer in some men.

All the men in the latest study got a placebo instead of finasteride and they were watched for seven years. At the end, all of them got biopsies, regardless of PSA level.

Nearly 22 percent of the 5,000 men were found to have prostate cancer, either during the seven years or at the end.

The good news was that PSA was accurate in detecting high-grade prostate cancers -- those more likely to spread a kill a patient.

Prostate cancer affects more than 200,000 men a year in the United States and will kill 29,000 in 2005, according to the American Cancer Society.

It is usually a slow-growing cancer and older patients often can simply keep an eye on it because they are likely to die of something else first. But there is no good way to tell who can safely get away with "watchful waiting."

An American man has a 17 percent lifetime risk of prostate cancer, but only a 3 percent risk of dying from it.

In 2001 about 75 percent of U.S. men 50 and older reported having at least one PSA, and 54 percent say they have it measured regularly.

In a separate study, researchers at the American Cancer Society found that men who use aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs have a slightly reduced risk of prostate cancer.

But the society said their findings from a study of 70,000 men do not yet justify taking analgesics primarily to prevent prostate cancer.

D. Mail 3.8.05 "VITAMIN D CAN REDUCE PROSTATE RISK"
A new study reveals Vitamin D cuts a man's risk of prostate cancer by almost half. Researchers in Boston analysed blood & found men with the highest vit D had a 45% less risk of prostate cancer. They believe vit D inhibits cell growth & has anti-cancer properties. Vit D is lower in older men who are most prone to prostate cancer. The recommended daily amount of vit D is 400 iu but some experts think that is low.

PSA: It's a test that has had its day - We've said it before, and now we have to say it again-the prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test doesn't work. In fact, it works less well than even we thought.

A new study has found that it's failing to recognize eight out of every 10 cases of prostate cancer.

Researchers from Harvard Medical School analysed the test results of 6,691men who had a PSA, and found that it failed to spot 82 per cent of cancer cases. The test also came up with just 2 per cent of 'false positives' - where the test detected a cancer that wasn't actually there - a pretty low rating compared to most other tests that throw up many more false positives.

So what can be done? The test currently assesses as healthy a PSA blood concentration of 4 ng/ml. If this was reduced to 2.6 ng/ml, researchers reckon that the test would detect around 36 per cent of cancers - but it would also dramatically increase the rate of false positives. This is still not an acceptable detection rate. It's perhaps time to discard the PSA and search for a more reliable test. (Source: New England Journal of Medicine, 2003; 349: 335-42).

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