There have been recent reports in several broadsheet newspapers that exercise can help to prevent and even fight prostate cancer. They newspapers claim that together with a low fat diet, prostate cancer can be fought because exercise affects “genes that fight the disease”.
This conclusion is unfortunately a bit premature, as the study where this information was originally from only looked at the effects exercise had on genes in men who were at almost no risk of getting prostate cancer anyway. Because of this, it isn’t possible to backup the claims the newspapers have been making at this time (July 08). Future studies may be able to prove/disprove this theory, but until then prostate cancer exercises should not replace medical treatment.
Of course, being healthy has many other benefits and is a great thing anyway. You can’t go wrong with staying healthy, and whether or not it does stave off prostate cancer should not affect whether you aim to stay healthy or not.
It is important that men with prostate cancer do not let this study of prostate cancer exercises affect their decisions when it comes to deciding which treatment they have. There is no evidence at the moment the prostate cancer exercises can fight the disease, while medical treatments have been becoming more and more successful for around twenty years. Men with prostate cancer should discuss their treatment options with a doctor and decide based on this advice. The final decision with all prostate cancer treatments is always given to the patient.
