sively from the plant world,” says Cohen, the author of Anticancer Living: Transform Your Life and Health with the Mix of Six. Antioxidants and plant nutrients counterbalance oxidative stress and damage, adds Cohen. “Cruciferous and bracken vegetables—raw kale, broccoli, Swiss chard, dark leafy greens and soy—invigorate the prostate. Also, a couple of Brazil nuts per day give a healthy dose of selenium to decrease risk factors.” Jim Occhiogrosso, a Fort Myers, Florida-based natural health practitioner and author of Your Prostate, Your Libido, Your Life, notes that most incidences of prostate cancer are slow growing and not aggressive. “One of my first clients was in his early 80s, was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and treated it with only herbs. Fifteen years later, in his mid-90s, he still has prostate cancer. He’s still doing fine and getting around, albeit slowly.” Occhiogrosso says he uses herbal mixtures of saw palmetto, “which is a good supplement for beefing up the immune system—also solar berry, mushroom extracts, vitamin C and full-fraction vitamin E.” Mark Stengler, a naturopathic doctor and co-author of Outside The Box Cancer Therapies: Alternative Therapies That Treat and Prevent Cancer, recommends a blend of five grams of modified citrus pectin, 200 milligrams of reishi mushroom and 1,000 milligrams of green tea extract taken two to three times per day, plus vitamin D. The five-year survival rate for men diagnosed with prostate cancer is about 98 percent, and it’s been rising for the last few years. Early diagnosis is critical, says Raponi. “If you stop prostate cancer when it’s still in stage one or early on, the five-year survival rate is 100 percent, but if it’s later on, it starts to drop into the 70s.” The same measures employed to prevent prostate issues—whole foods, natural herbs and regular exercise—should still be pursued, but more aggressively if cancer should develop. “The intensity becomes more salient after diagnosis,” says Cohen, “but we don’t need a diagnosis to up our game with healthy living.” Melanie Laporte is a licensed massage therapist and health writer based in Austin, Texas. June 2019
47