True or false?

[Guest guest]

Whenever the subject of alternative treatment options is

raised, there are stern warnings about people taking advantage of the ill,

references are made to Quackwatch sites, we are told to believe nothing that

isn’t supported by sound scientific studies – double blind prospective

studies with the results published in recognized journals.

In their advertising blurb for a new publication, the wise

men at s Hopkins pose the following questions:

True or false? The

underlying cause of prostate cancer is unknown.

True or false? Prostate

cancer has a stronger hereditary component than breast and colon cancers.

True or false? 80% of

diagnosed prostate cancers are confined to the gland or to the immediate

surrounding area.

True or false? Lifestyle

choices can modify the effects of the genetic cards you are dealt at birth.

True or false? Eating

cooked tomato products like tomato paste, spaghetti sauce, and ketchup can

reduce your prostate cancer risk by one third.

True or false? Eating lots

of vegetables may lower the risk of prostate cancer.

True or false? Deaths from

prostate cancer are highest in the Northwest part of the U.S. and lowest

in the Southwest.

True or false? The most

reliable way to detect prostate cancer in its early stages is to combine

digital rectal exams with PSA testing.

True or false? Doctors

believe that the overall PSA level may be less important than the rate at which

the PSA level rises.

True or false? Chronic

inflammation in the prostate may promote the development of prostate cancer.

True or false? Statin

drugs like Lipitor and Zocor can cut the risk of developing advanced prostate

cancer in half.

In advertising another publication Seven Keys To Treating Prostate Cancer

the blurb says in part:

<snip> Avoiding prostate cancer ………

can be mostly a matter of information and education. <snip>

<snip> Understanding your risk of developing

prostate cancer, and knowing your prevention …… options, are all

keys to help you improve your chances of avoiding the disease which has

incapacitated, inconvenienced, and even killed a great many men in all age

groups. It cannot be expressed too strongly: knowledge is the best way to avoid

prostate cancer ……. <snip>

<snip> Seven

Keys to Treating Prostate Cancer ……. offers invaluable

advice on how to prevent prostate cancer. <snip>

Given that all the True/False answers are said to be

True and that the underlying cause of prostate cancer is therefore unknown, it

seems odd that claims can be made that we can avoid or prevent prostate cancer.

A quick read through the Seven Keys book doesn’t highlight anything major

in the way of news and it certainly does not seem to fulfil the three promises

outlined above. What it does say in part, which made me smile, was <snip>

….lack of scientific evidence does not necessarily mean lack of benefit…..

<snip> Isn’t that what the purveyors of alternative medicines

say too?

Hope you all have a great New Year and may all your

PSAs be low.

All the

best

Terry

Herbert

in Melbourne Australia

Diagnosed

‘96: Age 54: Stage T2b: PSA 7.2: Gleason 3+3=6: No treatment. June '04:

TURP. Nov '06 PSA 31.4

My site

is at www.prostatecancerwatchfulwaiting.co.za

It is a tragedy of

the world that no one knows what he doesn’t know, and the less a man

knows, the more sure he is that he knows everything. Joyce Carey