With all this talk about prostate cancer, have you ever wondered what is the purpose of the prostrate? Only males have a prostrates, but everyone loves someone with a prostate. The prostate is a small gland located inside the pelvis below the bladder and in front of the rectum. In a healthy state it is the size of a walnut and weighs about 1 ounce (30 grams), which is as heavy as five U.S. quarters. It has two primary jobs: adding fluid to the ejaculate and the muscle power to push it through the urethra (the tub from the bladder out) used for urine primarily but also ejaculate.
What can go wrong with your prostate? The urethra passes through the prostrate on its way out of the body. When the prostrate increases in size it obstructs and or irritates the urethra or disrupts the surrounding nerves. This can be seen in urinary urgency, nighttime urination, difficulty in urinating, erectile dysfunction, blood in urine or semen.
Help keep your prostate or the prostrate of someone you love healthy by:
· Exercising regularly. People who are more physically active are less likely to have BPH.
· Eating a healthy diet. Eating a plant based whole foods diet to promote prostate health. Limited to eliminating animal proteins found in meat dairy and eggs (In rural, Asia where animal products make up 5-10% of their whole diet, heart disease and cancer occur at only a fraction of the rates of occurrence in the West.
· Quitting tobacco/nicotine products. Tobacco products increase your risk of developing not only prostate cancer but most cancers.
Prostate: Anatomy, Location, Function & Conditions (clevelandclinic.org)