2 Natural Ways To Treat An Enlarged Prostate
There are a number of alternative or natural treatments for a swollen prostate and 2 of these are the use of saw palmetto and pumpkin seeds.
Strange as it might seem, pumpkin seeds have a number of healing properties and they have been found to be especially effective for many men with an enlarged prostate. Pumpkin seeds possess 3 properties in particular which are useful in this case.
The first is that pumpkin seeds contain fatty oil that acts as a natural diuretic and assists in improving the flow of urine and counter the restrictive effect of an enlarged prostate gland on the urethra.
The second property of pumpkin seeds is that they have extremely high levels of zinc which means that just a half a cup of seeds contains approximately eight milligrams of zinc. It has been clearly demonstrated that taking zinc can shrink an enlarged prostate and a lot of physicians recommend taking sixty milligrams of zinc each day. Care should be taken though and it is wise to talk to your doctor before increasing your daily zinc intake to this level as it is above the normally recommended daily level.
The third property of pumpkin seeds is that they contain high levels of animo acids such as glutamic acid, glycerine and alanine, all of which have once more been shown to provide substantial symptomatic relief.
Another frequently used treatment for prostate problems is saw palmetto. Grown in the southeastern states, saw palmetto is a small palm tree the seeds from which formed an important part of the diet of Seminole Indians.
Saw palmetto acts by turning testosterone into dihyrotestosterone and this is exactly the same process used in the drug Proscar, which is one of the very few non-prescription treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration for prostate problems. Its essential benefit is that it increases urine flow, reduces the difficulty of residual urine and cuts down the frequency of urination.
As is the case with most natural treatments opinions vary widely about the effectiveness of saw palmetto, but we have witnessed various studies in recent years which have clearly demonstrated that it does produce a considerable benefit. In one such study, a clinical study involving more than 2,000 German men with benign prostatic hypertrophy, a daily dose of only 1 or 2 grams of saw palmetto seeds led to a substantial reduction in symptoms.
These are of course only two of the many alternative treatments available but there is no doubt that these treatments can and indeed do work. By way of a further example, it is believed that about thirty percent of American men have an undiagnosed prostate cancer by the time they reach sixty years of age compared to just one percent of Arctic Inuit men at the same age. Of course there could be a number of reasons for this massive difference, but one difference which many doctors consider to be particularly significant is the fact the diet of Arctic Inuit men is high in fish oil.
Thus, if you are concerned about your prostate heath then, before turning to your doctor for treatment, you might find that a simple adjustment to your diet and taking a number of vitamins and minerals might be all that is needed.
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