Prostate Ponders
Page Edition: 2025-03-22BPH,cancer,CVD,ED,HTN,hyperthyroid,PC,prostatitis,stones,UTI
Program Resources
Program content on prostate is relatively
recent, and mainly focused on prevention:
🖵🗏The Microbiome and Prostate
Health (IC members)
🅑 Prostate Gland: Grand
Central Station of the Microbiome
(IC members,
Blog members)
About This Page
This article was prompted by an
off-forum question, but it’s raised
periodically here as well. This gathers
up observations found around the forum
over the years, possibly of interest to
only half the membership, for some reason.
Expect this article to morph regularly
until feedback stabilizes it.
Context
Don’t assume that you know what
the problem is, or that if correctly diagnosed,
Standard of Care knows exactly what to do
about it. This class of problems falls under
Diseases of Civilization, which usually means
that modern settlers are being afflicted by
root causes … that SoC is not looking for.
A common meme in urology is that all
males would die of prostate cancer (PC),
if they didn’t die of something else first.
Don’t assume that’s true.
Get as much clarity as possible
on any ailment & symptoms involved. The
source could be kidney, ureter, bladder,
prostate, urethra, or some other anatomy in
the region. The exact diagnosis could be BPH,
CVD, ED, HTN, hyperthyroid (maybe), PC,
prostatitis, stones, UTI, abdominal visceral
fat, ectopic fat, myosteatosis, some combination,
or something else entirely. Cast a skeptical eye
on any proposed biopsy.
This article largely presumes that the problem
is prostate-related, with some side comments
on wider urological issues.
Approaches
Most of the prostate ailments
named above likely have a root cause in modern
metabolic and microbiological mayhem: a
grain-laden full-time-glycemic (inflammation
and tumor chow) diet, with more inflammation
from industrial seed oils high in ω6LA,
intestinal dysbiosis from multiple pervasive
relentless causes and enablers, leading to
often-constipated septic colons just a
few mm from the prostate, an intestinal
mucosal layer weakened by food emulsifiers,
and tight junctions compromised by zonulin …
these pathways are just begging to be elucidated …
but may not get that attention, because:
• designing a sensible RCT is a major IRB battle,
• there’s probably no patentable pot of gold to be had, and
• as a patient, you are worth more sick than healthy.
Your metabolic history:
How to approach the ailment depends to a
large extent on where you’re at, and where
you’re coming from. A slender person
who has been on an enlightened ancestral
diet for a decade or more, and is in-range
for nearly all the program⦿markers, has a much shorter list
of usual suspects, compared to someone well
up on the metsyn↗T2D spectrum, who weighs
much more than they would like, and might
be on a daily lunchpail of meds.
Program Contribution:
There may only be anecdotal evidence in
how effective this program is for BPH and
prostatitis. The main contribution may be
in discouraging prostate cancer. new cancers
of any kind seem to be rare (but not unheard
of) in people who have been following an
enlightened ancestral lifestyle for any
length of time.
Don’t wait too long. If a
urologist turns out to be necessary, a
referral may be needed. Assume any
interaction with the sick care system will
need to start with a PCP. When that’s
penciled-in on the calendar, review your
medical records to see what you might
already have for any of the program
markers (resource linked just above).
If the metabolics are out of range,
they are a straightforward place to start.
If it’s going to be more than
10 days get an appointment, and you
don’t live in a nanny state, you could save
some later clinical time and order these
tests on your own:
🌢 U/A:
Urinalysis, Complete, CPT Code 81001. Lab
Reference Ranges would apply.
🧪 PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen,
CPT Code 84153).
Whether to add PSA, Free,
% Free PSA or a full
“4K” was not explored
for the initial draft of this article.
Note, interestingly, that these tests are not
presently program markers. If PSA becomes
one, chances are that all that might be
said is that readings below 4 ng/mL
may not require further investigation.
Anything higher is ambiguous.
PSA is routinely run by urologists,
so you might as well have it in hand. As you
might have seen in the back forum traffic,
I consider PSA to be up there in the
pantheon of vague-to-useless biomarkers
when considered in isolation, along with
calculated LDL-C, TC, BMI, and TSH. As the
Life Extension page for the LabCorp PSA test (🧪LC010322)
relates:
“Measuring prostate specific antigen
(PSA) levels can help detect benign prostate
hyperplasia (BPH) and/or prostate cancer.”
It is not a dispositive PC test.
It’s perhaps more like a general prostate
inflammation test (and that situation is
likely an early prerequisite to PC). Don’t
get needlessly terrified by an elevated
PSA per se.
Perhaps the key question is: what
are the root causes of prostate inflammation
in the first place? Some random conjectures,
that the sick care system is probably not
studying, might include:
| ⬳ |
translocation of pathogenic bacteria from
the colon (with constipation being an
aggravating factor) |
| 🦠 |
urinary tract dysbiosis (with an
ideal culture probably being unknown
at the moment) |
| 🌢 |
other urinary problems in transit
(with flow restriction being an
aggravating factor) |
| 🔥 |
general inflammation extending to the
prostate (which, being relatively
immobile, lets it fester) |
So anything that optimizes gut health,
and general microbiomes, helps. Anything
that optimizes urine flow, helps. Anything
that unwinds general inflammation, helps.
Prostate exercise probably helps (actual
reproduction optional).
The core program is a
comprehensive way to reduce general
inflammation, as well as reduce tumor chow
(glucose, and grain starches which become
BG promptly). This is the diet presented
in the books
Wheat Belly
Total Health (2014),
Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain
Detox (2015),
Undoctored (2017),
Wheat Belly
Revised & Expanded
(2019) and Super Gut
(2022), as well as on this site from
Core Program (Start Here)🞃.
Attention to gut flora is also critical.
Super Gut and this
site are the latest on that. Here’s a
public article with a summary and links
(many public): Gut
Flora⨁Resource Overview. Consumption
of program yogurts would be routine, and would
frequently rotate in one or more of the species
that express bacteriocins, and help keep SIBO away.
Urinary tract health might benefit from a number of tweaks:
- Probiotic Lactobacillus
crispatus LBV88, or a yogurt made from
it. Members have been using Jarrow
Formulas Fem-Dophilus Advanced for
this. It’s a multi-species probiotic, but
LBV88 is the lead microbe. Use one capsule
to start the initial quart or liter, and
otherwise use the program L. reuteri
recipe. Consider using the saved🧊starter
method.
- Getting some of your
Magnesium in
the magnesium citrate form can help reduce
the chances of kidney and bladder
stones.
- If you make smoothies,
consider adding a few frozen organic
cranberries to them. Cranberry juices
tend to have too much sugar (and the
“cocktails” are straight
out). Cranberry extracts are too
unpredictable.
- If for any reason you need endure
a course of antibiotics (and this can
easily arise during explorations), have
some Saccharomyces
boulardii🍷Cider already made.
- Zinc; is not a core supplement, but it is
important to both not be deficient, and not
mega-dose. If supplementing above 15mg/day,
choose a preparation that has a small amount
of copper.
Routine prostate work-ups, in
addition to the tests above, often include
digital exams, ultrasound, and perhaps
urinary catheterization for cystoscopy. If
a ’scope is planned, be sure to discontinue
certain supplements (esp. multi-vitamins)
some days prior, as they can fluoresce to
some extent, interfering with the exam.
PSA tests are often false-positive,
but routinely lead to biopsy. The biopsys is
conducted by inserting a sampling needle via
the colon. Concerns about this procedure
include enabling the very problem that you
didn’t actually have until performing it,
or spreading it if you did:
| 🦠 |
needle track providing a path for
colonic bacteria to reach the prostate,
a risk aggravated if various colonic
malaises remain unremediated, esp. constipation |
| 🔥 |
risk of triggering cancer due to needle inflammation |
| ⚠ |
risk of spreading an existing cancer
by providing needle track for metastasis |
| 💥 |
"routine" antibiotics having their usual
effects, plus failing to prevent… |
| ☣ |
a non-zero risk of sepsis, leading
to systemic antibiotic nuking |
If a biopsy is elected, Request that a gene
sequencing be performed to expose any pathogens
that might be addressed specifically. Don’t be
surprised if the urologist has never had anyone
request this to date, or confuses it for
sequencing your genome for somatic clues.
The member video linked at top identifies
specific microbes of concern.
Flow problems are common.
Alternative medicine interventions (e.g.
saw palmetto) may not be effective.
Prescription medications can be, subject
to considerations about unintended consequences.
Tamsulosin hydrochloride
(e.g. Flomax®), is often the first
thing tried. It’s an inexpensive generic,
and has a side effect profile perhaps more
attractive than other ℞ agents. Note that
0.4mg is the lowest US dose. Outside the
US, it’s available down to 0.1mg. Once
found to be effective, capsule splitting
or alternate day dosing may suffice.
If cancer is diagnosed:
- The SOC approach is often
“watchful waiting”, due
to non-metastatic PC often progressing
very slowly. This provides an opportunity
to see what can be done to remediate
root causes.
- In a more aggressive case, keep in mind
that SoC is pretty clueless about cancer
root causes and enablers generally. They
tend to think that cancer is a nuclear
somatic disease, just waiting for the
personalized genetic cure. If it’s instead
a mitochondrial metabolic disease (or
something else), you’ll need to check
current explorations on that via dissident
health advocates. The program doesn’t
presently have any specific coverage
on that. My article on it is overdue
for an update.
___________
Bob Niland [⎆disclosures] [⎆topics] [⎆abbreviations]
Tags: BPH,cancer,CVD,ED,HTN,hyperthyroid,PC,prostatitis,stones,UTI