Plant-based diets benefit men’s health
Q: Will eating a plantbased diet do anything for my prostate or my sexual health?
Jay S., San Francisco
A: We know that a plantbased diet (which avoids highly processed carbs and added sugars and syrups) is great for your cardiovascular system, brain and immune health. All of that contributes to resistance to infection and helps prevent inflammation, heart disease, cancers, erectile dysfunction and more. But until this year’s meeting of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America, no one had done a review of published research to see what it might do for men’s prostate and sexual health.
Researchers from Albert Einstein College of Medicine looked at 13 studies to see if there was a correlation between plant-based nutrition and prostate health, five studies to look at erectile function and six studies for BPH (benign prostate hyperplasia).
Although the results are not conclusive, there are indications that what guys eat affects what goes on below their belt.
— Large studies showed a link between a plant-based diet and a reduced risk of prostate cancer. Smaller studies showed plant-based nutrition slowed prostate cancer growth for half a year.
— Two studies on ED reported a reduced risk of dysfunction when men ate a plant-based diet.
— Five of six studies on BPH found plant-based diets helped prevent development of the condition.
Not definitive, but given what we know about the remarkable benefits of a plantbased diet, it seems obvious that it would have a positive effect on prostate and sexual health. So, I suggest you aim for seven to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day. One study found that men who eat three or more servings of cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage) a week had a 41% decreased risk of prostate cancer compared with guys eating less than one serving a week. Also, enjoy fatty fish like salmon (3 to 6 ounces a serving), ditch inflammation-promoting red and processed meats, and drink water and black, filtered coffee.