Prostate Health and Korean Men: A Success Story

 

The good news: Korean men have one of the lowest rates of prostate cancer in the world.
The bad news: The rates increase for Korean men living in the United States, with evidence of this increase showing up within the first generation of Korean-Americans.

These are startling statements, but multiple studies confirm these findings. Research comparing prostate cancer rates in Japanese and Korean men residing in their native countries vs. those who reside in the U.S., and the results shows that Korean residents in the United States have a markedly higher incidence of prostate cancer than those living in their native country. The same study suggests that certain elements found in green tea may contribute to this.

"The biggest factor in the prostate health of Korean men is diet," says Larry Clapp, Phd, author of the breakthrough book Prostate Health in 90 Days.

"There is very little fat in the Korean diet, and cabbage -- or kimchi -- is the number one vegetable that keeps testosterone in balance for men. There's a nutritional supplement available now called DIM which is widely used to reduce conversion of men's testosterone into estrogen, and it's really nothing more than broccoli and cabbage in a pill."

An article entitled "Cancer Across Cultures" from USC Health magazine cites a comprehensive study by the Los Angeles Cancer Surveillance Program based on a 14-year analysis of cancer trends statewide and compared across genders and ethnicities. The report states that prostate cancer rates vary widely around the world, with Americans and Canadians having the world's highest rates of prostate cancer, but when immigrants from nations with low prostate cancer rates move to other nations with high rates, their prostate cancer rates begin to rise.

Researches say that this hints at the possibility that although there are strong hormonal and genetic factors involved, prostate cancer risk may be related to lifestyle factors, such as diet, tobacco use, activity levels, obesity, and possibly alcohol use and reproductive or sexual issues.

Some other interesting excerpts from the report:

. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among all Californian men except Koreans and Vietnamese.

. Black men have, by far, the highest prostate cancer rates of any group in the state, followed by whites and Latinos. Koreans have the lowest rates, and are about an eighth as likely as black men to be diagnosed with prostate cancer.

. Rates for most groups in California spiked in the early 1990s, probably because doctors were increasingly testing for prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, as a marker for prostate cancer. Prostate cancer incidence dropped back to previous levels for most men in the mid-1990s.

. Filipinos, South Asians and Vietnamese actually saw their rates increase in the mid-1990s, then drop or level out in the late 1990s. Researchers suspect these men did not access PSA testing as quickly as more established groups. Among Chinese, meanwhile, prostate cancer rates have steadily increased since 1988.

Another study, conducted by urology researches in Seoul, analyzed normal distribution of serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in healthy Korean men. This study concludes that "the distribution and cutoff value of the serum PSA level in Korean men differ from those in other races."

While so much research is being conducted and so much evidence points to differences between ethnic groups, there are still no real answers in terms of cause and effect. Is it diet? Is it genetics? Is it environment? Or a combination of all these elements?

Until science can prescribe a tried-and-true system for preventing and/or healing prostate cancer, the best we can do is try our best to stay healthy. Manage stress, exercise, have regular prostate check-ups, and eat more Kimchi!