Prostate cancer alternative therapy

Natural therapy
As an alternative to active surveillance or invasive treatments, which does nothing to change the course of disease, a growing number of clinicians and researchers are looking at non-invasive ways to help men with apparently localized prostate cancer. Perhaps most convincing among this group are Dean Ornish, MD and colleagues, previously made famous for showing that aggressive lifestyle changes can reverse atherosclerosis, and now showing that PSA can be lowered in men with apparent localized prostate cancer using a vegan diet (fish allowed), regular exercise, and stress reduction. These results have so far proven durable after two-years' treatment.

Many other single agents have been shown to reduce PSA, slow PSA doubling times, or have similar effects on secondary markers in men with localized cancer in short term trials, such as the Wonderful variety of pomegranate juice 8 oz daily or genistein, an isoflavone found in various legumes, 60 mg per day. The potential of using multiple such agents in concert, let alone combining them with lifestyle changes, has not yet been studied but the potential is great. This is particularly true because most of these natural approaches have very low adverse effect rates, and in fact tend to help other risk factors and disease conditions such as atherosclerosis, diabetes, and risk for other cancers at the same time they are helping slow down prostate cancer. A more thorough review of natural approaches to prostate cancer has been published.