Not long ago J.T. came into my office frightened out of his wits…
His urologist had him on testosterone-lowering drugs to treat his enlarged prostate. He’d lost the ability to have sex and developed an ugly rash. When he complained to his doctor, he told him instead of the drugs, he could go under the knife.
He wanted to know – were these his only options?
J.T. was right to be worried… conventional approaches have proven dangerous and ineffective. The incidence of impotence is a shocking 50%-60% after prostate surgery.
So today I want to tell you what the medical establishment won’t: The real culprits behind enlarged prostate and natural ways to treat it.
For years, convention believed that testosterone caused benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), the scientific term for enlarged prostate. It seemed to make sense. The prostate is controlled by hormones. For this reason, many doctors still thin
k testosterone’s the culprit behind BPH.But testosterone is what makes a man a man. If it’s also the reason 400,000 American men submit to painful surgery every year … well, that would be a cruel trick of nature.
I prefer to think of things a bit differently. I don’t treat my patients with one-size-fits-all drugs, especially when there are completely natural cures for treating BPH.
For example, did you know that in Germany, 80% of BPH cases are handled without surgery or drugs? And, if you’re a man living in Italy, your chance of having surgery on your prostate for BPH is less than 10% of that of a man living in the US.
How do they do it? The answer’s not difficult – when you understand the cause of BPH.
You see, your prostate is the equivalent of the uterus in women. They both develop from the same tissue in the embryo. So, like the uterus, the prostate is hormonally controlled. That’s important. Because when your prostate enlarges, you must reverse the hormonal signal inducing its growth.
The hormone controlling the growth of the prostate is dihydrotestosterone, or DHT. DHT binds to growth receptors on prostatic cells signalling them to grow and divide. All around the world, different cultures have developed traditional remedies for swollen prostate. Some of these traditional remedies are hundreds of years old. And guess what? They inhibit the action of DHT.
My favorite herb that I use with my patients like J.T. to help naturally relieve BPH is saw palmetto. It can inhibit as much as 90% of the activity of 5-alpha reductase, the enzyme that makes DHT in your prostate.
Saw palmetto also stops DHT from forming. In one study of 33 men, those who got 320 mg a day of saw palmetto extract had a 50% reduction in prostate DHT levels, compared with the prostate drug flutamide or with no treatment.1
The reason saw palmetto works so well is that its main component, beta-sitosterol, is a potent prostate protector all on its own. There are many clinical trials that confirm this…
Even reviews – which are studies that look at other studies that look to see if there’s a consensus or agreement in the research – agree on beta-sitosterol.
In one review of 4 separate clinical trials totaling over 500 men, beta-sitosterol helped them improve urinary flow and volume and reduce their BPH symptoms in every study. 2
In another review, this one looking at 63 other studies, the researchers found that beta-sitosterol was among the top three most effective treatments to improve urinary flow and prostate health. 2
Other plants and herbs that have a lot of beta-sitosterol, include:
- Hypoxis (African potato)
- French lavender
- Avocados
- Pistachios
Every 200-calorie serving of avocado has about 90 mg of beta-sitosterol in it. And a few handfuls of pistachios will have about 70 mg.
But for full prostate protection, I recommend at least 300 mg of beta-sitosterol each day. Which means that you’ll probably want to supplement.
But 300 mg a day isn’t easy to get in a supplement. Some I’ve seen only have a few milligrams in each capsule, and you have to take a few pills to get a small amount.
For full relief of BPH and for total prostate health, look for a prostate formula that has a full 300 mg of beta-sitosterol in each capsule. Along with saw palmetto, and other herbs with prostate-protective properties like pumpkin seed extract and maca root, you’ll get total prostate protection and you won’t have to take a handful of pills every day.
1. Fagelman E, Lowe F. “Saw Palmetto Berry as a Treatment for BPH.” Rev Urol. 2001 Summer;3(3):134-8.
2. McNicholas T, Kirby R. “Benign prostatic hyperplasia and male lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS).” Clin Evid. 2011 Aug 26;2011. pii: 1801.