A Chronic Disease: Prostate Cancer - Essay Example

Prostate
Diabetes cases are amazing. Though there is no apparent relation between prostate cancer and diabetes. However, recent research has shown that type 2 diabetes cases in men often lead to prostate cancer (Rodriguez et al. 147). "These distressing numbers show how important it is to prevent type 2 diabetes since there is a slight chance of diabetics developing prostate cancer," said Ann Albright, director of the diabetes translation division at CDC, in a statement. "We know that a structured lifestyle program that includes losing weight and increasing physical activity can prevent or delay type-2 diabetes."

Available data suggest that prostate cancer rates have shot up greatly since 2008 to about 20 percent. If this trend continues, nearly a fifth of the entire male U.S. population will eventually be ailing. At the moment, 8.3 percent of all Americans, and 11.3 percent of people over the age of 40, now have the disease. What is even more alarming is that 27% of patients are not even aware of their condition. If we closely assess the trend, we find that the rates of prostate cancer in America are expected to rise further in the years to come (Kasper and Giovannucci 2060).

There are many risk factors for prostate cancer. These include alcohol intake, high blood pressure, obesity, lifestyle changes, eating unhealthy foods, especially high-fat diets and high-fat levels in the blood. Ethnicity is also a major contributing factor to prostate cancer. Certain groups have a greater risk of developing prostate cancer than non-Hispanic whites. They include which include Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, African Americans, and Japanese Americans. Another risk factor is aging. At a later age of 45, the risk for prostate cancer begins to rise substantially. However, the risk is higher at the age of 65. Apart from physical lifestyle changes, natural medicines like almonds and green leafy vegetables exist. These help to prevent and treat prostate cancer when added to the diet.

Together with colleagues from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Dr. Chaoyang Li investigated that about 16 percent of diabetic men develop prostate cancer. "The significant association between cancer and diabetes does not surprise us," Dr. Li said in a FOX News piece. The report shows there are a significant number of patients with diabetes who are also suffering from prostate cancer. A professor at the John Hopkins University, Dr. Fred Brancati, who was not involved with the study, said that "the authors rightly point out that these two conditions go together beyond chance alone, so it pays to think about them together."

Southern California is well known to have residents who are physically fit. They do so through workouts and diets. Some also use cutting-edge surgical procedures. However, there is a population at risk of developing prostate cancer. South California is home to some of the high-risk ethnic groups that have increased prevalence and predilection of prostate cancer.