One in six Bahamian men develop prostate cancer. Noted Urologist, Dr. Greggory Pinto spoke to ZNS news about the disease and how men can work toward prevention. Dr. Pinto says that prostate cancer is the number one cancer in The Bahamas and that the country has the fourteenth highest incidence per capita in the world. He went further stating, “we have all the risk factors for getting not just cancer of the prospect but a more aggressive form of prostate cancer the usually afflicts men in our society six to seven years years early then their other racial counterparts Hispanic, Asian and Caucasian. So the number one risk factor for getting prostate cancer is advancing age. Its usually a disease of middle age men or older but African ancestry is also the second most prevalent and important risk factor.”
Dr. Pinto stresses that prostate cancer can be treated and that men should have annual physicals and maintain a specific diet. He said, “its very important, we want to reduce our red meat intake, we want to reduce our intake of saturated fats and processed food, make sure we maintain a normal body mass index, cause obesity can tend to have a more aggressive form of prostate cancer. And if you do have cancer, no matter what cancer it is, if you’re obese you can have a worse outcome.”
According to Pinto, in the last five years research has shown that there is a strong link between getting prostate cancer and getting a more aggressive form of cancer in dairy milk intake.
September has been designated as Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.
