There are various alternative treatments for prostate enlargement and 2 of these are the use of pumpkin seeds and saw palmetto.
It may seem strange but pumpkin seeds have a variety of healing properties and they appear to be especially effective for a lot of men with an enlarged prostate. Pumpkin seeds have 3 properties that are particularly useful in this case.
The first is that they contain fatty oil which acts as a diuretic and helps to improve urine flow and counteract the restrictive effect which an enlarged prostate gland has on the urethra.
The second property of pumpkin seeds is that they have particularly high levels of zinc which means that a half a cup of pumpkin seeds contains approximately eight milligrams of zinc. It has been clearly demonstrated that taking zinc can shrink an enlarged prostate and many doctors recommend taking sixty milligrams every day. You need to take care however and it is a good idea to talk to your physician before increasing your daily zinc intake to this level as it is higher than the normally recommended daily level.
The third property of pumpkin seeds is that they are high in animo acids such as alanine, glutamic acid and glycerine, all of which have once more been shown to give considerable symptomatic relief.
Saw palmetto is also widely used for the treatment of prostrate problems. Grown in the southeastern states, saw palmetto is a small palm tree the seeds from which formed a significant part of the diet of Seminole Indians.
Saw palmetto acts by turning testosterone into dihyrotestosterone and this is the same process used in Proscar, which is one of the very few over-the-counter treatments approved for prostate problems by the Food and Drug Administration. Its basic benefit is that it increases urinary flow, minimizes the problem of residual urine and cuts down the frequency of urination.
As is the case with many alternative treatments opinions vary widely as to the effectiveness of saw palmetto, but there have been a number of studies carried out over the years that have clearly demonstrated that it does produce a considerable benefit. In one such study, a clinical study looking at more than 2,000 German men with an enlarged prostate, a daily dose of just one or two grams of saw palmetto seeds created a considerable easing of symptoms.
These are of course only two of the many alternative cures available but there can be no question that these treatments can and do work. By way of a further example, it is believed that approximately thirty percent of American men have an undiagnosed prostate cancer by the time they reach sixty years of age against just one percent of Arctic Inuit men at this age. Of course there might be a number of reasons for this huge difference, but one difference which many physicians believe to be very significant is the fact the Arctic Inuit diet is high in fish oil.
As a result, if you are concerned about your prostate heath then, before you turn to your doctor to sort it out, you may find that simply adjusting your diet and taking some vitamins and minerals may be all that you need to do.
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