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Back in the 70s, when free love was everywhere, no one thought much about having multiple partners.  Then in the 80s, with the ugly appearance of AIDS, that pretty much went away.  In the years since, the 70s never really came back.  People were more responsible and chose partners appropriately. But now a shocking new study has found that the more female sexual partners a man has had, the lower his risk of prostate cancer. Unfortunately, the same does not hold true for men with many male sexual partners.   According to newswise.com, compared to men who have had only one partner during their lifetime, having sex with more than 20 women is associated with a 28% lower risk of one day being diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to researchers at the University of Montreal and INRS - Institut Armand-Frappier. However, having more than 20 male partners in one's lifetime is associated with a twofold higher risk of getting prostate cancer, compared to those ...

Maybe they're just getting screening when normally they wouldn't, but more and more younger men are being diagnosed with prostate cancer. According to a new study, the number of younger men diagnosed with prostate cancer has increased nearly 6-fold in the last 20 years, and the disease is more likely to be aggressive in these younger men, researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have found. Typically, prostate cancer occurs more frequently as men age into their 70s or 80s. Many prostate cancers are slow-growing and many older men diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer will end up dying from causes other than prostate cancer. But, the researchers found, when prostate cancer strikes at a younger age, it’s likely because the tumor is growing quickly.  Cancer almost always is more aggressive in younger people. “Early onset prostate cancer tends to be aggressive, striking down men in the prime of their life. These fast-growing tumors ...

Have you heard the latest?   Circumcision can cut the risk of prostate cancer -- but only if it's done after 35. Yeah.  I winced, too. According to a new study, research has  shown that men circumcised after the age of 35 were 45% less at risk of later developing prostate cancer than uncircumcised men, newswise.com reports.   Researchers interviewed over 2,000 men living on the Island of Montreal. Half of them had been diagnosed with prostate cancer between 2005 and 2009, while the others participated in the study as the control group, the Web site explains. Questions covered their lifestyle and medical history, if they were circumcised, and if so, the age at which the operation had been performed. Across the board, the participants who were circumcised were 11% less likely to later develop a prostate cancer. But scientists point out this is not statistically significant (sure would be to me!).  " However, babies who were circumcised before the age of one...

Remember how I told you omega-3s might be linked to prostate cancer?  Well, apparently a new study has put that completely to rest -- and probably buried it forever, excuse my mixed metaphors. Omega-3s are found in salmon, trout, tuna and what you probably take to prevent heart disease, fish oil. But a diet high in walnuts (protein to the max and loaded with omega-3s) seems to inhibit the growth of prostate cancer, and now studies are even showing it may stop the growth of breast cancer. These studies were done on mice who already had the cancers. Michael Roizen, MD, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, yes, the Dr. Oz, write that DHA omega-3 is something everyone needs to take, because it helps protect you from diabetes, decreases joint pain, fights macular degeneration, which can lead to blindness, and makes your brain function younger. Mark Hyman, MD, writing at HuffPost Healthy Living, says no study has proved cause and effect between omega-3s and prostate cancer.  He cites as ev...

Prostate cancer -- and the avoidance of it -- has become a very confusing, frustrating experience for most men.  Have a prostate specific antigen (PSA). Don't have a PSA. Have a biopsy if something is found. Don't have a biopsy.  What's a guy to do? Talk to your urologist probably, but a new study says it may all just be solved with coffee.  The study has found that three to four cups of java a day is associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer recurrence and progression, according to newswise.com. Researchers studied whether the bioactive compounds in coffee and tea may prevent prostate cancer recurrence and delay progression of the disease and found that "men who drank four or more cups of coffee per day experienced a 59 percent reduced risk of prostate cancer recurrence and/or progression as compared to those who drank only one or fewer cups per week," newswise.com reports. But before you get too excited, the study found no link between drinking mor...

I guess for men, it's like mammography for us.  The experts keep changing their minds how often -- or if -- we should have these tests. But despite fairly solid proof that prostate specific antigen (PSA) tests for prostate cancer are unnecessary, if not downright harmful, men still want them, according to a new study , as reported at newswise.com. The story notes that PSAs can be harmful because, if levels are above recommended numbers, doctors frequently do biopsies and other painful procedures that could possibly permanently harm patients who might not have needed them at all. New advice just out suggests certain men should not be screened routinely for prostate cancer (I once heard, if you live long enough, every man will get it, but few will die from it). The article pointed out that researchers found that, though 61% of the men surveyed agreed with the new PSA testing recommendation and 69% "were confident that the recommendation was based on the latest research, ...

According to a new study -- and just about opposite every other study -- job stress has no longer been found to contribute to cancer.  As webmd.com reports, even though 90% of cancers have been linked to environment and lifestyle, a recent Finnish analysis found that, though "s tress has been linked with a body response that causes extra stress hormones," these hormones don't trigger and maintain chronic inflammation, as originally thought. Inflammation has been shown to play a part in cancer. Another study done in London over 20 years had the same results. Now, if you work the night shift, the situation might be a little different.  Studies done last year show that women who work overnight have a higher risk of breast cancer, and men, prostate cancer. The Finnish study used people who felt they had high demands, and low control, placed on them. Couldn't we all relate?  http://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/news/20130208/job-stress-risk-cance...