MEN WERE NEVER ILLUSIONED IN THE FIRST PLACE:

Prostate Cancer: Experts discourage vitamins and PSA test (Marie McCullough, 10/11/11, Philadelphia INQUIRER)

For health-conscious men of a certain age, what could be more prudent than taking vitamins and getting screened for prostate cancer?

Not doing those things.

That's the disillusioning take-home message from back-to-back reports on prostate cancer, the malignancy diagnosed in one out of every six American men.

A major national study in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association concludes that selenium and vitamin E supplements do not ward off the disease-and vitamin E alone can somehow promote it.

Less than a week ago, an influential federal panel recommended against screening with the prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test. The "vast majority" of men treated for PSA-detected tumors do not prolong their lives, yet that treatment subjects them to "significant harms," including urinary, sexual, and bowel problems, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said in a draft of updated recommendations.

What could be a more heartening message for men than to ignore the hysteria?

Posted by oj at October 12, 2011 3:04 PM
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